The departement of the Vendée is home to an estimated 540 residents as of the 1999 census data. The Vendée constitutes 282 communes that are joined altogether in 31 cantons. See our map for locations of towns and brief ideas for what they hold for you!

The Vendéan mussel-growing capital, L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer is famous for the shellfish, marsh, and sea. Its muddy seabed provides a perfect spot not for bathing but for sailing. As for bird lovers, thousands of goldfinches, thrushes, and other migrating bird species pass through L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer between August and November on their way to Spain or Africa and back again in spring. Avail of their guided nature walks held twice weekly in the months of July and August.

Inland from St-Gilles is the town of L'Aiguillon-sur-Vie, which is famous for its fishing grounds as indicated by “pêche à la truite” signs surrounding it. Golf des Fontenelles, an 18-hole golf course, is likewise situated in this little town and serves golf lovers the whole year through.

This busy little town of the Vendée is swamped with a variety of shops and business establishments. Also, situated at the edge of the Aizenay forest is the site of the historical demise of the US WW2 bomber and its crew in 1944.

Nick and Sue Pearson, famous for their charming creations made out of shells and driftwood, hold summer crafts fairs in Angles. Angles is also home to L’Aluette craft shop that sells woven garments, knitwear, pottery, and leatherwork from June to September. The Romanesque church in this town bears a stone Plantagenet-style figure believed to be that of Richard Coeur-de-Lion (or of his father, Henry II).

Found near the town of Aizenay is the picturesque village of Apremont, which seems to cling to the rocky sides of the valley of Vie. Apremont is known for its Renaissance castle and a lake (largest lake in the Vendée) with a warm sandy beach. It is at this lake where you can go sailing dinghies or go windsurfing. Canoes and other flat-bottomed boats are for rent just downstream.

From the tiny village of Avrillé one can have a view of the Neolithic cairn center and other megalithic remains (100 menhirs and 23 dolmens estimated).

On the mainland side of the bridge connecting this town to Noirmoutier is a warm sandy beach perfect for sunbathers and surfers alike. The beach also accommodates travellers who want to camp overnight and enjoy some of the bar’s goodies.

This interesting village sitting at the south of Aizenay provides several creative activities for the artist in you. Régis Delène Bartholdi has his elegant studio situated in a courtyard just off the main square of the Beaulieu-sous-la-Roche where he displays his collection of desert-themed paintings. The same courtyard houses the village’s antiquarian bookseller Antiqvarian.

In the twelfth or thirteenth century, two sailors built the Chapel of Notre-Dame de Bourdevert as grateful acknowledgment of their survival in a shipwreck on the same spot where the chapel stands. On the chapel’s rafters is a suspended model ship; while babies’ shoes hang at the side of the altar. These shoes where left by parents after praying to the Virgin to have their children’s first steps guided and not led astray.

Secure yourselves with a “carte pêche-vacances” or a holiday fishing permit and enjoy lake and river fishing in Bouin. A day’s catch of carp, bream, perch, tench, and a lot more would be delightful and fun.

At the heart of this small town, one will find Christian Bourcereau’s “poterie” where he makes his famous masterpieces of studio pottery glazed with glowing raku. Children must go and visit the town’s Parc d'Attractions des Dunes to enjoy the slides and pedal cars, the ball ponds, and its bouncy surfaces.

At the center of this quaint town is a tourist office where you can make reservations for your trips, inquire about the region’s frequently visited tourist spots (i.e., the best place to go fishing), learn where to find your sporting equipments, and more.

Find Annie Piraud and Patine et Pomme de Pin in this interesting town of Challans. Both are sophisticated shops that offer furniture, decorative items for your homes—including a few paintings.

In 1889 an inspired priest initiated the building of this significant point of pilgrimage on a steep and sloping site. The Notre-Dame-de-Salette has its high towers and walls teetering over a colorful and life-sized-statues-filled garden.

Golf enthusiasts would be delighted to visit the 18-hole golf course Golf des Fonatanelles with its lusciously green fields and a restaurant/bar that offers mouthwatering menu for first-time as well as returning clients.

This village nestled at the north of Vendée is home to the historic Refuge de Grasla, which served as the villagers’ hideout during the eighteenth-century Vendée Wars.

Included in the top 20 must-see list in the Vendée is the Cinéscénie at Le Puy du Fou. The place is bustling with all the summer visitors eager to witness the magnificent nighttime son-et-lumière spectacle and another equally breath-taking daytime attraction, which is actually a historical theme park—the Grand Parc.

A romantic little town that offers a wide variety of restaurants to dine at with your loved ones. Les Essarts is soon to become an important part of the Vendée region’s transportation route system.

Four magnificent beaches located in this oyster-producing town make La Faute-sur-Mer one of the most popular towns of the region. There’s the Point d'Arçay that shelters Aiguillon Bay; the Plage des Belugas; which is home to the region’s sand yachtsmen; and the Plage de la Barrique, which unceasingly amazes naturists.

