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Hi Shed63

We went to France for the first time this year, in the first 2 weeks of July, and chose to go to St Gilles Croix De Vie, in the Vendee. We (wife and 2 girls, 9 and 10) loved it, every day of it, and will most definately be going back. Quite a long drive there for us so would plan to go for 3 weeks next time though. Site was called Camping Les Bahamas Beach.

It's clear from some of the comments that people go away for different reasons, and obviously there's no right or wrong when it comes to that is there?  We wanted sun and sand; it didn't rain on a single day, and on at least half of the trip it was around 30-32 degrees. The whole coastline has some wonderful beaches and good swimming spots. Once we got to know where we were, and what was what, our car rarely left the campsite. We were more than happy to laze away the days in the sun, walk up to the pool or walk to the beach.

St Gilles didn't strike me as particularly tacky, not at all, quite the reverse. However, as I say, we didn't move about a lot so I cannot claim to be the font of all knowledge re. the Vendee or St Gilles really. We did go there to eat in the evening on at least 6 occasions and found it all rather pleasant, some lovely seafood restaurants to be found there.

I did one day drive to Apremont to visit the Chateux there but found it hard going doing very much at all in the heat to be honest. Interesting enough place though and well maintained; a lot of effort has gone in to make it interesting for children too.  Would I go back? Definately not! But then I live in Edinburgh and have probably only been inside Edinburgh Castle 2 or 3 times in my lifetime!

As for entertaining my 2 children, this was the most effortless holiday I could wish for, I really mean that, and although this was the 1st trip to France I have holidayed in many other places. They very much chose what to do, and it all revolved around the Kids Club, making new friends, and going to the swimming pool. Kids club 10-12, back for a bite to eat, off to swimming pool with new friends, back about 3.30, quick change for Kids Club 4-6pm. Then a barbecue or off to St Gilles about 8-9ish to eat.  I know thats not for everone but it did make it effortless and relaxing for us. I knew the site had a kids club but did not expect it to be so popular with that many children. Don't get me wrong, I would not have been at all bothered if my two had not been interested in going to it; they are good at finding things to do and making friends regardless, and we would have found other places to go, more beach trips etc. But in the event it worked out brilliantly

I chose where to go for this trip based on recommendations from several friends who had done similar trips a number of times to that area, and also I have to say, on what I read about the Vendee on this mesage board. So I must say I am surprised to see so few positive comments on this thread. Maybe all the Vendee supporters are there as we speak! 

Clearly if I had been unlucky with the weather it's debatable if I would be so enthusiatic about it all. I very nearly booked for Britanny but was a bit wary of the weather so opted for the Vendee, despite the extra 3-4 hours drive down there.  In the event, I suspect I would have been a winner with the weather wherever I chose to go this July, even here in Scotland! but I wanted to play it safe.

As for the scenery, it all looked nice enough to me!

Regards

fc

ps I do agree with the comments re. St Jean de Monts. Very mini-Blackpool-ish, to look at and walk through. Would hate to generalise about everyone who went there of course, but did see a few of the 'wrong sort' of English, as someone already mentioned!

Hi,

I agree with the last post,We have been to the vendee for a couple of weeks every year and have always found it a great place to visit.There are loads of things to to do with the kids (7+4) who enjoy visiting the little tourist activities they advertise on the little cards produced by the tourist board.The north  is tacky, but fun for a day,the south is very flat  hot and busy ,but , we usually stay between St.Gilles and Les Sable which is perfect.The weather is usually good and its only half a day from St Malo.

We have also stayed in Paris (Not child friendly),Brittany (Wet and windy) and the Loire valley (now thats what I call boring!) I can honestly say that the Vendee would get my vote every ime.

We stayed in the Vendee last year for two weeks towards the end of August. We stayed at St Julien des Landes in a tent. Weather was not brilliant ( 1 1/2 days of rain in 12 days but it was not cold and the kids made friends and enjoyed the kids clubs. (11 and 6). It all depends what you want really. If you have kids similar to mine I'm sure you will enjoy it.

There are beaches if you want them, canoeing, you can stay on site, there is a waterpark at Ile de Nourmoutier , Puy de Fou is nearby. I agree with "few cloudy" about St Gilles, this was pleasant enough.

I think the best thing is to try it. If you dont like it dont go again but dont judge it on other peoples experience as everybody has different expectations.

I tend to agree with Toptent .... and some of the other posters too!  We've just come back from the Vendee again, having been there many times over the years.  However, we usually take two holidays each year and travel to other areas of France on the earlier one ........ just looking for some sun in the summer.  :-)

St Jean de Monts is ghastly for us, but others may like it.  There's only one campsite there I would ever contemplate again - right at the end of St Jean de Monts and on the beach - Sol a Go-Go.   But when we drove out of the site it was not through SJ de M unless absolutely necessary.  The noisy, boozy places with loud Brits and groups of drunken teenagers are not what we want and unfortunately St Jean de Monts just seems to be that sort of place.

