Is it worth going to the Ile de Re just for 1 night?

[mambojambodothetango]

As title says really. We'll be driving from Brittany to Angouleme and thinking of stopping for 1 night on the Ile de Re (or Ile d'Oleron) to break the journey. Friends tell me it's lovely but awful to drive to and everyone cycles. As it's just 1 night, we won't be exploring much, just need to get there and get back 24 hours later. Will we spend hours queuing for the bridge? If so it might not be worth it.

Can you even drive on Ile d'Oleron? I think we left the car and got the ferry, and hired bikes to explore. I think you'd struggle to find accommodation for one night on the Ile de Re - it's mostly self catering. When are you travelling? La Rochelle is lovely though - that might be an option?

Thanks. I've decided on Rochefort instead. As we're only breaking the journey I don't fancy spending time stuck in traffic going over the bridge to Re.

I think you've made the right decision. The Ile-de-Ré is wonderful but traffic over the bridge can be very slow.

You would be lucky to get a decent room there anyway. The French holidays started last week. I would never go there in July/August.