Camping Les Ilates

Your nearest beach is only five minutes' drive away – or a quick pedal along a safe path using a bike hired from the site team. Plage du Grouin is the sandy beach at the rocky finger of the Pointe du Grouin, accessible by foot, and lifeguarded in July and August. This is a top spot for solitary sorts, as its remote location makes it less crowded in summer. After sunning your good self on the beach, potter along to Loix village, a kilometre and a half away (also easily reachable by bike or by foot as well as by car), via the winding lane through the salt marshes. There's a lighthouse here (Ilates), along with colourful houses to ramble around, a soap workshop to nosy into, and a local market running each day in summer to pick up the freshest of local produce. Loix is also home to the Ecomusée du Marais Salant, a museum telling the history of the local salt trade and the 'white gold' that was once the Île de Ré's major income source.