Travelling to the Vendee

Ferry crossings for travelling to the Vendee department of France

Taking your car on a cross channel ferries offers a convenient travel option from the UK, particularly for families with children. No restrictions on luggage space...

Distances from the ferry ports to the Vendee
If you are planning a sea crossing, the following chart of distances from the ferry ports will help you in deciding on your holiday travel arrangements.
The shortest sea crossings from the UK to France are Calais and Cherbourg,
For the Vendee, the shortest drive in France is from St Malo.
Distances are calculated to the town of Lucon by the usual road route.

Ferry Port		Km	Miles
A	Roscoff	424	265
B	St Malo	296	185
C	Cherbourg	416	260
D	Caen	358	224
E	Le Havre	461	288
F	Calais	715	447

DISCOUNT DEALS ON FERRY CROSSINGS TO FRANCE
We have selected this company which offers a wide selection of ferry crossings and usually provides great value. You can click this link for a quote for your chosen ferry crossing.

List of the cross channel ferry routes to France
See below for links to the ferry companies.

UK & Ireland Ports	Destination Port	Ferry Company
Portsmouth	Caen	Brittany Ferries
Dover	Calais	Seafrance
Dover	Calais	P&O Ferries
Folkestone	Calais Train Station	Eurotunnel
Portsmouth	Cherbourg	Brittany Ferries
Portsmouth	Cherbourg	Condor Ferries
Rosslare	Cherbourg	Celtic Link Ferries
Rosslare	Cherbourg	Irish Ferries
Poole	Cherbourg	Brittany Ferries
Newhaven	Dieppe	Transmanche Ferries
Dover	Dunkerque	Norfolkline
Portsmouth	Le Havre	LD Lines
Newhaven	Le Havre	LD Lines
Portsmouth	Le Havre	Transmanche Ferries
Newhaven	Le Havre	Transmanche Ferries
Cork	Roscoff	Brittany Ferries
Cork	Roscoff	Brittany Ferries
Plymouth	Roscoff	Brittany Ferries
Rosslare	Roscoff	Irish Ferries
Weymouth	St Malo	Condor Ferries
Jersey	St Malo	Condor Ferries
Guernsey	St Malo	Condor Ferries
Portsmouth	St Malo	Brittany Ferries
Poole	St Malo	Condor Ferries

Flying to the Vendee | Fly-drive options | Car Hire in the Vendee

Flying is a practical alternative to taking the ferry accross the channel. It can offer a good value solution for couples and smaller families by using the low cost budget airlines. You can arrive at either Nantes or La Rochelle airports and be within an hour's drive of most of the Vendee. Poitiers airport is a little further, just over one and a half hours.

Car hire in the Vendee
Car hire is available for pick-up at the airports in this region, Nantes, La Rochelle and Poitiers. Click the link opposite for great deals on holiday car rental. Take care to specify the pick-up and drop-off times to correspond with your flights as some car hire companies can be a little inflexible in this respect at the smaller airports. Child seats can usually be provided, but make sure on this point.

Flights to the Vendee
Budget low-cost companies tend to change their flight programs regularly and in relation to the seasons so you need to check what the situation will be for your holiday dates.
See below left for links to the airline companies.

UK and Irland Airport	Destination Airport	Airline
London Stanstead	La Rochelle	Ryanair
Manchester	La Rochelle	Flybe
Bristol	La Rochelle	easyJet
Southampton	La Rochelle	Flybe
London (Gatwick)	La Rochelle	easyJet
Birmingham	La Rochelle	Flybe
Leeds - Bradford	La Rochelle	Jet2
Glasgow	La Rochelle	Flybe
Dublin	La Rochelle	Ryanair
Edinburgh	La Rochelle	Jet2
London (Gatwick)	Nantes	easyjet
London (Stansted)	Nantes	Ryanair
Bournemouth	Nantes	Ryanair
Liverpool	Nantes	Ryanair
East Midlands	Nantes	Ryanair
London (Stansted)	Poitiers	Ryanair
Birmingham	Poitiers	Ryanair
Internal flights Paris (CDG)	Nantes	Air France

Beware of "extras" when comparing flight prices
Take care to check the "extras" when working out and comparing flight prices. Budget companies often have a fair list of fees to add on to the basic ticket price. Bear in mind that you will be severly restricted on baggage allowance, that this is usually strictly enforced and that you will pay heavily for excess weight.

Planning your trip
You can use the usual Michelin or Mappy websites for planning your trip to the Vendee and getting to your holiday cottage, or rely on your GPS/Sat-Nav when in France, but beware of errors and omissions. Postcodes in France relate to a large area, often several villages or a vast area around a town so you can't just use the postcode to pinpoint a holiday property on a map website or with a Sat-Nav. Some hamlets or small groups of houses ("lieu-dit" in French) may not even be listed. We recommend that once your are in the general area you make use of the detailed arrival instructions that will be provided with your holiday accommodation paperwork, as these will be based on real local knowledge.

HOW TO GET THERE - travel hints for getting to the Vendee, ferry crossings, flights, nearest airports, distances, car hire...

Ferry crossings for travelling to the Vendee department of France

Flying to the Vendee | Fly-drive options | Car Hire in the Vendee

HOW TO GET THERE - travel hints for getting to the Vendee,
ferry crossings, flights, nearest airports, distances, car hire...