When it comes to accommodation in the Poitou Charente region, the Charente Maritime closely rivals the Vendée in terms of the most popular holiday destination on the Atlantic coast of France. If you are planning to visit then the accommodation will be the first thing you want to decide upon, especially if you are going to visit the Charente Maritime in high season.
Choosing Accommodation In Charente Maritime
From chambres d’hôtes to hotels, gites and campsites, prices are lower the further away you get from the coast. In high season, however, that can change as people from all over France, including Paris, love to visit the Charente Maritime for their main summer vacation.
Here are some examples of the type of holiday accommodation available:
Bed & Breakfast (Chambres d’hôtes)
This type of accommodation is readily available throughout the Charente Maritime with many chambres d’hôtes offering an evening meal as an option. This can be a great way of getting to meet people and practice your French in a family environment. Gites de France have 10,000 listed on their website.
Novotel Hotel
Hotels
Hotels are usually graded from 0 to 5 stars nationally. The Logis de France website lists hotels in the Charente Maritime at this address: http://www.logishotels.com/hotel/poitou-charentes/charente-maritime/
These will be a guaranteed quality and are not always expensive. If you are only looking for an overnight stay then maybe you should consider one of the motel chains such as Ibis or Novotel which can more often than not be found in or near the big towns. The quality of food at these hotels is reported by many to be generally of a higher quality than in the UK and will frequently have a regional emphasis.
Gites Accommodation
More often than not these will be a rural property to be used as self catering holiday accommodation. The type of property can and will vary greatly – sometimes it will be stand-alone and at other times attached to the owners property. It could be a small cottage or a farmhouse or if you’re lucky or have enough money, even a château! Once again the Gites de France website has tens of thousands of gites listed on their website: http://www.gites-de-france.com/ Overall renting a gite is probably the best way to get a feel of living in France.
Camping in the Charente Maritime
With hundreds of classified campsites plus small campsites located on farmland, the Charente Maritime one of the best destinations for camping in the whole of France! Michelin’s ‘Camping France’ is probably the best book to help you with camping in the Charente Maritime. A new addition of this useful publication is generally released each spring. Another valuable publication is: ‘AA Camping’. The campsites you will find in the Charente Maritime will be of differing quality but generally speaking, municipal sites tend to give a high standard and represent more value for money.