La Faute-sur-Mer’s 140-year-old pine forest has been provided with a “parcours de santé” by the forestry commission giving tourists and locals alike the opportunity to enjoy a little hopping, jumping, and skipping.

François Rabelais served as a monk at Fontenay-le-Comte. It is in this quiet town—where the emperor Napoleon I and his wife Joséphine had stopped off as guests of the mayor Laval on their way to Nantes—that François Rabelais studied his Latin and Greek, philology science, and law.

Fontenay-le-Comte was also the birthplace of the great mathematician François Viète, the famous zoologist and natural philosopher Mathurin Jacques Brisson, and the powerful politician Michael Crépeau.

The cemetery Le Panthéon de la Vendée at La Gaubretière serves as the final abode of thousands of combatants of the historic war involving the region of Vendée.

Clothes emporiums abound around the area of Les Herbiers and Cholet where you can avail of quality clothing products at great bargains. In Le Mont des Alouettes, an area nearby, one can find the remaining three windmills whose sails were used by guerrilla warriors for passing their coded messages. Also, in your ninety-minute balloon flight, you could actually look over the hilly regions of Les Herbiers.

The island’s harbors—Port-Joinville and La Meule—are known for being the fishing grounds of crawfish and tuna. This attractive old town has inspired many artists including Jean Rigaud and his friend Maurice Boitel to create magnificent art pieces. The French wartime leader Philippe Pétain is said to have died and been buried in the island in 1951.

Financed by Richard the Lionheart, the Abbey of Lieu-Dieu is located at the west side of the town of Jard-sur-Mer. The abbey is sometimes open for the public, but even if it were not, one could go into its yard and take poses at the towers rising among farm buildings. The town’s seaside is peppered with colorful, attractive houses.

Longeville-sur-Mer boasts of its sands (separated from the marshland by a pine forest) is home to many campsites and three major beaches—Le Rocher, Le Bouil, and Les Conches. The third one is a surfer’s heaven with a surfing school operated by British Louise and Paul. Les Conches was awarded the Blue Flag in 1998 for being able to maintain its clean waters.

The author of the Enyclopaedia of Machine Embrodiery, Val Homes is inspired by the town’s nature to come up with fabulous masterpieces of images using only the sewing machine and some thread. Lucon’s Romanesque Cathedral is designed with a graceful spire and large white columns and seventh-century stone garlands blended with twelfth to the eighteenth architectural styles.

The modern chapel of Mémorial de la Vendée sitting atop a hill serves as a memory of the 564 women, old people, and children who were massacred by the Republican “colonnes infernales” as they were kneeling in prayer in the same spot on the twenty-third day of February 1794. The chapel’s stained-glass windows depict a detailed account of the horrifying Wars of Vendée.

Several restaurants that offer a great deal of sumptuous food and delightful dining ambience give the city a favorable impression aside from the quail- and ostrich-rearing businesses that the area is famous for. At its south are picturesque parks and forests providing intimate places for those who are romantic at heart.

Spend a splendid afternoon around Mervent’s lovely forest with its shady picnic spots and fragrant pine trees. Pierre-Brune’s activity park offers day-long activities for your active kids.

Located at the northern part of Vendée is this quaint little market town of Montaigu filled with small craft and souvenir shops and cafés perfect for some chit-chats over coffee. The town is also famous for Maison de la Rivière, a museum that speaks of river life.

Take a relaxing walk (or a short jog) from the simple village’s “lavoir” or washing area up to the miller’s trail to the ridge overlooking the small pine tree forest with several decaying windmills.

Gathered around a magnificent eighteenth-century market, this ancient village has a large supermarket that sells a good variety of “English products” such as Jacobs’s Cream Crackers to Paxo stuffing and golden syrup to Oxo cubes.

Thirty kilometers off the Atlantic Ocean and ten kilometers of Roche-sur-Yon, Nesmy is popular for its potteries and tileries, which is an artisanal tradition. The town is also home to the internationally famous La Domangère golf course. Hiking trails are numerous in the area, and pleasant waterside walks are always filled with people looking for a relaxing place to while the time away.

The small village of Nieul-sur-l'Autise is said to be where Eleanor of Aquitaine was born and was likewise named as part of her kingdom. The village’s Romanesque abbey was where Eleanor’s mother was buried.

More popularly called Noirmoutier, Noirmoutier-en-l'Île is a beautiful town, which has a twelfth-century castle that shelters museums and the Eglise St-Philbert. Noirmoutier is undoubtedly the core of the island’s life as it is where most restaurants, bars, and cafés can be found teeming with adults and teenagers alike even up until daybreak.

