Camping St Jean de Monts, the Vendee, Pays de la Loire, west coast of France
There are no camping sites actually in the town but there are a great number of them on the outskirts, most of which are to the north and south at sea level, but there are some on the bottom approach roads as well. This is one of the most popular camping resorts in the vendee, if not the whole of France, and we (the editor & family) have had many wonderful holidays here over a span of 20 years or so.
What we like about this region, this town in fact, is that it is pristine clean with good shops, superb beaches, and the campsites we have stayed on have all been top notch.
For those of you who may not have visited St Jean de Monts before it may come as a surprise to know that most of this wonderful seaside town is well below sea level, in fact it is only the vast promenade, some nice restaurants and a few hotels which are at sea level, and all the rest is, by degrees, several hundreds of feet below - a scary thought when you think about it but the town has never suffered by it.
The promenade by the way is enormous and wide as well - wide enough for double car parking virtually the whole length of the town.
Below the promenade there is a middle level to the town which has shops, a small market area, and a beautiful little church, and below that again is the central shopping area which is virtually a complete town in itself.
There is parking here, though this becomes very restricted on Wednesday and Saturday mornings when there are markets. There is also a general indoor food and fish market in this area every day, supermarket, tabac & general shops.
Next door to the market place/main car park is the Irish/English Pub which serve some really good meals with wines/beers to match.
Getting here
Getting here is a doddle, depending on which ferry route you have used. We recommend using Cherbourg, Caen or St Malo, and driving distances are 259, 200, 168 miles away respectively, though Roscoff in Brittany is another option at 252 miles away, and Calais is 424 miles off.
When driving to St Jean de Monts or St Jean Plage (next door) the only stumbling block where you may become lost is on the Nantes périphérique or ring road, and we think that you will have to use that road whichever ferry port you have used.
First of all, from the 1st sign for the périphérique until the actual turnoff it is 4 KM, and you only get one shot at this so better get it right the first time or you have to drive through the city.
Follow Ouest (west) if you like but always follow signs for Bordeaux and that way you just can't go wrong. You need to exit the périphérique at junction 48 onto the free part of the E3 A83 autoroute. Leave the autoroute at junction 1 and take the D178 to St Philbert, Challans, and St Jean is signposted after Challans.
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