Vendee: Pin Parasol or La Garangeoire or le Guyonniere or Chateau la foret

[Hullabaloowho]

I've nosied through a couple of past threads on this, but we are going on our first family holiday with 2.5 year old in early July and trying to choose between these campsites. All have availability for our dates and we'll only be staying 3 nights as combining with trip to see family further north.

We will be staying in a mobile home or cottage, eurocamp or yelloh village or similar.

I'm just a bit overwhelmed by all the facilities, trying to work out if on site lake or pony rides or animals or better toddler water play (he LOVES fountains/sprinklers etc) is more of a priority. I'm slightly more drawn to the ones that have nice grounds with pretty french château.

Any thoughts appreciated for a younger child. Obviously he won't be old enough for kids club so that is less of a priority. I'm tempted by la garangeoire just because it seems to get so booked up in school holidays!

Merci!

We have been to La garangeoire 3 times. My youngest was just 2 at first. It is fantastic- so lovely for little ones.

They have a fab pool complex with a large paddling area for little ones, and on the decking is a separate large paddling pool with fountains and a little slide.
They can sit on your knee for the twisty flume too, it doesn't go that fast.
The lagoon area is brilliant as well, soft sandy beach to sit on and shallow water.
Great park. Pony rides. Lake to take a pedallo on.

We stayed in a Eurocamp safari tent to begin with, then we started taking our own tent. All facilities are spotlessly clean.

The takeaway is really good, and the bar/restaurant also sells decent food. There is a large walled garden behind the bar area where most of the entertainment takes place in the evening and also where crepe night happens.
They do a cheese and wine tasting evening which is out of this world- my 2 were a little older when we did this but they went to the night crèche which is free and open until 10pm. Left us to indulge in peace!

Feeling all nostalgic now. Can honestly recommend.
I'd love to go back but mine have outgrown this site a little bit now so we are heading further south this year to bigger waterslides and a surfing beach!

Sorry to hijack but I'm interested in La Garangeoire and wondering how it compares to other highly rated campsites.
Friends of ours have bene to Yelloh Village Serignan Plage in the South of France and rave about it.
Anyone been to both and able to compare? So many campsites out there it gets overwhelming researching them.
My two girls are 3 and 5 if that helps.
TIA

I haven't been to the site in the south, but I know Yelloh sites are fabulous.
We are in fact going to one this summer- purely because my children are 7 and 12 now and have gone up a gear in terms of what they need in activities and facilities on offer.

La Garangeiore is brilliant for small children. It is completely geared up for them. This is the reason we went 3 times- my youngest being 2,4 and then 5 years. The site is small, the children had so much freedom, lots of other children to play with, and because it's small, there's barely any cars moving about. Lots of lovely activities going on- which you can get involved in, or just chill out.

I'd personally be looking at what is easier with young children like yours- and basing my decision on that.

Are you driving? It's a long way to the south of France. The Vendee area is so easy to get to. If you go on the ferry, that is an adventure in itself- and also geared up to children in the summer months.

The far flung sites can be saved for when they are a little older..
Hope that helps a bit.

Watching with interest, I'm going to Le Pin Parasol on the last week of july.
It's our first proper tent camp for me and DS10.

Anyone with any further thoughts on this? We went to Chateau de La Forêt this year and really enjoyed it but we want a different site in the same area next year so it doesn’t feel too samey. Dd will be 13 so I think La Garangeoire will be a no but looking at Pin Parasol and Guyonnière. How was it @itwasntmetho @Hullabaloowho

Oh I realise I never said thank you for all the helpful reviews

We actually ended up going to le mané guernehue (sp?) in southern Brittany at the beginning of July as were able to get better accommodation there for our dates. We knew we were potentially gambling with the weather but it was 30+ and wall to wall sunshine for our whole stay 😁

We had a fantastic time. The site was brilliant for our toddler and I'd recommend++ for this age range even in not so great weather as there's an indoor pool and covered soft play and bouncy castle. But we spent most time in the outdoor pool (includes splash pad area, lazy river and a couple of bigger slides). On site restaurant was brilliant and served really good salads, moules frites, seafood as well as the usual pizzas and burgers. There are goats, horses, ducks/geese on site (not in a farm as such but in fields at the bottom of the site) and lovely lake area for fishing/walks but not swimming.

Eurocamp accommodation is at the bottom of a pretty steep hill is my only caution if mobility is difficult but made us feel better about our daily ice creams. The local area is lovely with some really beautiful medieval towns within 30 min drive, as well as beaches. You can also walk from the campsite into the nearest town (Baden) which has a boulangerie, creperie, fruit/veg stalls and a couple of bars.

I'd say the site would be great for younger and perhaps older children but perhaps not for teenagers wanting a lot of social activity (though they did have clubs for these age groups) - was very peaceful at night.

We had a great time, the pools where lovely. The Nature and Sens side was very silent we were the other side. There was a shuttle service taking you from one side to another. I would definitely go back, my child is 10 though but I think an older child would still enjoy it.

Thanks both! @itwasntmetho which side would you stay if you were to go back? Nature and Sens looks great, is it worth the money?

Well I camped so the price difference was smaller. If you are in a mobile home unit and want the poshness they have recently put posh units in the sensations side with hot tubs 😍
Camping again I would probably choose the N&S side because the playground is better and my Son is younger. N&S also has the more spa like pool and the beach type pool area which I LOVED, but my Sons favourite was the water slide pool.
What I will say as a negative is that as a vegetarian I ate a lot of the same things on loop because there was only a tokenistic veggie offering at each place. Idk if meat eaters have it better but I didn't really feel like the food there was great. I have a small car so didn't take a kitchen, just tent and lovely comfy beds and rugs/ cushions so I relied on the bars and restaurants because our pitch was just a bedroom and chill out space.
There was a lovely restaurant at the side of the lake though near the boat hire place but we only went twice as the heat was a bit overwhelming, I think that's because of the freakish heat this year though.
Because the pools are so heated and we struggled a bit in the heat I thought maybe I'd like to go there in May/ June half term one year and as that's a cheaper time maybe get a posh unit.

We’ve been to Le Pin Parasol & booked directly with Yelloh. DC (4 & 8) loved it as did we. Definitely recommend it.

That’s fantastic feedback, thanks! We’ll be taking a tent too, so good to hear there’s not much difference in cost, we’ll probably go for the chilled side,

Would you say it's not good for couples or those with older children then?