Oléron Villa is located on the beautiful island of Ile d'Oléron just off France's Atlantic coast - seperated from the mainland by a bridge.

The closest airport is at La Rochelle (LRH) - 45 miles from Oléron Villa; if you're flying in from the UK then you can fly from London Stansted with Ryanair or from Southampton with flybe all year round and then in summer there are also direct flights from Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Leeds, London Gatwick and Manchester. EasyJet fly from Gatwick and Bristol. There are also all-year round direct internal flights to Paris and Lyon with Airlinair. Again, there is more choice of flights in the summer months and these other European destinations join the list: Brussels, Cork, Dublin, Oslo and Porto.

From the airport you can rent a car with Ada, Avis, Europcar, Hertz and National/Citer all represented (you can typically get a good deal when you book your car through your airline).

If you want to take public transport from the airport to Ile D'Oléron then you first needs to get into the town centre by taxi or take the bus - number 7 (Monday - Saturday) or number 47 (Sundays).

If driving then finding Oléron Villa is very straightforward, use this map to get Google directions (on the map, just click on our logo and select "directions"); enter the coordinates (45.870953, -1.246495) into your sat nav or just look out for 19-bis when you drive from Le Grand-Village-Plage towards La Cotinière it's on your left as you pass through Les Allassins. Whichever method you choose, you'll know that you're close when you cross the 2 mile long bridge (Le Viaduc) that links the island to the mainland - this is when you know that your holiday has really started!

Getting between La Rochelle and Île d'Oléron by road involves a fairly long detour as you have to go via the bridge at the south of the island; plus if you want take a day-trip to La Rochelle then driving into the city center and then finding a parking space can take a while. A fun and efficient alternative is to take one of the passenger ferries that runs between La Rochelle and Île d'Oléron. Note that the ferry doesn't run during the winter. There are two companies operating routes - Croisières Inter îles from St Denis and a communal service from Boyardville - as a bonus you get a great up-close view of Fort Boyard.

Les Mouettes operate buses between Île d'Oléron and the mainland. Line 6 runs to Surgères and Rochefort; Line 6-Express covers the same route but with less intermediate stops. Line 23 runs between Île d'Oléron and La Rochelle, in La Rochelle there are stops at the train stations as well as at Place de Verdun (where bus routes 7 and 47 take you to/from La Rochelle Airport). On the island, the buses all stop in Le Chateau, Dolus and Saint Pierre.

Use the route planner to figure out your schedule or view the bus route map to see onward bus connections.