Camping and mobile home holidays in St Hilaire-de-Riez, Vendee
St Hilaire-de-Riez, known locally as St Hilaire, lies about 17 Kms south of St Jean de Monts on the D38 road which pretty well connects the Ile de Noirmoutier in the north to les Sables d'Olonne further to the south of the Vendee. In between St Jean and St Hilaire is the Forêt-des-Pays-de-Monts which also stretches further north past Notre-Dame-de-Monts and towards Noirmoutier.
The town has some superb beaches and is actually facing the Corniche Vendéenne, that small part of the Cote de Lumiere which covers the top half of the Vendee.
This is a well respected town for camping and mobile home holidays and is well loved by a great many Brits who have stayed there over the years. There are numerous beaches in the area, from the sandy sheltered beach at St Gilles-Croix-de-Vie to secluded coves at Sion-sur-l'Océan.
About 10 miles away is the town of Challans which hosts a popular market on Tuesdays, and next door to St Hilaire is the town of St Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, and separated from from it by the river Vie.
Getting here
Getting here is easy enough and is pretty well the same route used for St Jean de Monts, which is:-
We recommend using ferries to Cherbourg, Caen or St Malo, and driving distances to St Hilaire are 265, 205, 172 miles respectively, though Roscoff in Brittany is another option at 255 miles away, and Calais is 425 miles off.
When driving to St Hilaire 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.
At this point take care to spot the signposts to St Hilaire/St Gilles Croix, although if you happen to miss them you could follow signs for St Jean where you could exit the D753 road onto the D59 to St Hilaire.
| 
