Imagine yourself on the hills, breathing the fresh mountain air, at peace and relaxed. You suddenly want to take a holiday. If these images fill your daydreams and you’re planning to take a vacation any time soon anyway, then the French county of the Vendée is perfect for you.

The Vendée is a large county or departèment roughly the size of Devon or Cumbria. It is situated on the French Atlantic coast south of Brittany and Nantes and north of La Rochelle.

It runs from two to five hours from the different western ferry harbors, which makes one’s trip to the place, if you’re from Britain and Ireland, not too long or too short—just enough for one to familiarize with the region’s neighboring counties.The Vendée, as of the latest census in France, has a total population of 540,000 happy French people.

The ideal location of the Vendée, positioned geologically north of La Rochelle and way down south of Brittany and Nantes, affords itself the luxury of being a wonderful country destination. The county rests on the coast of the French Atlantic making the Vendée very accessible from its neighboring European countries such as the UK.

Interesting to note too is the Vendée’s highest point, the Mont Mercure. The latter area rises 935 feet or 285 meters high above sea level. There are also four rivers running against each other in Vendée. The Sèvre Nantaise runs for a total of 135 kilometers, while the Sèvre Niortaise, which runs opposite the first river, reaches 150 kilometers.

The third river, which this quaint county got its name from, the Vendée, spans 70 kilometers across the county, while the Lay reaches to about 110 kilometers. The Vendée River, by the way, surrounds the southeastern portion of this French country, running all throughout this direction.

Formerly known as the Bas-Poitou, the Vendée once belonged to the kingdom of Eleanor of Aquitaine’s from 1122 until 1204. The famous lady was believed to have been born on the southeast area of the French county on the village of Nieul-sur-l’-Autise. Accordingly, her whole history and that of her family spins around this place in France.

Eleanor’s famous son Richard I of England, also called Richard the Lionheart, often visited the Talmont, spending most of his grown-up years in the area. The region was however destroyed when the so-called Hundred Years’ Wars was staged in the area from 1337 to 1453, which turned the region into an ugly battlefield.

Nevertheless, the Vendée people did not give up on the charming county. They rebuilt the town and restored it to its former glory; and so today, the Vendée is once more the idyllic county that it was before the wars.

That is exactly why the best way to go around the Vendée and discover its splendor is by pedaling a bicycle. You guessed it right! It’s cycling at its finest. Not only are you giving yourself the needed exercise but you are also going to enjoy the whole of the Vendée unadulterated.

The four favorite cycling routes of the Vendée are the La Mothe-Achard, the La Mothe-Achard to the seaside, the La Chaize-Giraud, and the circular route starting at Aizenay.

Another way of exploring the Vendée is by hot-air balloon. Although considered primarily for being a favorite recreational activity of the locals, ballooning is now also fast becoming a must in every foreigner’s to-do list while in the Vendée. Known in French as a “montgolfière,” after the surnames of the brothers, Montgolfier, who developed this means of transport in the eighteenth century, a hot-air balloon ride over the beautiful landscape of the Vendée in the early hours of the morning or at sunset is the perfect beginning to a romantic getaway.

One has the option to take the ninety-minute flight over Les Herbiers, which departs from somewhere near the Puy-du-Fou, with the help of any of the Vendée’s hot-air balloon pilots.

One could just walk around the Vendée. This not only saves one’s transportation money for the day’s tours, you also get to exercise.

Walking is one Vendée activity you shouldn’t miss doing. The Vendée is a magical place to go strolling. There is the verdant countryside and the city thoroughfares, beautiful any time of the day and all dressed up for a foreigner’s pair of eyes. One should only make sure that she is following the routes marked specifically for walks.

Truly, the Vendée is a charming place to be any time of the year.