Any recommendations? What’s it like? How reliable is the weather?

Looking for somewhere closer than the Med but with nice seaside. Is there decent biking, off- or on-road?

Or maybe Finistère?

Lovely beaches but windy in my experience. Had some great holidays there when the kids were little.

There are some lovely beaches along the south Brittany and Vendée coast. We used to regularly holiday there when the children were small as it meant a relatively short drive to get to a bit of sunshine.
We usually stayed in the Bénodet to Carnac area. There is very little in the way of mountain biking but plenty of road riding to be had.

We gave up on Brittany about 5 years ago because the weather was so unpredictable (pish most of the years in the previous 5). Worth the extra few hours to get down to Biarritz IMHO.

Same as above best holidays ever when a young teenager. The beach campsites were great. Pornic lovely as is la Rochelle (parents had a house nearby) also la tranches Sur mer was the beach campsite but they’re probably all along the coast. As above can be windy my dad bought a wind surfer and had to be rescued

I really like Benodet. The beaches are a nice mix of some sandy and some rocky with lovely rock pools. Some good restaurants at what seemed reasonable prices and lots of creperies!

Holiday or relocation?
Vendée holidays always good when my kids were young; campsites were well laid out; great beaches.
+1 for La Rochelle.
Noirmoutier also good.

I did a couple of seasons in France two decades ago – I loved Brittany, bit like Cornwall, lots of lovely rocky coves and little beaches. The Vendee I was a bit less excited about, nice long beaches but much busier in high season than Brittany was.* Mrs Pondo and I have also done some camping holidays on the Atlantic coast islands (Re, Oleron and Nourmoutier) which we’ve loved, miles of cycle paths but all effectively dead flat – if you want to bang big mileage in, it’s great but maybe a smidge monotonous, if you’re after hills, I’m not sure the west coast is the place… Weather-wise, Brittany used to just be a slightly warmer Cornwall, the Vendee slightly more so, both mostly pretty good (again, some time ago), we had some fearsome storms on Re and Nourmoutier in August.

* Things may have changed since 1998…

family holidayed brittany/vendee into double figures times when the kids were small. Whilst neither are the Med, the vendee’s in a different climate zone, and I think can be warmer and gets more sun than the Biaritz area further.south (which I also love). Holidayed in Audierne more recently as an ahem, mature couple. (AS a sadly v committed surfer I know the atlantic coast of europe pretty well.)

There is mtb in Brittany and I always take a bike or two. Nothing to get too excited about but the tourist offices give out routes.

This give some ideas: https://vttenfinistere.fr/carte-interactive-boucles-vtt-finistere/

Basically the coastal routes – up and down granite cliffs etc – are most fun, but it’s nice rolling country. Good for riding with kids.

The further south and east you go the warmer south brittany gets but the busier it gets too, with carnac and quiberon really pretty rammed in high season. Out west – to ooint de raz and crozon stay quiet (and get superb surf).

VEndee biking is flat tracks thr0ugh pinewoods, as I recall. Good for kids and similar to les Landes. Venise Vert if very worth a visit – a maze of duckweed covered canals.

Ach. I could go on…

Any scope for gentle singletrack for the kids to MTB on? Those pine forests contain any?

The beaches look nice from a satellite but I live in Wales so have plenty of nice beaches. Hoping the weather is better. As for Biarritz area, I went there as a kid and the waves were massive. My daughter likes a bit of body boarding so we would like nice but small surf. But surf is a real plus because it keeps them in the water getting exercise.

There’s plenty of kid-friendly single track in Brittany. What I’ve encountered in the Vendée is more cycle routes. Both have plenty of non-surf or small surf beaches, unlike Les Landes south from Arcachon which is basically one big beach ready to deliver a thumping to the unwary…

Mrs RBIT and I went to Benodet pre kids. It was great. Can’t comment on what the biking was like though, as I didn’t take it (and TBH the only bike I had at the time was probably the Hybrid of Doom).

Moules Bretonnais is a thing of wonder.

As for Biarritz area, I went there as a kid and the waves were massive. My daughter likes a bit of body boarding so we would like nice but small surf. But surf is a real plus because it keeps them in the water getting exercise.

