Useful Information

Supermarkets

For vital supplies there are three large supermarkets in St Jean d'Angely, the nearest is the Intermarche and is ten minutes drive away, the new Lidl and Leclerc are the other side of town. Depending on your time of arrival, supermarkets in Saint Jean D'angely stay open till 19.30 hours on Saturday - Intermarché supermarket is open on Sunday morning until 12.30: Leclerc, Lidl and Intermarché stay open all day: banks and smaller shops usually closed Monday- there are ATM's at Intermarché, Lidl and Leclerc for cash withdrawals.

The supermarkets now sell most of the common-place breakfast cereals, tea bags (although these are more expensive than the UK) even cheddar cheese! Leclerc and Intermarche sell fresh milk. Most of the supermarkets, shops, restaurants, places of interest accept credit cards.

For less vital supplies there are a number of boutique type shops in St Jean d'Angely. More varied shopping can be found at La Rochelle which has enough shops to wear out a pair of shoes and enough shoe shops to make it all worthwhile.

Markets

There is a very impressive market building in the centre of St Jean'Angely and food markets are held there every Wednesday and Saturday. There is a large range of fruit and veg, fish and meat. St Jean d'Angely and Surgeres both hold night markets where you will find stalls with food and entertainment throughout the town. The dates vary each year so it is always best to check with local Tourist information.

Eating Out - Child Friendly

There are a number of great restaurants nearby in St Jean d'Angely, some of which are listed within the Local Area page of our website. If you are travelling with children and need a more child friendly option any of those listed below would be worth a visit.

Les Jacobins is a straightforward pizza and a bit more place where they'll not notice unruly children and the bill is not hefty.

L'Annexe is located in the central square, Place de Pilori, next to the Ellis Park Bar and has a large area of tables located under the trees. When the weather is nice it's a great place to be and cars don't drive through the square so it is fairly safe for chidren. The service can be slow occasionally, particularly if there is music on but the chef is good and the price not painful.

La Petit Bouchon is located in the neighbouring square, Le Place du Marche and has plenty of tables outside. The location isn't as attractive as L'Annexe. It is friendly and reasonably well priced.

Days out with children

Please refer to the local area page for more information on activities available in the area. Below are a few suggested Child Friendly days out.

Zoodyssee - European zoo nearby at Chizé (approx 15mins drive);
Poitou Donkey Sanctuary at Dompierre;
Atlantys water park outskirts Saint Jean D'Angely;
Plan d'eau at Saint Jean with boating lake, mini golf and a wonderful enclosed children's play area;
Go-Karting in Saint Jean;
Aquarium at La Rochelle;
Paleosite on outskirts of Saintes;
Futuroscope theme park approx 1 hour up the A10 motorway

Driving

When travelling by car on the motorways and duel carriageways there are frequent 'aire de' either service stations with fuel, cafe and toilets or smaller ones with picnic areas and toilets.

If you decide to use France's extensive motorway system and wish to pay your tolls ahead of travelling to make things hassle free once on holiday, a number of companies provide this service including emovis Tag.