7-Day Camper Road Trip Around Nantes

Your Roadsurfer Camper and Exploring Nantes

To begin the tour, we recommend you explore the Bronze Age town of Nantes before picking up your camper. Nantes’ location on the river Loire made it a vital trading port for the Gauls, the Romans, the Bretons, as well as today’s modern France. The historic town is filled with ancient treasures to discover, the Château des Ducs de Bretagne for example, dating back to the early 1500s. Nantes is also home to the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, one of France’s most intriguing natural history museums. Nantes is also a university town, meaning lots of vibrant cafes and bars, and was voted one of the greenest towns in France, with a vast amount of green space along the river Loire.

→Campsites in and around Nantes

Castles and Coastline at Mont-St-Michel

Wake up refreshed in the secluded French countryside with the smell of blooming flowers, fresh French coffee, and baguettes in the air. The morning tour takes you toward Normandy to visit one of the most iconic islands in the world,  Mont-St-Michel. This tidal island and UNESCO recognised village is an intricate web of labyrinth-like streets and large medieval churches, all fortified by a large protective wall. The island has been continuously developed over the centuries with additions to every structure on the island, including Abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel, the main church atop the island, which has left behind a time traveler’s treasure trove. The island is not only historically significant but also visually stunning, hence it draws over 3 million visitors a year. The good thing is, the majority of the visitors come in summer and autumn, meaning your visit in spring will be far more relaxed.

Where to stay? After a few hours of exploring Mont-St-Michel, the tour returns to Brittany, where you circumnavigate the peninsula’s coastline, there are hundreds of secluded beaches and small villages to explore before arriving at the campground for the night.

→Campsites in and around Brittany

Island Dreaming on Noirmoutier

The short tour takes you along the coast towards Nantes, but instead of staying on the mainland, you head offshore onto Noirmoutier island. Here you can spend days relaxing at Plage de Luzéronde or Plage des Dames, two of the many golden sand beaches surrounding the island which was initially settled by the Vikings. Aside from the beautiful beaches, you can also explore the 12th-century port, a picturesque old town, and a medieval castle. The island is also littered with world-class seafood restaurants that utilise locally harvested oysters, and the island’s own type of potato. The island also boasts over 50 km of hiking trails that take you past all the island’s sites.

→Campsites in and around Noirmoutier

© roadsurfer GmbH / Birdseye

French Beach days at La Rochelle and La Grange

The adventure continues south along the Bay of Biscay toward La Rochelle and La Grange. The port town of La Rochelle was founded in the 10th century and has been a vital trading port between England and France ever since. The fortified port and quaint old town take you back to another era, but what really makes this area stand out is the beach at La Grange, one of the best surf spots along the northwestern coast of France. This point break offers rides of over 300 meters on a good day and takes you from the rocky point all the way into a sand bottom bay. If you are not a surfer, spectacular coastal hiking trails like Port de La Flotte Loop, Mountain Biking loops like Plage de la Marielle, and road biking tours like Nouvelle Digue du Boutillon, each with stunning coastal vistas are easily accessible.

→Campsites in and around La Rochelle and La Grange 

Inland to Brenne Natural Regional Park

The adventure moves away from the coast and towards Brenne Natural Regional Park. This area was once a swampy lowland until the 12th century when Méobecq monks extensively landscaped the entire region. Their hard work, adding lakes and reservoirs, drained the area making the land and newly built waterways extremely fertile. The lakes that were added have blended in with the landscape and look as if they have always been there. The entire Brenne region is bursting with bike trails, both off and on-road, hiking trails, and historic buildings, like Château du Bouchet. A bonus is that the artificial lakes and reservoirs have also attracted aquatic life making the region a dream for those interested in fishing.

→Campsites in and around the Brenne Natural Regional Park 

When in France

A journey through the French countryside wouldn’t be complete unless you experienced French wine culture. Near Angers, along the Loire River, you will find the Loire Valley Wine Region, filled with spectacular century-old, family-run, vineyards. Loire Valley Wine has been produced in the area since the 9th Century with the help of the optimal climate and sea breezes that blow in off the Atlantic. The two most popular grape varieties are the Chenin Blanc, from which a dry white, sometimes sparkling wine is created, and Cabernet Franc, which is used to make both Red & Rose wine. There are countless vineyards to explore and wine tours to take, but the Castle of Aulée and Chateau de Miniere are two of the standouts. If you want to use the stunning landscapes before starting the wine tour, the area is also a dream for road biking, with empty roads connecting giant vineyards across rolling hills. It is also effortless to orientate yourself as you just follow the river as far as you’d like to ride.

→Campsites in and around Angers

The Final lap at Le Mans

The final leg of your northwestern France tour takes you to the home of motor racing, Le Mans. This beautiful town is not only famous for the annual Le Mans 24 Hour race which began in 1923, but also because of its history. It dates back to before Christ, with an amphitheater dating back to the 3rd Century still visible. Some other sites in the city include the Gallo-Roman walls, the Medieval Church, Notre-Dame de la Couture, and the well-preserved old town. Apart from the history and culture to explore, Le Mans is nestled in a sea of green with hiking, mountain biking, and road biking available at each and every corner of the city. 30 Minutes north of the city centre you also have Parc Naturel régional et Géoparc Normandie-Maine. A Geologically important nature reserve that is perfect for bikers, hikers, as well as rock climbers.

→Campsites in and around Le Mans

et c’est un enveloppement (That’s a wrap)

Hire a roadsurfer campervan and escape the crowds around the Nantes region of France. Within a week you can surf, hike, bike, and view landmarks that date back thousands of years, all while dining on the most delicious French cuisine and wine. When you combine roadsurfer campers with roadsurfer spots, you also add an element of freedom and leave mainstream tourism behind for your own, individual adventure that you can focus on whatever activities or types of holiday you prefer.