What to do on the island of Oleron with children?
Colourful huts, wild beaches, country roads and pretty harbours, we didn’t expect to find so much diversity on Oleron Island during our family stay! We discovered this nice place during a sunny All Saints’ Day holiday, and here we tell you about the little places (secret or not), which we enjoyed with the children.
Oleron with children: Our Top 10 places to discover on the island
Oleron with children: EAST side
The Château d’Oléron and its creator’s huts
The village of Château d’Oléron is perfect for a walk in the middle of all the pretty colourful huts of the creators; the little ones surely won’t have much to do BUT there is a fatal weapon: the merry-go-round, it’s original and free, it’s the parents who take it in turns, perfect.
The beach café in Boyardville.
THE kid-friendly restaurant par excellence: games outside (small hut, buckets, shovels, etc.), games inside (small kitchen, doll’s houses, cars, …) with a sofa so that parents can have a pretend nap after eating -, a children’s menu with an ice cream with smarties and a pirate flag planted inside; all with a nice view on the dunes and the ocean, we say Banco (in high season it is better to book 😉
The oyster-farming district of La Baudissière
More beautiful colorful cabins on the waterfront, with a few designer shops, a nice café, and lots of tractors in the oyster port (THE must for little boys passionate about big engines – for little girls more motivated for dolls on the other hand I wouldn’t know what to tell you…).
Oleron with children: NORTH side
The lighthouse of Chassiron, at the northern tip of the island
244 steps to reach a magnificent view, and nice walks to be made all around, along the pretty indented coast.
The beach cabins of Saint Denis d’Oléron
What beautiful are all these beach cabins, disparate, authentic, a little run-down for some, well painted for others … we loved watching all of them (and also to have a mega game of hide-and-seek with the family).
>>> Suggestions for family accommodation in Oleron
Oleron with children: WEST side
The beach of Vertbois
Some people surf there (the beach is famous for that), others play with their little cars on maxi circuits or pile up rocks, waiting to be big enough to go and catch some waves.
A fish and chips on the pretty harbour of La Cotinière
“Le Merluchon”, a Fish&Chips institution, to take away and to peck on a bench facing the harbour; watch the boats arrive, leave, go down on a pontoon to see them; a nice moment to spend for lunch (and enjoy)!
La Rémigeasse beach
Put yourself in the shade of a boat lying on the sand, have a picnic and beach toys, and enjoy this beautiful wild coast.
Oleron with children: SOUTH side
Gatseau beach
The All Saints’ Day period is a bit of a deadline for swimming, but it seems thaThe All Saints’ Day period is a bit of a deadline for swimming, but it seems that Gatseau beach is great with children because the bathing is very quiet, gently sloping and without waves. On our side we avoided the water, but we spent 3 hours climbing tree trunks!
The little train of Saint Trojan
First of all: getting in condition to go to the little train: getting into the queue, doing “tchoutchou”, singing, doing the dance of the little train, as you wish.
Once we are on board, the little train goes into the forest, passes by stables, skirts the beach of Gatseau, then drops us off for half an hour on the wild beach of St Trojan (the opportunity to find a Robinson Crusoe’s hut), before making the reverse trip.
If you have any other suggestions for activities to do on the island of Oléron with children, don’t hesitate to leave them as a comment to this article!
And for other ideas of escapades in France, come with us on the wild coast of Sables d’Olonne in Vendée, in Cap Ferret in Gironde, or in Périgord to discover the most beautiful villages of France.
Visit Agen, the jewel