I’ve always dreamt of going here for as long as I can remember. So we decided this was the year.
Dubbed the French Hamptons, Île de Ré is an island attached by a bridge near La Rochelle, where lots of Parisians have holiday homes, so it feels gently chichi but not nearly as much I as Cap Ferrat, I’m told. Probably why I liked it. You'll find miles and miles of car-free cycle routes through vineyards, the prettiest shuttered towns in hues of mostly green and a little blue (I've since been told there are only eleven paint colours inhabitants are permitted to use), pine-backed sandy beaches, oyster farms, daily markets and salt farms. It's bigger than you'd expect! Probably about an hour's drive from one side to the other.
If you do drive, parking is almost always free and easy for each town and beach, and there are free electric buses if cycling isn't your thing - although you'd be seriously missing out. It's almost odd to see people walking on two feet here.
We drove across the bridge from La Rochelle, then on to where we were staying at La Phare - a good 45-minute drive up into the north of the island. So hire bikes: they come in all shapes and sizes for different abilities and ages. Rocky isn't confident on a bike yet, so I had a little attachment on the back of mine so she could ride with me.
La Phare is a sort of beachy holiday village - quite basic, but has all you need and is very comfortable. Apart from the pillows. I'm never leaving home again without my own. Basically a French Center Parcs vibe. I wouldn't stay here if I didn't have kids, so look into a hotel or renting un gîte (a furnished holiday cottage or villa, usually in the countryside) instead. La Phare is moments from the beach and a short cycle into the closest little village called Les Portes-en-Ré which is divine.
Great little local shops and a small market square with restaurants dotted about. Our favourite find was La Poissonne - pure seafood, plucked straight from the sea. Not one for kids without mature or experimental palates. Ours sat and watched us devour curried mussels, oysters and ceviche. We made it up to them at the LPR van (Les Portes-en-Ré) - really good burgers and fries.
A word of warning: restaurants only open 12–2pm, then close again before 7, so get there early if you can book. The French are a little unaccommodating - if you don’t have a booking you ain’t coming in! The local supermarket was brill though and had all we needed for a lovely breakfast at home on our sandy deck.
Ars-en-Ré, the next closest village, was a good 40-minute bike ride across the salt flats - stunning. You pass through vineyards and fields of horses and donkeys, and can stop to buy bags of salt on the way. I hugely regret not buying more as it beats any table salt you can get back home. The countryside is beautifully wild and natural, and Ars-en-Ré itself is a really stunning town to explore, with its church, coffee shops and patisseries.
The French aren't known for their coffee, and they'll look at you blankly if you try to order a flat white - but we tracked down a brilliant coffee shop called Café Octopus, selling the most beautifully curated gifts, books and kids' bits. I got my oat milk flat white fix and picked up postcards for the grandmamas back home. We had lunch at La Bouche Rit, which was fab - ask to sit on the square. I kept nipping off my chair to duck into the little shops that surrounded it. The clothes shops here are simply too good.
Other spots we tried, all up in the north:
La Cabane du Feneau - very cool, amazing seafood, but not one for kids
Les Huîtres de Trousse - a seafood farm with mega oysters and shrimp
La Cabane de la Patache - a nice cabana restaurant by the boats, good for kids to potter on the beach while you eat
Trousse Chemise - a very popular beach with shallow waters, where kids can wade along the sandbar
Le Bout du Monde - good for dinner
Fair warning: there isn’t a huge selection of offerings for kids meals. Either poulet or fish and not deep-fried like back home. So load up on snacks or feed them first!
We spent our days flitting between two beaches: one good for crabbing at low tide, the other more for swimming - sandier and more kid-friendly. The first, just up by La Phare, is Plage du Gros Jonc. The second, a bike ride through the forest, is Conche des Baleines (Beach of the Whale). There's also a surf school we'd book into next time, when the girls are a little older - Ré Surf, at Les Portes en Ré.
We really loved visiting the top of the island, but felt we might be missing out on the south, where La Flotte and St Martin are situated. So after a week at La Phare, we moved to the HR Hotel in La Flotte, a pretty little harbour town - it reminded me of a French Padstow. A little touristy (coming from a tourist, lol), and the shops weren’t quite what they were in the northern villages, but we did have a smashing meal at Chez Raph. You can’t book, so we queued for an hour, but God was it worth the wait! Food to die for. Also been so pleasantly surprised that no dinner here has broken the bank. Full starter, main and deserts with wine came to 80 euros.
Also a great little bar called Le Bistrot Point Bar on the waterfront, great for a little pre dinner lifter. And the food market on Thursday was off the chart good - a proper feast for the belly and the eyes.
We ventured into St Martin for a wander on our last night, which was beautiful - so many lovely side streets and local artisan shops. We let the kids choose, and they wanted pizza and pasta. We also went to Do Ré Mie in St Martin (excellent for baguettes/pastries).
Finished off with La Martinière for the best artisan ice cream - OMG the flavour offerings. Hello mango coconut.
Other recommendations (highly rated, eaten at over the trip): La Cible, @beachbariledere, @re_ostrea.
Will most definitely be back to explore some more and beef up this guide as I feel there are quite a few more treasures we haven’t yet found!
Thank you so much for reading No Place Like Home. It genuinely means the world.
The book is out on 10th September and, if you were planning to buy a copy anyway, I’d be so grateful if you pre-ordered it.
Apparently (and this was news to me), pre-orders are a Very Big Deal in publishing. For a first-time author, they’re what tell publishers and bookshops, “This one’s worth getting behind.”
So if No Place Like Home was already on your list, ordering it now rather than later makes a far bigger difference than you might think.
Thank you for being here, for reading, and for cheering me on. I don’t take any of it for granted.
Jojo x
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