Which is the livelier resort? (1 Viewer)

[GAVLAD]

Looking at summer next year for either:

les Sables D'Olonne
or
La Tranche Sur Mer
or
Saint Gilles Croix de Vie

Has anyone been to the above and if so, what's your verdict?
our tick list include a decent beach, shops, decent site etc. (Need to stay on a site rather than aire to appease all)

The above will form a break in journey for moving on further south.
Thanks a lot!

 

[deanroofing]

There's a Yelloh Site up the road from Sables nice beach and harbour we've only been in June it livens up on an evening but heard it gets well busy during the French holiday period

 

[vwalan]

la tranche sur mer is a real marnle town . shops roads etc all made out of marble . there is a decent campsite there . the beach is ok.
used to be one of our regular places to visit . it had am,bike show ran by m.c. tenduers club.
there is or was a casino in the town and a good pub by the beach . used to have live music on many evenings .
but really any of the places you have mentioned are ok. only rode through the other places really so cant help with campsites etc .
but had great times years ago. trikes werent legal in france , they loved mine .

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[Whitebirdyman]

I stayed at La Tranche a few times over the years and personally do not think it has much to recommend it. There is a site close into the town but it is not great, many of the other sites are then strung out along the road which goes down to L'Aiguillon sur Mer. These have good access to the beach across the road but are a bit out of the main town. I stayed at the Du Jard campsite for a couple of days, facilities are OK, but it had a lot of rules. The guy next to me had a fire break out in his fridge and used one of their fire extinguishers. I was amazed when they charged him for using it, telling him to claim the cost on his insurance! Just before you get to L'Aiguillon you get to La Faute, which was virtually wiped out in a storm a few years back and has been reconstructed, though I have not been there for a few years now. Last time in that area I stayed on the aire at L'Aiguillon rather than on a site and I see that Camping Car Park now have one of their Aires at La Faute.

I think you would find St Gilles Croix de Vie busier and much more interesting, there are beaches both sides of the town and I particularly like the smaller ones which you get to by following the Corniche. I can't recommend any convenient sites as I have only even stopped on the aire when I wanted to be central. On other trips I have been on sites just south of St Jean des Monts and cycled down the Corniche to the town.

Les Sables is going to be very busy in the summer holiday. I have been a few times and stayed on the Fosse Rouge site, which is fairly basic but OK. It is a way out of the centre but a nice walk either along the sea front or diagonally down past the casino, zoo and gardens. There are a few shops just down the road towards the sea and a large complex with a Hypermarket a short walk the other way. A bus runs to the centre if you don't want to walk and another bus runs into town from the Hypermarket. A lot of the coast to the south of the town is quite rocky but to the north it is more sandy. A more fully featured site near the Fosse Rouge one is called Bel Aire, that has more facilities, but I do not know about sites the other side of town.

 

[mid4did]

We used Les dunes near bretignolles a couple times using tents back in the 80,s just north of les sables,had great times.fast forward to this year youngest grown up with 4 kids now and using a large tent us our motorhome.we stopped at le bois joly st jean de monts.Nice site water slides etc lively town long beach a walk away.Downside a bit expensive to keep kids amused.