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Hi

We are off to France for a week with friends next saturday ( 15th) and unexpectedly we have an extra week. We were only going to stay a week at a friends house near Poitiers  so hadnt booked the caravan on the ferry and so we are taking a tent.

It will be odd to do 80 on the motorway.

Anyway we thought we might like to visit Ille de Noirmoutier.or Ille de Re.  Any suggestions as to quiet sites with good facilities ( we are used to our van but dont want to rough it too much). Hopefully one where we can turn up unbooked on the 23/24th August 

Any help would be great.

We went to the Ile de Ré last year and loved it- in my profile you will find a review for the very nice campsite we stayed at.  Would recommend it (and yes, it's about €16 to get onto the island, but leaving is free!), but it's likely to be extremely busy at that time of year and Oléron is just as lovely, I would say.  Never been to Noirmoutier so can't comment on that!

Actually, if you are thinking of going on 15 August, you are in luck regarding crowds.  That date is a big bank holiday in France, and the time when a lot of holidaymakers head home after the summer.  I remember many years ago camping in France on a packed site, and waking up on the morning of 15 Aug to see the site almost deserted and wondering where everyone had gone!

BUT there will be LOTS of traffic on the roads, if you stick to the main ones - albeit going in the opposite direction from you.  This will be particularly noticeable at anywhere where traffic is slowed down, i.e. for motorway toll booths or for the bypasses of large towns.  Get a good map, and work out how you can avoid these potential bottlenecks.

The Ile de Re is enchanting; I recently stayed (in a B&B) in St Martin de Re, which is as pretty as a film set.  But the restaurant prices are horrendous - not so much of an issue if you are self-catering in your tent though.

Noirmoutier is lovely too - in parts where there has not been too much development, and once you get off the near-motorway main road that runs up the middle.  The main town of Noirmoutier en l'Ile is a bit of a bottleneck in summer, but it's just about possible to avoid it (with the aforementioned good map).  It's lovely though, so definitely to be explored.
Quieter areas of the island are to the north and north-west of the town, in villages such as Le Vieil and L'Herbaudiere; larger beaches on the west coast at L'Epine, La Gueriniere and Barbatre.

Angela

Hi B&B!

We stayed on Ile de Re for the last fortnight in August with our caravan.  We had not booked and phoned ahead from the Pyrenees where we were staying.  We found most of the campsites were full but managed to get a place at Camping Le Providence which is at the far end of the island from the bridge.  I have put a review in the review section.  It was very French and not overflowing with facilities but near a several good beaches.  Ile de Re is lovely and very geared (excuse the pun) to cycling with off-road cycle routes everywhere.  We LOVED Ile de Re.  The bridge is expensive but that's only to get on - free to leave again!!

Have'nt been to the other islands so can't comment.

Best wishes

Tim, typing this sitting in front of our 'van 10 metres from Lake Annecy in beautiful sunshine - VIVE LA FRANCE, -  VIVE LE CARAVANNING!!

Sorry my post should have said stayed on Ile de Re for last fortnight in August 2008!!!

Tim

Sorry my post should have said stayed on Ile de Re for last fortnight in August 2008!!!

Tim