Has anyone ever been on a Siblu holiday? France or Spain?

sweetheart · 2007-02-07T14:52:56+00:00

I've been looking at their parks and the website looks ok - but is it going to be like going to Haven or Butlins here?

emsiewill · 07/02/2007 14:54

Siblu is Haven...so if you don't like Haven, I would imagine you wouldn't like Siblu.

We're going to their Lake Garda site at Easter, had loads of good reviews.

Marina · 07/02/2007 14:57

Cough, I have won a week at a very nice sounding caravan park on the SW coast of France in June thanks to Mn! So am a bit worried as to why you link Haven and Butlins...?
I think you can read between the lines sweetheart and spot the quieter, less jolly locations - that's what we've done. The place we are going is one of their smallest sites and surrounded by pine forests and dunes. We can't wait

Original poster

sweetheart · 07/02/2007 16:19

I've had a good look through their website and it looks ok. We went to haven a few years ago and it was horrible, although i think it was down to the weather and the clientel (sp?) that the park attracted - do you think it would be different with a foreign park? I'm wondering if it will be mostly English or European.

OP posts:

Marina · 07/02/2007 16:24

I have been told by friends to avoid the BIG ONE on the Southern Brittany coast (D de K) and if possible choose one not wholly owned by the company.
The Languedoc was too far for us with only a week to take, but I thought those looked nicest of all tbh

Original poster

sweetheart · 07/02/2007 16:27

Thanks marina, i will be mindful to avoid that one. I have been looking at Le Bois Masson & Dormant, Les Pierres Couches

and Le Ranolien in Brittany

Have you heard about any of them?

Perhaps I should look a bit further south - back to their website!

OP posts:

Original poster

sweetheart · 07/02/2007 16:27

Thanks marina, i will be mindful to avoid that one. I have been looking at Le Bois Masson & Dormant, Les Pierres Couches

and Le Ranolien in Brittany

Have you heard about any of them?

Perhaps I should look a bit further south - back to their website!

OP posts:

Original poster

sweetheart · 07/02/2007 19:10

bump for the evening crowd.

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Marina · 07/02/2007 19:29

Those were all on our shortlist but actually we plumped for La Pignade near Royan. Good zoo, parks, boat trips, La Rochelle, all near by. Royan for big resort buzz.
Le Bois Dormant, the "quiet" half of the double-site Masson/Dormant, was our second choice.
I bet they will all be pretty nice. I was also directed to La Reserve down near Bordeaux, but we decided that one was just a bit too far.
Le Ranolien is in a lovely part of Brittany, but you might not be so sure of good weather on the North coast, maybe?
As Emsiewill says, the continental sites all seem to get very enthusiastic independent reviews.

2nervesleft · 07/02/2007 19:37

WE stayed at Bois Masson in 2005. The park is not wholly owned by anyone. There are a number of different holiday companies there, Eurocamp, Canvas Hoidays as well as lots of privately french owned caravans. The pools at both masson and dormant are great and the restaurants are good. Plenty of stuff for the children to do, both in the day and evening. Not massively keen on St John de Mont but is ok. Large flat unremarkable beach close by. We had a great time and will be going to another Siblu hol this year.

Marina · 07/02/2007 19:41

I must admit the town's appearance was what finally put me off Masson/Dormant - the parcs looked really good, but St Jean looked like Peckham on Sea from what I could see
Good to hear the pools etc are so great 2nerves. The dcs are bursting with excitement, I suspect this will not be our last visit either.

2nervesleft · 07/02/2007 20:04

All the people we meet were very nice. Mostly young families, nobody wearing union jack shorts or lots of gold jewellery. On this type of holiday it is good to meet nice people because your children choose your friends for you when they meet in the pool or in the kids club.

One other thing, be sure to have pool slider type shoes with you, the lifeguards are very srtict (rightly) on hygiene and will not allow outside shoes, smoking or eating near the pool.

Skribble · 07/02/2007 21:56

Siblu is the new name for Haven Europe.

Unlike the UK sites I think most of the European sites are privately run and Siblu have caravans, reps and their own kids clubs along with other companies like Keycamp and Canvas holidays along side the sites own accomodation and pitches.

Some sites are big and busy and very similar to the Haven sites here, some are smaller and quieter. Most of the sites have their own websites so worth googling to have a look at that too.

Rules and regs around the pool and other parts of the sites are down to the site them selve and not Siblu so will vary from park to park and each country has its own rules. Like in Italy most pools require you to wear a bathing cap and trunks not shorts.

We were on a site in Spain, Cambrils. It was in April and the entertainment place was crammed at night but other areas quiet through the day. Lots of Brits as all the vans were rented to Brits, the Spainish rented the sites bungalows and the touring spaces had spainsh, germans and french, but was only 10% full. The site would be heaving in the summer if all accomodation and pitches were full, don't fancy that much. The entertainment (sites own) was tacky and amataur, the sites own kids club was fine but not secure area so I wouldn't leave young ones unattended. Restaurant was lovely, cafe was chips and all that but very nice food, but you were surrounded by video game machines and air hockey. Tennis and crazy golf expensive but well maintained.

plummymummy · 10/02/2007 00:07

We are thinking about La Reserve near Bordeaux - fly drive. Anyone been? We've got a ds who'll be nearly 3 by then and this one claims to cater well for toddlers. Was wondering about restaurants. There's one on site but I'm wondering what we do if it's crap. Didn't fancy cooking every night!

slalomsuki · 27/02/2007 15:02

We own a place on Bois Dormant and its full of oldish people who own interspaced with families. Its great the bit of the site we are on and have no had any trouble unless you count the recent storms blowing the roof off the storage shed we have.

