Has anyone any experience of cycling around this area of France?

Yes – have ridden around much of it on family holidays with trailer and child seat. Very pleasant way of exploring the island, and of course much cheaper than trying to take a car over the bridge.

we were staying in a campsite in/near La Rochelle. Sorry, bit vague on details.

Worth tracking down though is the IGN map M82606 by foot and bike. SHows all the cycle path routes. Just looking at it now on my desk.
“MINI ILE DE RE ; A VELO ET A PIED ; M 82606”
http://www.cdiscount.com/livres-bd/livres-tourisme-voyages/mini-ile-de-re-a-velo-et-a-pied-m-82606/f-1051701-3282118260614.html

PS only cost €5.90 on location

Ile de re is great for family cycling. Loads of tracks.

Its OK for road, early morning is best because later is busy – drivers stress at you if you don’t use the cycle paths (yes in France, probably the tourists). Unfortunately the biggest hill is the bridge to get there.

Forget off road – too flat and soft sand.

But for jumping on a shopper, cruising to the market beach etc its fine

Bike hire cheap too on il de re. Think we were 30e each for a week or thereabouts.

Another vote for it. The bike tracks are so separate from the roads and follow the scenery linking villages so well that we found it the best way to get around when the kids were both on tagalongs.

To leave the car on the mainland and ride over the bridge though you’d need to be fit as the distances to cover the full island would mount up. If you actually want to have time to see the north of the island rather than just ride there and back, parking in the middle somewhere like St Martin de Re and riding from there would work.

Thanks for the replies, are the cycle tracks suitable for a road bike.

Almost all the cycle tracks are tarmac or concrete surfaces. Were I to go back I’d take the road bike, but probably with 25mm+ tyres just for comfort.

There were 2 camp sites, 1 that was always closed or full, the other was between a railway and the city tip. Ah yes I remember it well, my Harley burst into flames after being parked up for 8 hours. Ile de re is lovely, there’s even a place where you can wave your bits about on a brill beach right at the top. The bridge is a lot in a car, far better to park up and cycle over….There’s some really weird oyster beds and huts slightly further down the coast with one of the more colourful bars I’ve visited….

It’s beautiful,you’ll have loads of fun there.

” books trip back to La Roch”

The oyster area is Marennes, towards Oberon. Really unusual…..

There is a bus stop where you park up to get a bus over if you’re going to hire a bike whilst there.

The fees to cross the bridge during peak season are ridiculous and you end up sitting in a huge traffic jam for most of the day!

We camped on Ile de Re and rode around! Was very pleasant, if windy. Fine on a road bike.

Just got home from ile de re, we both loved the island. Cycling on the road bikes was fine and we have already booked to return next year. Highly recommended holiday.

my dad told me i could hire a 36″ wheel cruiser on the ile de re. I spent the entire day looking for a 36″ wheel cruiser. I did not hire a bike that day 🙁

I rode one of those cruisers there!

Gave me vertigo… 🙂