Ile de Re - any recommendations?

[LeftoverQueen]

Can anyone recommend a hotel or villa/apartment on the Ile de Re suitable for a family of 4 - ds1 5 and dd2 3. Ideally near a beach? It's somewhere I've always wanted to go and a family wedding in the Dordogne is taking us to the region over the Summer hols. Any good advice would be gratefully accepted!
Thanks

We have just booked for Isle d'Oleron as we visited last year and it was lovely and the weather a lot better than the rest of France. We have booked with Interchalet they seemed to have a good selection and I did notice ile de re properties- google it and see. Holiday rentals are reasonable prices and always have a large varied selection of properties.

I was on here to chat about the ferry crossings... how are you intending on travelling? Im just not sure whether its worth spending the extra cash on the longer ferries - I dont really like sailing but it does cut out a lot of miles... Any thoughts / advice / experiences would be welcome.

www.iledereholidayhomes.com/

Lovely places, but very popular.

In terms of Ferries, alot depends on where you are coming from in the UK. If you can save a couple of hours driving time in the UK by going to Portsmouth instead of Dover then the longer crossings are definately worth it, as you save not only another 4 hours driving in France, but also the tolls on the Autoroutes (most of the routes from St Malo and Caen are toll free so you only pay about 7? in tolls)

Well since we are coming from Manchester i would prefer to fly to Bordeuax and hire a car because the wedding we are going to is an hour inland. However my 5 year old is really keen on a ferry!
Will take a look at Interchalet thanks.

I'll be driving from west yorks - hi Frenchfancy - I just replied to one of your comments on different thread! Was backing up your facts about the micro climate! Dont mind paying tolls... do you know anything about any other crossings?

In terms of crossings I favour the Portsmouth Caen route. There are three or four crossings a day so it is a bit more flexible than the St Malo route. The crossing isn't as long (about 6 hours) and it only adds an hour to the driving time. Tolls are the same as it is only south of nantes that you pay tolls.

The ferries to Cherbourg are OK but I hate the drive down the Cherbourg penisular.

Road improvement mean that Calais is only a 6 and a half hour drive from the South Vendée, which make it a viable alternative, as long as you can face the drive from Yorkshire to Dover.

Tolls from Calais are (I think) about 40?. Watch some route planners/sat navs as they don't have the new roads on and try to take you via caen or Paris. Route is Calais-Rouen-Le Mans-Angers-Vendée