We had a week just south of Biarritz (Guéthary) last summer. The beaches were great for body boarding.

As a kid I spent many summer holidays in and around Royan. That is worth a look too. Especially Vaux sur Mer and Saint Palais.

My second season in ’99 was in St Palais – beautiful area, lovely campsite, great beach, fantastic co-workers.

C*** of a campsite owner. Genuinely.

Been to both quite a few times.

Vendee is definitely a lot warmer and sunnier generally and worth the extra drive from the ferry.

Beaches are classic French long sandy expanses backed by pine forest. Sea is warm enough for no wetsuit surfing by July.

Riding wise it’s really pretty flat. (Compared to living on the edge of Exmoor anyway!) Pleasant road biking but wouldn’t expect much in the way of mtb,

We camped here quite a few years although not since yelloh took it over. 15 mins to beach, by a lovely lake you can SUP on and really fun campsite for kids with lots of English and Dutch kids to make friends with. Great pool/ waterslides, kids club, tennis courts etc

There’s a little off road ride around the lake too. Good as easy mtb for kids and quite fun to razz round on a gravel bike for me!

https://www.yellohvillage.co.uk/camping/le_pin_parasol?gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt7jT2saz5wIVzLHtCh04GwOHEAAYAiAAEgIqkvD_BwE

Local area is less touristy than la tranche, Just low key French coastal villages, cheap wine, fun mellow waves at Les dunes/ brem sur mer.

Ile de re off la Rochelle is lovely. Plenty of kid friendly beaches and all the island is full of cycle paths. I guess there will be some flat single-track there somewhere but I didn’t get a chance to look this summer.

It’s a tad more expensive than other bits nearby thought.

Second that paule. I’m not sure there’s much mtb, just gravel paths. It’s pan flat too.

Had a super fun fortnight chilling out there last summer though!

We went for a couple of years to Les Mouettes, between St Helen de Riez and St jean De Mont the last two weeks of August. Weather was very good and warm if you stayed out of the wind which was always breezy and cool. Not unpleasant and sunny but not toasty warm like it has been for the last three years where we’ve been going to Loire and Burgundy. But I would go back and would recommend it.

The beach is great, the whole coastline around there is great…you can’t go far wrong really. We stayed at a campsite called Les Ecuriles (spelling will be wrong but you’ll find it), which was a really nice family run campsite (or had a family run feel) but really aimed at families with younger kids, but would recommend that if that fits your bill.

Not a huge amount of cycling to be had. It is very flat and featureless with is not the kind of cycling I like (prefer some lumps). Some nice coast paths/roads you can ride with the family.

A work colleague of mine like Ile de Re..an island off La Rochelle and keeps going back so that might be worth checking out.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Camping+Le+Vieux+Port/@43.8085661,-1.3980514,13z/data=!4m15!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x2f8f939647176228!2sEurocamp!8m2!3d53.2476256!4d-2.4813166!3m7!1s0xd53e26100b11497:0x40a086a75d69d566!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d43.7985443!4d-1.4002419

Answers your needs, I spent 3-4 weeks there every year when my kids were young, easy drive there (done more in a day)

I live near la Rochelle, moved here 6 months ago. It’s a bit further south than Vendée and Brittany but as far as beaches go it’s got lots of options for various water sports, ille d re is good for surfing and paddle boarding, as are some of the beaches in the mainland, like cote sauvage. There’s good mountain biking in mervent, very easy to get lost in the woods and there are some very steep and technical bits. On the whole though it’s pretty flat. Road riding is superb, I’ve been out for 3 hour rides and only encountered a handful of cars, there are also hundreds of miles of gravel roads linking the country lanes, easily visible on Google maps, completely accessible. Most of these are doable on a road bike with sturdy tyres or a gravel bike or cx with fast gravel tyres. Weather wise, it’s been dire lately but it seems to go from being winter to very warm and pleasant rapidly, it stays light till late, everyone is friendly and the tour is coming to these parts next year.

