Print-friendly version
Motorhoming in Vendée
Motorhoming in Vendée
With its 240km of coast, Vendée is the south western most of the five departments of the Loire Atlantique. With a quota of sunshine that equals the Côte d’ Azur, Vendée is at the top of the list as far as tourism in France is concerned and should figure on your list of places to visit if you plan to do some motorhome travel in France.
The coast of this department offers numerous seaside towns. La Tranche sur Mer with its 13kms of fine golden sandy beaches and lack of dangerous currents is ideal for family holidays if you’re hiring a motorhome in France or hiring a motorhome in England. Saint Giles Croix de Vie, a picturesque fishing village with an old port and town also has numerous attractions for tourists. Les Sables d’ Olonne is probably one of the more important resorts of the Vendéen coast with its big south facing sandy beach and its fair share of sunshine. Its port is also the departure point for the famous one man yacht race, the Vendée Globe. If all that sea air gives you an appetite you can search out the local delicacies in the town centres covered market. If you are interested by horses, you can visit the national stud farm, one of the biggest in France where you can go into the blacksmiths, the forge, the saddlery or the stables all of which are situated in a large park.
The Island of Noirmoutier off the coast of Vendée is famous for its beauty and agreeable climate, as well as its fabulous beaches, but despite its small size, 24km by 4km it produces the local specialities, la pomme de terre de Noirmoutier, a very tasty little new potato and salt, which is harvested using traditional methods and is neither washed nor treated conserving all of its trace elements and producing a salt of excellent quality.
Up until 1804 Fontenay le Comte was the capital of Vendée. The town is rich in history and there are signed routes which allow you to discover all of its best known sights. The Saturday morning market allows you to discover a little of the ambiance from years gone by and sample a few local specialities at the same time such as the Brioche or Gâche de Vendée, sweet bread made with lots of butter. A few kilometres away from Fontenay is the Mervent forest, a forest typical to the region where you can visit on foot, mountain bike or horseback. Napolean transferred the capital to La Roche sur Yon in 1804 and constructed this new town with its big squares and wide boulevards, large enough to take an army, bearing witness to its military history and the statue of Napolean himself on horseback celebrating the Emperor.
You can use the Aires de Service in Vendée while travelling around and maybe continue on to other departments in the Pays de la Loire to do some motorhoming in Mayenne, motorhoming in Maine et Loire or motorhoming in Loire Atlantique.
|
