Information about camping and camping resources in and around Royan in the Charent-Maritime

Royan is in Charentes-Maritime, one of the four parts which make up Poitou Charente along with Deux-Sevres, Vienne and Charente. The Charente-Maritime lies immediately below the Vendee on the west coast of France, and Royan faces the Atlantic, being situated at the northernmost part of the Gironde river mouth. We have linked to a map which shows the whole area.

Getting to Royan is simple enough as most of your journey from any of the northern ferry ports will be either on autoroutes or fast and free dual carriageways. Obviously the journey is easier and nearer from ports like Le Havre, Caen or St Malo, but if you insist on driving all the way from Calais may we suggest that your route takes you via Abbeyville, Rouen and Le Mans rather than driving around Paris?

Royan and the surrounding area is a magnet for holidaymakers, partly because the weather in the region is as good as it gets outside the Med coastal area, partly because it is easily accessible by car and air, and partly because the whole region is delightful.

The market in Royan is the best in Charente-Maritime and is open most days. Just wandering around seeing stalls offering an amazing variety of fish, meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables is a fantastic experience. Eat oysters there as the area around Royan is famous for producing oysters and mussels.

The beaches, both the Grande Conche and the Front de Mer, are great, or hire a bike and cycle along the miles of coastal paths and pine forests, and a visit to the famous town of Cognac is surely a must to savour the taste of the local Pineau and Cognac as there are lots of distilleries which offer tastings. Or you could take the ferry across the Gironde to the vineyards and chateaux of the Medoc, or why not do both?

And as for camping, the area offers masses of sites for all sorts of camping from take your own tent, pre-assembled tent camping where everything is supplied, right up to the latest in camping comforts of a mobile home.

Camp sites are rife on the Île d'Oléron which is very near to Royan, an island reached via a causeway. Apparently the Île d'Oléron is France's largest island after Corsica, a favourite of day trippers and families in the summer months for its beautiful sandy beaches, and just the right spot for a camping holiday.