Anyone been to La Rochelle in France - recommendations

[Tillysmummy]

Has anyone been to the La Rochelle in France ? Im not sure the area it's in I think it's the Atlantic Coast area. I saw it on a holiday program and liked it a lot.

Im looking for a recommendation for a villa in this area or another nice area if anyone has any suggestions. We want a 3 or 4 bed villa / cottage far enough down to get good weather, somewhere near a village with restaurants / shops and must have a swimming pool. Anyone got any suggestions ?We stayed in a gorgeous place in Rousillon in Vaucluse a couple of years ago but the villa had steep steps and wasn't very baby friendly.

We stayed in Ile de Re last year which is a small island just off La Rochelle - it was lovely. La Rochelle itself is very nice, but quite a big 'city' you may prefer something a little smaller. We've just booked for this year, in the Dordogne, with 'Advantage France', think its part of 'Cresta France' which seems to have a lot of villas - all look very nice.

We stayed in Ile de Re last year which is a small island just off La Rochelle - it was lovely. La Rochelle itself is very nice, but quite a big 'city' you may prefer something a little smaller. We've just booked for this year, in the Dordogne, with 'Advantage France', think its part of 'Cresta France' which seems to have a lot of villas - all look very nice.

sorry!

Lindy thanks for that, do you have a web link ? I'll take a look. I do remember Ile de Re and you are as star because dh and I were trying to remember the name of the small island and couldn't remember ! Any recommendation on accommodation there ?

I stayed there twice, we were camping though. Ile de Re is lovely, but watch out for the jellyfish.

Oh no thats scary. So no sea with dd then ?

The web site is www.crestaonline.co.uk (haven't used it myself as I am so useless at that sort of thing that we went through a travel agent!); we camped on the Ile de Re at Eurocamp - just looked through the brochure but there only seems to be one set of apartments to rent on Ile de Re rather than a villa, perhaps the website will be more helpful. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

PS we didn't notice any jellyfish - fabulous wide, sandy beaches, I think our DS is similar in age to your DD - 2? He had a wonderful time there.

Bron we "discovered" the Isle d'Oleron a couple of years ago. Spent every day at St Denis on the beach. What a fab place.

Is this lovely sounding island in the Vendee region?This summer we'll be staying in a gite near St Jean de Mont.I wondered if anyone who knows it can tell me what is around there nice to visit and which are the child friendly beaches around there?

Layla we are going to a campsite near St Jean de Mont this year. There is a good guide book on the Vendee that you can get from Amazon

Thanks Hmb,we left it up to the inlaws to find a book and they say they couldn't find one so I must get it.I heard Jean de Mont gets packed in the summer-we're going at a very busy time,and for 2 weeks this time.So plenty of time to explore.

A slightly amended answer I gave to an earlier enquirer......
There's a good book which details La Rochelle and the area to the north including St Jean de Monts. There?s no information about the region south of La Rochelle. The book?s called 'The Vendée' by Angela Bird, £9ish (there?s also her excellent website ).
There?s also the reliable Michelin Tourist Guide (Green book) £10ish. You?ll have to see the map on each of two editions to know whether you need the ?Atlantic Coast? or the ?Poitou Vendee Charentes? version. (Do check that they sell you the English language edition ? some places stock the French version.)
We were there in 2001 and the weather was terrible - but it was an exceptionally bad August throughout the whole continent - many central Europe places flooded.
The good news is the sunshine record is similar to the south of France - the bad news is that if it does rain there's nothing to do. The only suggestions in 'The Vendée' are to go "inland..." (which is a long way) "...to museums, junk shops, restaurants and shopping centres less overwhelmed with other dripping campers".
Everything is based on good weather - which statistically I'm sure you'll have. I hope you've air conditioning in your car - you'll be thankful for it.
Another website (in French) www.vendee.com

Thanks StuartC,and for the link which I will check out later after I've cooked the tea.It's the first time I've been down that far and I've been told there are lots of lovely beaches.Last year we went near Benodet which the kids loved with all the expensive play equipment on.We've never heard the end of Benodet so hoping for some more great beaches to wow them with this time.