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Coast with the most

With golden sands and lush countryside, the Vendée offers everything you need for the perfect beach holiday – and a lot more besides. Sylvie Wheatley and family head to the coast...

Any trip to the Vendée has to start with its 250-kilometre Atlantic coast and golden sands. I chose to explore the coast between Brettignolles-sur-Mer and Saint-Jean-de-Monts, via Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie away from Les Sables d’Olonne, the best-known resort in the département. All three resorts have everything required for a great day by the sea, with plenty of sand, cafés, ice creams, gaufres and fun. They are all easily accessible by car and free parking is available everywhere. Also, for those who like leisurely cycling, these resorts, with their flat, dedicated cycling lanes, are ideal.

In Brettignolles-sur-Mer, the northern part of the seafront is rocky and rugged, but La Parée beach to the south is flat and sandy. When I arrived with my husband and two boys aged 12 and 14 in the late afternoon, the tide was coming in and the wind was strong. There were still a lot of people in the sea but many more had retreated right up to the dunes, watching the surfboarders try to stay upright. We admired their efforts for a while, swam, read, listened to the snippets of French conversation floating on the wind, and soaked up the atmosphere of the beach.

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