Camping holidays in and around St Gilles Croix-de-Vie, Vendee
St Gilles Croix-de-Vie is slap bang next to St Hilaire de Riez and only separated from it by the river Vie. Both of these towns are located in the Vendee region on the west coast of France about 20 KMs south of St Jean de Monts.
St Gilles is another camping holiday haven facing the Corniche Vendéenne just as St Hilaire does, and that part of the coastline is a part of the larger Cote de Lumiere, or Coast of Light, which runs from the Ile de Noirmoutier in the north to just past la Tranche-sur-Mer in the south. Strangely enough, St Gilles lies on the D38 road which covers almost exactly the same distance!
Basically, this is a nice part of the world and it makes an excellent holiday venue as you not only have great beaches nearby but also a plentiful variety of shops in which to exercise your plastic.
Surfing can be good here if you catch the right tides, and even if you aren't too good at it you can still take to body surfing which is easy peasy and nearly as much fun.
If you like wildlife then there is no shortage of woodland nearby in the Foret des Pays de Monts which again, reaches right up to Noirmoutier, other than where there are townships of course.
If you are careful you may see red squirrels - they are the indiginous species here and there is no shortage of them, indeed, we have often hand fed some whilst in this area either in the campsites or whilst sat at picnic tables in the woods.
Round and about
Whilst on your camping holiday in St Gilles you may wish to venture further afield one day and we can recommend a day out in la Roche-sur-Yon which is the Prefecture or capital of the Vendee region. It isn't too big but there is plenty to see there, much of which is due to the influence of Napoleon of all people, and the story in brief is that this is the only town he ever built - he razed many to the ground though!
Les Sables d'Olonne is also worth a trip and this is easy to get to as all you have to do is to follow the good old D38 road south and you reach it. Les Sables also has some spectacularly good beaches, masses of shops and one of the best Zoos in France. Now there are Zoos and there are Zoos, and I for one am not particularly in favour of keeping animals caged for the satisfaction of we humans to gawp at them, but this Zoo is different.
The Zoo is not large by any means but it is nationally renowned, and as you enter you will no doubt notice some small monkeys running loose near the cafe area, and if you sit down with a cuppa and a bun then take care because they are notorious thieves! A variety of exotic birds are here and totally free to fly should they wish. It's that kind of Zoo.
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