Noirmoutier

The Passage du Gois is a paved causeway about four kilometres long running across the mudflats to Noirmoutier, and it is passable only for a window of roughly an hour and a half either side of low tide; rescue towers stand along it for drivers who misjudge the timing, and cars are still lost most years. A bridge built in 1971 provides the reliable route. The island itself is low, salt-marsh country with working salt pans, mimosa and holm oak, whitewashed houses with pantiled roofs, and a sandy soil that produces the bonnotte, an early potato harvested by hand in May and sold at high prices.

What you actually see

• The Passage du Gois - a causeway submerged for most of each day.
• The salt pans - working marshes in the island's centre.
• The whitewashed villages - low houses with pantiles and blue shutters.
• The bonnotte harvest - hand-dug early potatoes in May.

When to go

May to September; the bonnotte harvest is in May. Tide tables govern any use of the Gois entirely. Summer traffic on the bridge queues badly on changeover weekends.

Honest expectations

Driving the Gois outside the safe window is genuinely dangerous and vehicles are lost there. The island is flat and can feel featureless in poor weather. August accommodation is scarce.

Nearby

The Ile d'Yeu lies south; Pornic is north.