We divide our time between France and the UK and we always use Le Shuttle. It’s really easy with your dog. DDog needs to have an up to date rabies vaccine, at least 30 days before your trip and then they need an Animal Health Certificate. There are now lots of specialist services who offer the AHC for £99, much less than your local surgery might charge. Our UK vet wants £340 for an AHC, we use Vet Home Certs now and they charge £99.
You don’t say when you are going? The thing you will have to watch if you go coastal is that dogs are not permitted on a lot of beaches in summer. Picking up after dogs is definitely not such a thing in France and so to keep beaches clean dogs are often banned, sometimes all year round but often just in the summer months. You’ll also need to watch for the heat. We have had quite a few days where it has been too hot to take our DDog out. If you are staying in a gîte with a garden that’s fine but in a hotel or on a campsite that might get quite restrictive. We avoid the end of July and all of August for that reason.
That said DDog will be really welcome in France. In general dogs are welcome in most restaurants and cafés although it’s always polite to check. Charges in hotels for dogs are usually not more than 10€ per night or so, if you stay in a Mobile Home on a campsite there will be a set fee per stay. Make sure you notify them about your dog when booking. There are lots of lovely dog friendly gîtes available on Gîtes de France.
La Rochelle is an interesting town. It’s quite a long way from the tunnel though. Depends on how far you are travelling before your crossing? We are coming from Scotland so we break the journey at Le Crotoy on the Baie de Somme en route to our house SW of Tours. There’s still 3 hours from us to La Rochelle. A break somewhere along your route, maybe around Le Mans or Angers might be an idea?
The Île de Ré is gorgeous, fantastic for cycling if you like that and if you need to hire bikes you can hire a dog trailer as well. We usually stay at Camping Les Dunes in Ars-en-Ré because it’s laid back and chilled. There are lots of pretty towns on the island and it’s got a very nice vibe. We don’t go in the full on tourist season though because it does get very busy. Great for spring and autumn.
If you decide to come inland rather than the coast then check out the area of the Loire Valley between Saumur and Tours. We live here so I am most definitely biased but there are lots of chateaux (Saumur, Chinon, Usse, Azay le Rideau, Villandry, Langeais, L’Islette, La Rivaux), pretty towns and villages and wonderful markets.
Have a great trip!