Camping le Lac du Jaunay

There’s plenty of beach action to be had in the Vendée. The Côte de Lumière (15 minutes’ drive) encompasses lively seaside resorts like Saint-Jean-de-Monts (35 minutes) with its street markets, sandy beaches and wooden pier – a great sunset-viewing spot on clear days. Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie (20 minutes) has a long stretch of sand popular with surfers and backed by bars. You might care to explore the untamed Marais Poitevin Regional Natural Park (35 minutes) on cruises around the waterways in traditional wooden punts. The park is also a popular cycling destination with a maze of gentle, flat bike paths suitable for younger kids. Puy du Fou (an hour) theme park is one of the biggest pulls in the area; take the kids for a full day of historic pageants with casts of thousands of people and animals. Straddling the Loire River, storied Nantes (also about an hour) beckons people in to tour the majestic Castle of the Dukes of Brittany and ride the four-storey automaton elephant along the waterside.