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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

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Original poster

Vendee Region - Les Sables D'Olonne

22 replies

speedymama · 26/07/2007 15:42

Well after our holiday this year in Devon where it rained every day bar one, we have decided to go to France next year!

The weather in the Vendee region is suppose to be hot like the South of France so we have decided to go there.

We found a resort with self-catering accommodation that is based in Les Sables D'Olonne so would be grateful for any comments/thoughts on that region.

Also, as we are not far from the M20, we would probably travel to Calais by car/ferry so was wondering how long it would take to drive to this region of France.

Many thanks!

OP posts:

MrsBoo · 26/07/2007 15:45

We found it wasn't as hot as south of France, and quite a few cloudy type days (only 1 day of rain in 14 days).
We were near there in August, it gets very busy round the coastal areas.

We travelled from Cherbourg , and it was 5 or 6 hours I seem to recall.
This year we're trying Spain for a change.

FluffyMummy123 · 26/07/2007 15:47

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FluffyMummy123 · 26/07/2007 15:47

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FluffyMummy123 · 26/07/2007 15:47

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wildwoman · 26/07/2007 15:47

We've been to the Vendee twice, the first year it was baking everyday and then the second it was yucky at the same time of year. Nice area though it took us about 5 hours from Calais I think.

Original poster

speedymama · 26/07/2007 16:01

We are planning to go in June as this will be last year to go holiday during school term (the twins will be 4yo). I was hoping that the weather would be hot. Am I deluding myself?

OP posts:

MegBusset · 26/07/2007 16:07

Ahhh I holidayed near Les Sables for many years as a nipper and Loved it.

Was plenty hot enought (I always seemed to get sunburned), some lovely sandy beaches, day trips to La Rochelle, and Les Sables is a lively place to go for dinner and has a nice enough town beach too. We always went camping at St Julien des Landes with Canvas. We would break up the journey with a stay overnight, but then there were three stroppy kids in the back of a car without aircon (and had to drive from London to Dover too), you may well be able to do it in one go.

There always used to be a man who strode along the beach at Les Sables shouting "Beignets!" at the top of his voice every few minutes, let me know if he's still there...

wildwoman · 26/07/2007 16:08

No, everyone said it was very unusual for it to be horrid at that time of year.

FluffyMummy123 · 26/07/2007 16:09

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KTeePee · 26/07/2007 19:27

We're going via Calais and can't remember how long it's supposed to take but we decided to stop off overnight - I think it's do-able in one day if you set off early but we didn't mind taking longer to prolong the holiday - only going for one week. Mitchelin have a good route planning thingy.

Can't interpret your typing Cod - what are you saying is the definitive pronounciation?

evenhope · 02/08/2007 18:17

Les Sables is where our school trips always went (the French teachers wife was from there!)

Last went with school 31 years ago. Long drive from Calais but fabulous beach.

slalomsuki · 03/08/2007 11:28

We are just back from near there and I would have said that it would take approx 7 hours including stops from Calais to Sables.

Its a fab place and June can be hot or cool. We went last year and it was warm and again this year and it was freezing and rainy. However it is 33 degrees out there this week when it was 19 last week when we were there so who can tell.

The beaches are fab, La Rocehelle is great but a bit of a drive, make sure you visit the local markets and try the sea food. Noirmoutier is good for a day out rain or sun since there is an aqaurium there but make sure you go early.

anneyc · 21/08/2007 14:41

We just got back from the Vendee on saturday, we were staying in Tranche sur mer and checked out Sable, both great areas, great beaches, rather large waves at times (great for surfers)(actually not so big in Sable) we drove from Cherbourg, had the journey from hell it took about 10 hrs as we'd picked the worse day to travel, the start of the French holidays, as soon as we hit Nantes we encountered four separate 3 mile tailbacks, 35 deg heat. Thank G for aircon! (It was sat 4th Aug FYI)

KTeePee · 22/08/2007 08:14

anneyc, we are just back from La Tranche too! We only went for a week so the rain in the middle of last week wasn't very welcome - also thought the evenings were colder than I would have expected...

Our journey down was a bit of a nightmare too - had stayed in Rouen overnight so got on the road quite early but decided to go via La Roche (big mistake) and hit a traffic jam at roadworks. In terms of time from Calais, it was about 2 hours from Calais to Rouen and then about 5 hours from Rouen to La Tranche (excluding stops and delays)

KTeePee · 22/08/2007 08:15

Just saw that you posted on my other thread!

SimplySparkling · 22/08/2007 08:28

We're just back from the Vendee (well, just over the border into the next region), too. We went Dover to Boulogne, stayed near Paris, went to Parc Asterix, travelled down in about 8 hours from north of Paris. Took ages due to lots and lots of holiday traffic. The aquarium had a HUGE queue and so we didn't get to go in. We'd had a traffic delay on the way in and it was only an hour away really. It became pretty wet that day and we had to go back to the park and ride for our coats. Some blazing sunshine, some cloudy/drizzly stuff, some rain. We've been before (further north west) and had sunshine almost all the time. The toilets in the last Aire (stopping point off the motorway) had stand up toilets, no soap, nothing to dry your hands on, etc. Yeuch!)

KTeePee · 22/08/2007 10:08

I was underwhelmed with the service stations too - had always been led to believe they were far superior to UK ones - we did find a fab one in Normandy to be fair but as we got further south they seemd to be less able to cope with the volumes of people passing through

anneyc · 22/08/2007 22:02

We went to the aquarium too in La Rochelle but the queue again was huge, so we went straight up to the cafe there and waited for about 10 mins in a small queue to be seated, but despite there being loads of empty tables, no-one was being seated so we jacked it and went to the Carrefore instead and shopped! We found some fairly grim toilets, but some good ones too, the stand up sort that are self cleaning when you come out (the whole room gets a wash!)

DoubleBluff · 22/08/2007 22:08

Wouldn't bank on the weather there went 3 years ago and it rained the whole week (July). Went agian last year and about 9 out of 14 days were good. Lovley place though and the camp sites are fab.
It took us 5 hrs to drive from Cherbourg so would be longer from calais.

KTeePee · 23/08/2007 08:34

We went to the Aquariom and though there was along queue it moved fairly quickly. Was definitely as good as the one in London. Added bonus was they had a special price for "large" families so didn't have to pay for ds2!

Saker · 23/08/2007 22:49

We have stayed at Jard-sur-Mer which is lovely and the beaches are the best I have ever come across with rockpools, proper sand and nice pools actually on the beach - great for toddlers.

We found the countryside a bit dull - living in East Anglia it is home from home being very flat.

There is a book by Angela Bird "vendee - an english family guide" which is quite useful. We went Portsmouth to St malo overnight which greatly reduced the drive through France (we were there by lunchtime off an overnight ferry) but arguably it's better to drive more in France and less in England - certainly found that the case in Brittany this year with horrible journeys to Portsmouth and relatively trouble-free journeys in France.

Saker · 23/08/2007 22:50

Sorry should say that Jard is close to Les Sables which is why I mention the beaches.

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