Vendee Weather

The Vendée is located on the French Atlantic coast and is blessed with some of the sunniest weather in France; it is in fact equivalent to the weather found on the French Riviera. Its coastal location gives the area a mainly maritime climate, but that is only part of the reason for such wonderful weather. Several factors come together to contribute to the Vendée’s magnificent climate. If you look at the map denoting hours of sunshine you will notice that the good weather starts close to the coast near the mouth of the Loire and then widens to its maximum around Fontenay-le-Comte in the south Vendee before declining to finish at the mouth of the Gironde near Bordeaux.

Although rivers do seem to play their part, the Vendéen weather is more due to the prevailing weather being driven by the Atlantic flow, in the form of the Gulf Stream. The weather breaks in the bay of Biscay one spur forms the western approaches and gives Northern Europe its mild humid weather, and the other spur heads south to form the Portuguese trade winds. The void left behind is the start of that fine weather. It is of course not that simple, the geographic makeup of the land is also a major contributor to the climate of the region. The Vendee has 3 pockets of marshlands that run down the coast, these areas also extend some distance inland, and this is especially true of the Marais Poitevin which advances some 40 kilometers from the sea.  There is also the Lucon to Fontenay Prairie, an area of low land, large fields and very few trees. From the marais and the prairie the land starts to rise and is covered in trees, woods and forests this is called the bocage.

As the oncoming weather reaches the bocage it starts to rise, this cools the air and the prevalence of trees further adds to the cooling process. Clouds quickly form and hence more rain. This means that within 15 to 20 kilometers east of the Prairie the weather changes considerably. The Vendée Charente Maritime micro climate produces some 2400 hours of sunshine a year and coupled with some of the best blue flag beaches in France it is not difficult to see why the Vendée is one of Europe’s top holiday destinations