Did many holidays in the Vendee when the kids were smaller, generally staying towards the south of the area. Kids were happy body boarding and (for my son) digging holes in the sand, so good for us. Huge beaches north of Les Sables and south of Longeville were favourites. Get there before lunch before the car parks fill up, and it’s fine. After lunch was carnage in peak season.

Road riding was great. We did find some nice mountain biking when we stayed in the Lac de Jaunay area – area round the east side of the lake had some decent singletrack and short, sharp ascents and descents – good for an hour or so.

Brittany when the weather is good is very good but when its bad its dreadful.
If you are time limited probably aim for further south.
If you are over in Brest area do go to Oceanopolis.
Sounds boring but actually fascinating as the French do this sort of thing so well.
Spend a morning looking at fish then off to eat them for lunch.

My shout would be the Charente Maritime area south of the Vendee. I’ve spent a huge amount of time down there over the past twenty years – and will be spending much more time there from 2020!

Weather is generally better that the Vendee due to the micro-climate in the region. June July & August generally pretty hot.

Loads of quiet lanes for road biking, Informal MTB events most weekends at about 6 Euro entry fee. This year’s calendar is here. Just rock up with your bike, pay the fee and follow the route.

Other family bike stuff here.

English tourist guide here – few years old but still very useful.

I would have sworn La Rochelle was in the Vendee, turns out it’s not.

Stay off Velodysée path along the coast in high summer, it’s a tad crowded. Easy cycling and full of bimbling people having a good time. not my idea of fun but your experience may differ.

I received loads of helpful advice on where to stop over on the way down a few years ago here, so worth a rummage on this thread: https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/travelling-in-france-with-many-bikes-and-children-hotel-advice/

We went the Yelloh Village route a couple of times over the last few years as they’re really easy with small ones. The one south of Les Sables (now part of Sandaya: Camping Sandaya Le Littoral) in particular was really good and we went there a couple of times. The beaches are pretty majestic and if there’s a race on there is usually some fancy yachtage in the harbour to nerd out on if that’s your thing. If you ride along the bike path going south you can get a coffee and pastry at Bougeney and have a look round the harbour, then go on to the bech at Veillon, which is amazing for smalls, all by bike – it’s pretty flat, and so long as you can pack all the stuff you need for a beach, pretty easy. I cant’ remember if we took the bike trailer the first time, but it’s worth borrowing or possibly renting one as you can fit beach kit plus any tired children in one at a pinch. From memory we were able to get both ours all the way there with a break at Bougeney in each direction from about the age of four or five.
We went to a similar site on La Cote Sauvage the last time, and it was good, but a bit less small-sprog friendly on the beaches, which are a bit less sheltered – it’s not know as La Cote Sauvage for nowt.
As they get older a trip to the nearest Indian Forest is a good call – it’s a French version of Go Ape with significantly more fun / risk involved. Ile de Re is amazing, even for a day trip, and you can ride a bunch of really nice loops quite easily if the kids are strong / supplied with snackage. Riding in both areas is on the flat side, but it looks perfect for a gravel bike or CX.
Brittany was a firm favourite with my family growing up and I’d echo the points above, but I wasn’t mountain biking then, so I can only talk about the dinghy and keelboat stuff, which is pretty special. And yes, similar geology to Cornwall but a bit further south.

Been to brittany a few times – as already mentioned, kids, drive, quick to get there following the exciting overnight ferry experience.

Finisterre, stayed near the coast around Douarnenez, some nice beaches and cliffs and so on with prevailing wind being rather prevalent, Quimper also easy reach for nice for a day trip.

The other side, stayed just east of Vannes (Muzillac), coast is less beachy but some nice seaside towns with good eating, plus the zoo at branfere is a good day out for kids (and grownups).

We spent many many happy hols in the Brittany/Vendee/Normandy areas wheh our kids were young. Loved it. As mentioned it’s mostly flat and sandy for riding. Roads generally nice and quiet. In summer there are often ‘festivals’ on – Sardine festival, etc. Sometimes there are events on too. I did a couple of Bike Rando’s on my mtb and they were fun.

This might be useful too: https://www.freewheelingfrance.com/planning-a-trip/veloroutes-and-voies-vertes-in-france.html

So there is some tech…

But this gives more of an idea…