Talk about the department of the Vendee to most visitors to France and they will probably think of the 100 mile stretch of glorious sandy beaches facing the Atlantic sea.
The resort of Les-Sables-d’Olonne has shops, markets and regular regattas. In November 2020, sailing enthusiasts can see the start of the notorious Vendee Globe Challenge which begins every 4 years from the Port Olona Marina.
Along the coast, parents can relax at St Jean-de-Monts with its beach clubs and life guards and St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie is the place to buy fresh sardines for a barbecue treat.
Leave your car and catch a ferry to Ile d’Yeu to explore its rocky coves and lively fishing port of Port Jonville or use the toll bridge to larger Ile de Noirmoutier where tourism takes its place alongside working salt marshes, fishing and farming.
Inland, the bocage countryside of the Vendee paints a different but equally attractive picture. A rolling plain gives way to wooded hillsides, rooted in the same granite foundations as those of Brittany, and here Vendee’s incredible medieval theme park can be discovered.
Puy du Fou near Les Epesses has 35 hectares of fun for all ages including stunning battle re-enactments. Less active history lovers will enjoy museums and memorials in nearby Cholet and also Challans detailing events from the
notorious eighteenth century royalist uprising following the French Revolution.
For lazy days by the river, visit the canal-crossed marshlands in southern Vendee - part of the Marais Poitevin or ‘Green Venice’. Hire bicycles or a punt to explore this incredibly peaceful paradise of fauna, flora and bird life, stopping to picnic on local charcuterie, Noirmoutier new potatoes and brioche Vendeen.
For golf enthusiasts there is plenty of choice throught the Vendee and surrounding departments. Click here to view.
We are also able to arrange tee times on behalf of our clients. Please contact us for further details.
The coast of the Vendée extends over 200 kilometres of mostly sandy beaches. Tourists from overseas and locally frequent them. Some resorts include Les Sables-d'Olonne, La Tranche-sur-Mer and Saint-Jean-de-Monts. Some beaches are certified for the FEE Blue Flag for cleanliness. With more than 100 miles of sandy beaches edged with dunes and pine woods. There is a nudist beach just south of La Faute sur Mer on the Pointe d'Arçay.
The Vendee has the largest network of cycle tracks in France. The Vendee
General Council started the departmental cycling network in mid 1990,
which now stretches over 1,100 km. Explore the department in complete
safety with family and friends using the various tracks crossing the
Vendee landscape from the coastline of the Marais Poitevin to the
Bocage. Since 2013 you can cycle round the Vendée at your own pace. For
more information click here
