Camping & mobile home holidays in la Baie, la Tranche sur Mer, Vendee
La Tranche, or to give the place its proper name, La Tranche-sur-Mer, lies pretty well to the south of the Vendee region of western France. It is easily accessible from the ferry ports of Cherbourg, Caen and is about a 3 hour drive south from St Malo.
Having been there several times the Editor can truthfully tell you that this is one lovely place, clean and well kept with some nice shops too. Also, it is fairly flat in and around La Tranche, unlike St Jean de Monts to the north which partly at sea level with the main parts of the down well below sea level. The approach roads are decked with flowers in summer and they are an absolute delight.
It is a great place for camping and mobile home holidays, and whilst the town is busy you should be able to find parking spaces there at most times – but beware at weekends and school holiday times when parking in any French resort is akin to finding a hen’s tooth.
La Tranche has one major supermarket which is slap bang just off the road leading to Longeville (about 6 kms distant). This supermarket sells everything you need and then some, so you won’t run short of supplies, but they do have a habit of closing quite early on Sundays.
To the south of La Tranche you will find about 13 kilometres of beaches which connect the town from la Faute-sur-Mer. These beaches are some of the cleanest beaches on the Atlantic coast and they regularly receive blue flag status. The beaches closest to the town are ideal for children and are gently sloping with protected waters, and they also have the bonus of having every amenity nearby.
Water sports are very popular here so you can combine your camping holiday with some surfing or something more extreme if the fancy takes you, and if that’s the case then just head for the nautical centre and they will fix you up with anything you want. Surfing is ok here – not as good as way down the south coast, but there again, nowhere in Europe can better the surfing in the St Jean de Luz area.
There is a forest or wood just to the north of La Tranche where wildlife abounds and where you are almost certain to see the little red squirrels if you are quiet, but thankfully those most endearing little creatures are all over the Vendee and lots have become quite tame due to visitors feeding them.
Further to the north of La Tranche is the much larger town of les Sables, or les Sables d’Olonne to be correct. This town also has some most excellent beaches and shopping opportunities for you to exercise the plastic if you wish.
There is also a magnificent and nationally acclaimed Zoo on the southern outskirts of les Sables which is well worth a visit and where you will find all sorts of animals roaming free – even some of the exotic birds are free to fly if they wish, and there are some tiny monkeys in the café area who will steal pretty much anything, so beware!
We are sure and certain that you will enjoy a super camping holiday in or around la Tranche.
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