St Jean de Monts - tips please

[hockeypuck]

Hi,

We are off to St Jean de Monts for 2 weeks next mondday 15th, staying at Le Bois Dormant.

Normally when we go away we have done loads of research and know where to go for day trips, the best markets, boat trips etc but this time we have done nothing!

PLEASE PLEASE give me your best tips, ideas and everything else to enjoy our holiday.

We will have DS (1) and DD (4) with us.

Thanks in advance

I've been to St Jean de Monts but not stayed here
Lovely sandy beach, loads of restaurants
Would have recommended Le Puy Du Fou but just seen the ages of your children - too young for that yet

Buy a guide book? The Angela Bird one on the Vendee is supposed to be good.... or do a search on old threads on here on the Vendee...

A drive to Ile de Noirmoutier is worth it
There's a small aquarium for the kids
Town square with shops, restaurants, bars and a lovely smallish beach just out of the town - you can drive and park nearby if the weather's up to it

and St Giles de Croix (sp) is just down the road
no beach but a harbour, restaurants, ice cream parlours, shops including a toy shop - for that holiday treat! plus a mini childrens fairground on the front
Have a good time

I have stayed on this site. Very big, but with excellent facilities. There is a large E L'clerc supermarket about 5-10 mins drive from the campsite, you can't miss it.

Go one libe to angerla Birds vendee website, she lists *masses of things to do.

Second the trip to Noirmoutier.

Apremont has a nice lake with a beach and you can hire pedelos. Good place for a picnic.

Nice castle there too , also at commequiers.

Good beachers everywhere, one we liked best is a little drive away at Jard sur mer......jard also is a very nice village to potter along.

there is a great market in St jean, can't remember the day.

There is a velorail at commequiers as well....never been looks fun but poss too much for little ones

Message withdrawn

Great - thanks for all the advice so quickly. We would have bought the Angela Bird book but it wont be delivered in time from Amazon, we haven't had much time lately for reading up which is shy I have asked for your advice. Doing the Mile for Maude the day before we go so will be a little bit hectic!

Can anyone tell me roughly how much warmer it is than say Cornwall at this time of year, can't seem to find anything online apart from average monthly temps.

We're definitely happy to drive an hour or so each way for day trips if anyone else has any other ideas for that. Is La Rochelle worth a trip?

All your ideas sound great - keep them coming

mb glad there is a large leclerc nearby. For some reason supermarket shopping in France is so much fun (or am I just a saddo?)

Did you find any problems with the site? any recommendations on what to take that I wont have thought of?

La Rochelle's lovely, well if you like shopping
Have you done a search on the tripadvisor.com website - always worth a go for honest reviews HTH

lmb hadn't thought of tripadvisor. Thank you, will do that now

Ohhhh If you like supermarket shopping (and trust me I luurrvvee it!) the place to head for is les Sable d'olonne. There is Hugggge E/eclerc there in a shapping mall.

Not only do they have everything that you could possibly want, they have an excellent self service resturant that serves fantastic food....fresh cooked pizza in a proper pizza oven, moules etc Seriously wonderful* and so easy with kids. Go there, have lunch and then head for the beaches.

there is also a great zoo

mb a zoo in a supermarket - now that does sound crazy.

I'm asuming you mean at Sables itself?

We own a place at Bois Dormant so can tell you about the campsite etc. Its the quieter of the two, Bois Masson is more lively and has the open restaurant and the indoor pool. The outside pools are not heated so unless it is a very warm day the water is ice cold.

I think the kids club is at Masson at the moment until half term when it moves to Dormant. There are two session, 10-12 and 4-6pm but with your kids age you will have to stay with them. If your 4 year old is 4.5 then I would be tempted to fib and say they are 5 and get them in to the Tiger 5-10 year old club. We did that at Easter with my 4.4 and they were fine since he could keep up. There was a great English guy called Chris who was doing the Tiger club and kept the kids entertained

The entertainment in the evening is kids based 8-9 and then adults based. Its Ok and worth it if you need to tire the elder one out still. On Thursdays they do a pirate party which is food and games, it give you an opportunity to eat in the adjacent restauant.....should I really say this bearing in mind what has been going on in Portugal but it is effectively the same room.

La Rochelle is a terrible drive on the coats road, great view but many turns and it winds its way around it. It takes about 2.5 hours so you need to think.

Challans is great nearby and Nantes is fab and very historical in the centre. The rest has been covered.

I will be out from the 26th for a week with mine 6,4 and 1 so if you fancy a drink let me know.

sorry, yes, in les sables!

