Camping resources on the Ile de Noirmoutier in the Vendee, Western France

Well, what a place to choose for your camping holidays: The Ile de Noirmoutier is perfect in every respect for those who want to have a slightly quieter life than in the more bustling holiday resorts of places like St Jean or La Tranche.

But first of all we have to get there, and that is so easy that if you follow our directions you won't need to consult your map until you are nearly at your destination, and you should have already received directions for the last few KM with the rest of the paperwork sent by your tour operator.

From Calais you need to follow signs for the major towns and cities along your route like Rouen, Alencon, Le Mans, Angers, Cholet and Challans before picking up signs for Noirmoutier. From Dieppe follow Rouen and then the same as from Calais.

If your ferry port is Le Havre, Deauville or Caen then you need to head for Alencon, Le Mans etc as you would from those ports above.

However, travellers from Caen can equally easily take the same route as they would from Cherbourg or St Malo and head directly for Rennes where you pick up and follow signs for Nantes and Bordeaux. Get onto the Nantes peripherique (ring road) and go Ouest (west, following signs for Bordeaux until your exit junction) to exit the ring road at junction 52 which will be signed for Bouaye and Bourgneuf. From there you pass Beauvoir sur Mer, on to Fromentine and then Noirmoutier.

The Ile de Noirmoutier is exactly what it says, an island which is connected to the mainland by a bridge, the whole thing completing what is the Baie de Bourgneuf. There are beaches on the west, beaches at the point and beaches on the north side too, so you are not going to go short of sunbathing areas on your holiday there.

Camping facilities are all about and include take your own tent camping, pre-erected tent camping which includes the provision of beds, a cooker, cooking utensils and fridge'freezer as well as the more popular mobile homes for families which of course have showers and toilets installed.

Noirmoutier was an early monastic settlement of the seventh century but is now a moderately plush tourist resort (meaning that city dwellers have 2nd homes there and the prices are now sky high!), though it has been spared the high-rise development of the adjoining coast. Although tourism is the island's main economy, and camping holidays are a good part of that, it doesn't dominate everything. Salt marshes here are still worked, spring potatoes sown and fish caught by genuine fisherfolk.

You will undoubtedly enjoy your camping holiday on the Ile de Noirmoutier.