The town also boasts of fine sandy beaches up on the west, and on the north, windmills and maritime pines where export-quality mimosa flowers are grown. Do not miss to visit one of the island’s salt producers and salt marshes protected by dikes.

This popular seaside resort is filled with sand-yachting fanatics racing just to the north especially during low tide. The equally famous Pont d'Yeu is at the southern part and is heaven for those who love to gather shellfish.

The town of Olonne-sur-Mer is home to the famous 18-hole golf course Gold des Olonnes, where golf enthusiasts love to get together because of the warm and excellent service provided by the staff and the crew. Golf des Olonnes also has a restaurant that offers a wide range of delectable dishes to enjoy from.

This little village offers a fascinating site of its underground passages believed to be the way the witches used on their way to Sabbaths.

Wine-production in this small town has shown incredible improvement over the years. Having been given the VDQS appellation (Vins Délimité de Qualité Superieure), wines produced in this area are soon to gain the AOC status (Appellation d’Origine Controlée).

Enjoy the many relaxing walking routes around this village. Or if a relaxing and quiet afternoon is more soothing to you, a picnic with your partner or your family under these routes’ shady parks would be a delightful experience.

Approximately 1 km southeast of town is the grand church of Notre-Dame seated on a grassy churchyard. Inside, one can avail of a seven-minute explanation of the church’s interior—the designs and their meanings as well. Just recently, frescoes of Cain and Abel have been discovered at the west door of the same church.

The great eighteenth-century scientist and inventor of the thermometer René-Antoine Ferchaud de Réaumur is almost always associated with this village.

This interesting town in western France replaced Fontenay-le-Comte as prefecture of the Vendée when Napoleon I said so. It used to bear the name Napoléon-on-Yon (First French Empire), Bourbon-Vendée (French Restoration), and finally, Napoléon-Vendée (Second Republic).

This picturesque town in western France is the birthplace of the pirate François l'Ollonais. This town serves as the start and finish line of the grand Vendée Globe, which is actually a yacht race held every four years and is a major tourist attraction. La Bibelotière and Maison de Vacances/L'Orangerie are among the many arts and crafts shops found in this town with great offers of decorative items perfect for souvenirs and gifts.

This pretty village is noted for its interesting museum of kitchen utensils.

Another town of the Vendée department in western France is Saint-Hilaire-de-Loulay, the home of Château de La Preuille, which produces the famous Muscadet Sur Lie. In 1995, the wine garnered the prize “Grand Vin Du Val De Loire.”

As with any other seaside village, St-Hilaire-de-Riez gives tourists and locals alike the opportunity to enjoy its beaches and the fresh air that comes with it. Small shops and bars line up the beach area and provide a variety of goodies for you and your company.

This famous seaside village has lots of fun to offer its visitors with its fine sandy beaches perfect for bathing and bird watching. A nearby open-air farming museum attracts many travelers daily.

TSt-Laurent-sur-Sèvre is paradise for religious devotees as the village teems with religious institutions from grand Romanesque churches to enchanting ancient tiny places of worship.

At 290 meters in altitude, this village is the highest point in Vendée. The village appropriately houses the 193-stepped tower of Église St-Michel, the late-nineteenth century church with a large copper statue of St. Michael the archangel, the patron saint of high places.

Every February of every year, the village is filled with boisterous celebration as they commemorate the feast of St-Valentine. Travelers from around the world come to meet and enjoy the village’s grand preparations in honor of the saint.

Sallertaine is the place to be especially during the summer months as the village bursts into life with craft shops that offer a wide range of goodies for sale—from furniture to small home decors, from tiny gift items to large paintings, and many more. Witness exhibitions of the village life presented in the twelfth-century church or ride canoes and paddle along the village canals.

Situated south of Challans, Soullans is the birthplace and home of the famous painter Charles Milcendeau.

Talmont-St-Hilaire, formerly a seaport, is known for the massive ruined historic fortress built by Richard Coeur-de-Lion (Richard I of England or Richard the Lionheart), who mostly stayed at Talmont’s surrounding forests for hunting or fighting.

Over this little town towers the gigantic ruined castle of Bluebeard (Barbe-blue). Gilles de Rais, owner of the said fortress, fought with Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years’ War. Developing a passion for alchemy with the belief that he could turn young children’s blood into gold, Gilles de Rais seized more than two hundred children from the area and murdered them altogether.

Host to a number of European championships in late August, La Tranche is world famous for windsurfing and tulips (holding annual tulip parades in mid-April). A nudist area found at the north of the Plage de la Terrière is an additional attraction. Get the California feel among the numerous surf shops and bars lining the long stretch of fine silky sand.

An hour-ride by boat north of the Vendée coast will take you to this island where time is believed to have stood still. The unspoilt island of Ile d'Yeu continues to attract tourists with the colorful shops and bars lining the main town. Bikes and cars are available for rent for the ultimate holiday experience.