We bought because it was such a well maintained site compared to some we have been on. We went with Canvas, Keycamp and French Life before we bought.

The kids club on Dormant is better than Masson since it is bigger and has a flat outside area but the kids entertatinment is better at Masson. They advertise it as a double site but to be honest they are across the road from each other and have a completely different feel.

We do sometimes rent out place out to Siblu but we bought it for us to enjoy over the summer. St jeans de monts only gets busy in August, the rest of the time you have the beach to yourself and its big enough. I have never had the blackpool.....sorry if you come from there....feeling nor have I met any other brits who formed part of the Chav brigade. Actually most of the people I me with Siblu have kids who are privately educated and have long holidays looking for something to do in them.

All the plots are maintained on site and don't get caught out by the pop up sprinkler system which can soak those nicely dryed towels.

Overall I rate Siblu better than the others I have experience of. Canvas were the worst for us.

hockeypuck · 05/03/2007 15:27

Yes Siblu used to be Haven Europe, but it's miles apart from the Haven sites here. Not at all holiday club ish.

We had a great holiday at domaine de Kerlann, there were a couple of disruptive families there from Ireland who were noisy at night but it was mainly families with pre-school children (September).

We are going to one of the Le Bois ones this May (can't remember which one!) again out of school holiday time and hope we have as good a time there as we did at D de K.

Celia2 · 09/03/2007 21:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Leslaki · 18/03/2007 13:48

We went ot le bois masson out of season a few years ago and had an excellent holiday. We didn't eat in the restauarant or use hte bar but met nice people and had a good time. Don't know if I'd fancy it in August though! The sister site le bois dormant looked nice though. Although St Jean isn't the bonniest of resorts, it's fine. The town has what you need, the beach is big and clean ad there are plenty of forest cyce tracks etc around. It's also very central for getting around.

bren66 · 22/09/2010 11:23

We are thinking about going to a Siblu campsite in France next year (we can use Tesco vouchers). We went to a key camp site in France this year so we know what to expect with french campsites, but my real concern is that I have read on traveller review sites that you have to clean the caravans before leaving to a very high standard or substantial deposits will not be refunded. Although I wouldn't dream of leaving the caravan without cleaning it first I wouldn't expect it to be inspected prior to departure. Has anyone come across this problem?

tigermaj · 23/09/2010 19:47

We went to La Reserve this summer and if our experience is anything to go by I wouldn't worry. Ours was not inspected, on dropping the keys back our deposit was returned straight away.

Portofino · 24/09/2010 09:45

We went to Lac Des Reves last year and it was great. Lovely clean site, and the kid's club was very well organised. The pool for children was wonderful. All the staff were very friendly. Evening entertainment was a bit cheesy but easily avoided. I did a review on MN I think....

Would definitely use Siblu again, but I think that in 2011 they are pulling out of all the sites that they don't own....That could be a good thing I guess....

bren66 · 24/09/2010 10:58

Thank you tigermaj and Portofino for putting my mind at ease. I'm not really bothered about the entertainment - the keycamp we went to this year had very cheesy entertainment too. Thats not really a problem though because we spent most evenings playing cards - the children were a little dismayed at first not having a tv but it was nice having proper 'family time' without interruptions.

bigTillyMint · 24/09/2010 11:02

marina St Jean de Monts is definitely NOT Peckham-on-sea, Margate wins that title

Portofino · 24/09/2010 11:16

Oh - and we went to Parc Albatros with Canvas this year. That is listed as a BIG site. In fact I wouldn't say that it is much larger in area than Lake Des Reves, but blimey do they pack the mobiles in.

The Siblu vans were all of a high standard and nicely spaced out, so that you got a little private garden area each, and there were areas behind with washing sinks and lines. I enjoyed Parc Albatros too, but if you didn't pay for decking, you got a table in the dust next to your car.

Always get the biggest/highest spec mobile you can afford - it does make a difference.
At Lac Des Reves I even got all the details for buying one, and did the tour of the lovely new posh homes.

Unhappycamper2017 · 26/06/2017 15:23

Know it's a bit long since anyone posted here but just in case you were thinking of booking les Charmettes in les Mathes here are a few current facts.
Siblu bought over the smaller, next door campsite , the total complex has 1300 mobiles - 4 to 8 persons so the max capacity us probably 5000 to 7000 in peak season of July and August.
The main pool complex has a maximum capacity of just 1000! So you may not get in.
Having paid to stay on the site, anything up to £1000 per week you will the have to buy 'fun pass' for all occupants 45€ for an adult for a week and @ 20€ for a child, think under 5 get in free.
At least at Butlins or Pontins once you are in they don't try and screw every last £/€ out of you.