La Tranche has changed over the years and from a brief visit last year is now pretty high in the tacky stakes IMHO - but perhaps that was only to be expected?  The French are quite naturally keen to make money from us tourists and so perhaps tackiness was bound to creep in?

A few weeks ago we went to a site we'd stayed at 2 or 3 years ago (Le Littoral) and there were a few changes - and as usual they were implemented for reasons which just seemed to mean that more of our money had to be parted with!  Don't buy internet access unless you really need it and are prepared to wait to use their own AZERTY keyboard PCs - there was no wi-fi available and waiting for a free PC was very painful.  There was also no privacy and I needed to do a little work whilst away.  No charcoal BBQ's allowed now ..... only on-site gas ones.  :-(

St Gilles Croix de Vie has also gone downhill a bit in the past few years IMO as it has increased in popularity - but then what are people looking for?   Many may find it is fine ...... and this time we found a great little restaurant tucked away from the main tourist thrust and had a really enjoyable few hours over some lovely French food at very reasonable cost.

Perhaps it's just because we are so familiar with these regions (or just getting old!) but personally although we like the sun which is often available along the Vendee coastline there really isn't much to do when the weather is not so good.  The past two weeks it rained a fair amount and wasn't overly hot, but the weather wasn't too bad as it quite often rained at night/early morning and then cleared up.  The kids love beaches and boarding, so for them it was great, although as it's now so popular there seemed to be hardly any space in the water to grab a wave!

I actually said to my wife as we drove back this year that I really don't fancy visiting the Vendee again.   It used to be great and reasonably quiet, but it's now pretty busy as the French capitalise on its popularity.  We may well have to explore other regions in the summer in future - or visit outside August when it may be quieter.

Visiting France used to be fantastic as it was so different from the UK - but now it's so similar in many ways that it seems little different to taking a holiday in the UK.  I noticed that all the supermarket shelves were packed with Kellogs Corn Flakes and HP Tomato sauce!!  ;-))   

BTW, diesel at Lucon Hyper-U was the cheapest I found at 1.05 € and other places were charging up to 1.18 €.  On the autoroutes it may well have been dearer.  Oh, and once again we encountered the odd Brit driving on the wrong side of the road!  It really is quite frightening as you just don't know if they will realise and suddenly swing back onto the 'right' side of the road, just as you've taken avoiding action!

Overall we had a reasonable holiday, but personally the Vendee is probably not for me any more - not during August at any rate.

We have recently returned from our second visit to Vendee. The first was two years ago, we visited St.Gilles de croix, this more recent visit was further South to Jard Sur Mer.
 We enjoyed both places and would return. However, having said that I can understand why people see Vendee as touristy. It is frequented by many French on their holidays, and you won't struggle to find the English either.
 The Campsites vary from small quiet and very French to larger more child oriented sites.
 The beaches can be sandy and idyllic for those who love to soak up the sun, to rocky and great for a spot of rockpooling.
With regards food, there are many Brasserie to be found along the coast that share pretty much the same menu... Moules (Mussels), Pizza (not the doughy American variety), salads. These are fine for lunch, but for a better variety/really nice meal, it is better to look at hotel/restaurant menu's which are usually a little way in from the coast or in one of the villages/towns.
 

What to do?.
 In my opinion, this is the deciding factor for al holiay destinations, it really comes down to what you actually like to do on your holidays. Personally, we (as a family) like to spend a day on the beach, a couple of days at the local attractions, be they Zoo's/Aquariums, historical buildings or markets and we also like to have a day or two relaxing.
 Jard Sur Mer offered us all of these, there is a Zoo and a nice town to wander around at La Sable D'olonne (sp?), with a geat little Aquarium on the drive back.
 There is a Castle that was once occupied by Richard the Lion Heart at Talmont (they also do jousting displays etc on a Wednesday) and Jard itself which is a nice little port has a market on a Monday that worth a visit.
 The campsite we stayed at (Les Ecuriels) was a good size, with a nice pool and walking distance to a rocky beach (great for rockpooling) and also walking distance to the rather picturesque port.

The only thing to remember is during the 14th/15th August, there is along the coast the festival of the sea, this provides a great firework display all along the coast, but also loud music that can be heard back at the campsite until the early hours.

In all, we have enjoyed our last two visits to Vendee, however, there is a lot of France to see and so next year we may venture to Brittany and will hopefully spend sometime in a lovely Gite in the Loire (but that's another thread).

I would suggest to anyone that Vendee is worth a week of anybody's time, but I would struggel to spend two weeks there.