The thoguht of Zebra burgers

We had a great time in St Jean last summer - took our own tent and stayed on a small site really near the town (La Sirene I think it was called)

The one thing that stays in my mind and brings me out in a panic thinking about it, is check that the 24hour petrol pumps take UK Visa! We were setting back off north about 10.00pm and none of the hypermarkets would accept our Visa. Of course the kiosks were all closed - I really thought we would have to unpack and pitch the tent again for the night! Fortunately there was one tiny manned petrol station just out of St Jean so we could fill up there.

We've never had any trouble in France before, but found a few where we couldn't use our Visa.

Oh yes, and All French shops shut at 1.00 on a Sunday....this caught us out. And Monday is a real Bear Pit because of all the people shopping, who forgot to shop on Sunday!

slalomsuki thanks for the info. You must like the site if you bought your own site there! I would love to meet up for a drink but we actually leave on the day you arrive unfortunately, would have been great to meet a mumsnetter abroad! DH wonders whether there is anywhere to rollerblade at the site (I'm assuming if there are cycle paths they aer fine for blading too?) If not, he will leave the blades at home (and the hockeystick!!)

mb and sarahhal thank you for the shopping/petrol station advice, always good to remind ourselves of these things before we go away and wonder where everyone is when we need food and fuel on a sunday night!

slalomsuki forgot to add as well. What can we expect the weather to be like there this time of year? I'm assuming hotter than here?

The promenade at St Jean is great for bikes and rollerskates.About 5 miles long I think. There is even a dedicated lane for the skaters!! The site is not good for a "professional" skater but ok for a have a go one. Good for bike though if you are off the main entrance drive. Tyr to find out your pitch before you go if you can and I will advise you on where you are.

There is a web cam which you can look at before you go. The tourist site also does a weather update. Next week is 17-18C with sun
webcam
I would say the weather is like warm SE English weather in May. Can be hot or very cold. It tends to warm up during the day.

My other tip is to try to find out the tide times because depending on whether you like walking miles to the water to fill the buckets up or not depends on when you may want to go to the beach. The water goes in and out for 400 yards.

Don't go the beach when its too windy, the snad whips up and covers everything. The reception at the site can give you the weather forecast.

Oh yes, I'd forgotten that you can hire Bike buggies on the promenade! Great fun!

We took our 2 to Le Grand parc last year and they were only just 3 (birthday in may, hols in june)and 4 and they adored it!!!! So I would still go! Might be over the head of your little one (gets in free anyway!) but your 4 yo will LOVE it!! Plan your day and check the info for opening times - it's quite a drive and one family on our campsite drove all the way there to find out it was closed that day!!! Def worth going to and pack a picnic. View it on www.puydufou.com Can't recommend it enough!! We stopped for dinner ina lovely wee restaurant that used to be a station in a village just outside the parc. It was fab but can't remeber the name. Will try and find out and will re post. They had special ice creams for the kids that they adored!

We also found a fantastic place just south of St jean, think it was near bretignolles sur mer. It was FANTASTIC and really cheap!! 3 and under are free but they didn't charge for either of our 2! it's a big park filled with tons of huge inflatables, trampolines, water slides etc etc, crazy golf and non automated rides. The kids loved the luges (bob sleighs) - they went on one with daddy and the smaller one by themselves. It was such a fab day out - they played gard for about 6 hours. Well worth a visit - pack a picnic again although the food looked fab - French family sitting in cafe munching on lobster with chilled white wine while we had baguettes n yoghurts!!!

Just found this so you could phone for a brochure: PARC D'ATTRACTIONS "LES DUNES"
2 rue Gournail
85470 BRETIGNOLLES SUR MER
Tél. : 02.51.90.54.29

There's also the Atlantic water park at St hilaire but we didn't do that one as the slides at the campsite pool were enough for our 2.

Planete Sauvage is a fantastic safari park just outside nantes We first took dd and ds 4 years ago when he was 18m and she was 3 m. Ds got loads out of it then and we went back last year and they still ovedit. Chea compared to UK safari parks but DO take a picnic as food is dire!

If you have rainy day you could go to the Sealife place on the isle of Noirmoutier - it's a lovely place and the sealife centre is good. there's also a merry go round in the town sqaure just across the bridge from it.

The hypermarkets in St Gille croix de vie are good - the oens in St Jean aren't as good.

We stayed at Le Bois masson 4 years ago and wishede we'd stayed at le Bois Dormant!!! Stayed at Acapulco in St Jean last year - that wasnice.

I've gone on a bit haven't I? Sorry, hope it was useful!

Bones vacances!

scuse spelling - they played Hard!!! Must have had too much wine last night!! Plays havoc with yer typing!!

That parc des dunes has a website- www.parc-des-dunes.com

This post has made me all nostalgicnow for last years hols!!

trhe village near puy de fou where the railway station restauarant was is Les Herbiers. Can't miss the restaurant. on right hand side b4 you enter les herbiers coming from le grand parc. well worth a visit.