Last week I joined a blog trip at the last minute. One of the Bloggers couldn’t make it and Eve from Minireyve kindly suggested my name. I wasn’t planning to travel again so soon, given I had just been back from a press trip in Spain which was great but very tiring. I was indeed looking forward to some down-time, to eat better and stick to my running programme but I love l’ile de Ré and I hadn’t been there for a very long time so I thought…carpe diem. We have one life and this year, I want to live mine to the full and seize whatever opportunities that come my way.

Press trips are quite different from holidays (good article in French here) where you get to do whatever you want whenever you want with the people you love. During a press trip, you are on a strict/usually packed schedule with a bunch of people you’ve never met so I didn’t get the chance to visit l’ile de Ré, the way I would have done it if I had been travelling with Steve and Mila but then again, I also got to try things we may not have done together but I would definitively do now should we go back there as a family.

If you haven’t been to l’ile de Ré yet, it is definitively one destination you should add to your travel wish list. It’s is a really beautiful place.

THINGS TO DO…
We took a Catamaran trip with Dream’ On which I loved. The weather wasn’t fantastically sunny, quite overcast in fact but it wasn’t cold and the arrays of blues and greens from the Atlantic Ocean were incredibly beautiful.
Our Skipper Benoit was from the island and was very knowledgeable about the area.Back from the boat trip, we had oysters and white wine before taking our bikes to visit Saint- Martin-de-Ré, which is one of the 10 localities on the island. Biking is definitively the best way to visit l’ile de Ré. Cycling paths are usually crowded in summertime but we had one of the Animators from Sunêlia with us who knew the island like the back of his hand and took us through the back roads.Walking through the streets of Saint-Martin-de-Ré is like walking through a village painted by Farrow & Ball. The colours residents can use on their shutters and front doors on l’ile de Ré is very regulated and varies from a range of light greys to dark greys…all echoing the colours of the sea and surrounding nature, which adds an incredible and unique charm to the island.We stopped at the famous La Martinière where I tasted a spoon of oyster ice-cream which is not as bad as it sounds…kind of sugary taste but in the end settled for my favourite: chocolate, then walked around Saint-Martin-de-Ré and discover some lovely shops (more of this later).The morning after, I went for a run on the beach at Le Bois-Plage-en-Ré to burn the mojitos from the night before. The beach is literally 2 min walk from the Interlude where we were staying. I had such a ball…The beach was really beautiful and I took a lot of photos which I will share with you in another post. After breakfast, I went to the Spa and baptised my new swimsuit in the jacuzzi and hammam followed by a well-appreciated massage.

WHERE TO SLEEP…
We stayed at the Interlude, a 5**** campsite, located 2 min walk from the beach with great facilities for children. They have just built a nursery so they can look after little ones and have plenty of children clubs to look after kids from different ages while grown-ups do their own thing. As it was half-term, the place was packed with English families.The Interlude is part of a group of independent campsites that operates under the Sunêlia umbrella for all their marketing activities. Beside this, each campsite owner is fully independent which means that each campsite is very different from each other. Personally, I was impressed by the level and the quality of facilities available on site. Between the pool, the spa, the restaurant, the beach nearby, the bikes rental and all the other activities for kids & grown-ups available on a daily basis, it felt more like a Holiday Club resort than a campsite.
As you know, I’m not a huge fan of traditional camping. I’m happy to do “glamping” and feel at one with nature when sleeping in cool, unusual places like this pod in Devon or plant our bell tent for a limited time in Eweleaze Farm and the Sunêlia Luxe family bungalow felt just like that, hidden in the middle of the pine trees with plenty of design details I loved. The white bedding and comfy bed were worthy from The White Company and I loved the dark grey sofa and all the cladding outside which reminded me of our home in London. I didn’t get to see the other types of bungalows available but ours was a 38m2 space, very well-conceived with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and living space in the middle. The great thing about this one is that if you’re travelling with friends, you can also join two bungalows next two each other and cater for a tribe of 8/10 people.Despite the overcast weather, I hope my photos gave you a taste of l’ile de Ré and where to stay, especially if you are travelling with friends and family. Let me know if you have any questions…