Le Domaine du Clarys - Le Clarys Plage

[Liciaflorrick]

I am looking for a holiday for next year ideally France with dds aged 16, 9 and 6. I may be on my own with them (I am a widow, and my sister who normally comes wouldn’t be able to) and I want to do Eurocamp style holiday without a car. My middle child is not brilliant in the heat so South of France may be too hot.
I wondered about this campsite as I could fly to Nantes and with taxi could get there. Is there enough on site and close locally for me to get food etc without a car? Is the local town walkable? Enough there? Thinking of using ROAN rather than Eurocamp because of cost but realise that the younger ones they (ok I!) would miss out on the Eurocamp kids club. But is the camp kids club ok? It helps if the kids club is something they can do for a couple of mornings.
I don’t mind paying a bit extra to do things to save me on the hassle of car.
All thoughts welcome

[newtb]

Just had a look at their website. There's a club for 4-6, 6-9, and 9-13 year olds with a range of activities, including cookery. Hope that helps

It could be quite hot, SW France is High 30s and on Thursday they had 51°C in Brive.

[newtb]

Just had a look on Google maps, there are quite a few sandwich places for take away, and also a Super U Express. Don't know about the express, but the supermarkets are reasonably priced, about the same as Intermarché.

[Liciaflorrick]

Thank you both - that’s super helpful. If anyone else has any thoughts who has been that would be really helpful!

[Ginerous]

My friend is there at the moment without a car. They got a taxi transfer from Nantes airport . There’s a supermarket 5 mins from the campsite and she said while a car is handy for sightseeing etc there’s definitely no need for one.

[Liciaflorrick]

@Ginerous

My friend is there at the moment without a car. They got a taxi transfer from Nantes airport . There’s a supermarket 5 mins from the campsite and she said while a car is handy for sightseeing etc there’s definitely no need for one.

That's brilliant - thank you. Hope your friend is having a good time!

[pollypet]

We had a two week holiday there in 2019 (ah the good old pre-covid days!), staying with Canvas Holidays and generally enjoyed it although I'm not sure I'd rush to go back. We went peak season so everything was operating at full capacity which may affect our perceptions

First the positives

• Its in a good location if you dont have a car - we drove from Portsmouth/Caen ferry and most people did have cars but I can see it would be possible to come by public transport. We spoke to one family who had come by train from Paris having spent a few days there. From memory its about an hour trainride to Nantes from the local station.
• The town of St Jean is within easy reach: 45ish minutes walk. St Jean is a typical French seaside town: lots of restaurants, souvenir shops etc, it does have nice promenade and other attractions
• There is a local bus which we used once or twice to go to St Jean or walked one way, bus back
• Weather is hot but not too hot; we had a mixture of days but most were 25 degrees plus and sunny. We did get one or two days of rain too.
• Once you are at the campsite there is a fair sized 'normal' supermarket (part of the Super U chain, not rip off holiday resort prices) near the campsite entrance. There are also other food shops (boulangerie etc) in the same parade so you can get all you need for self catering. This is far better than lots of campsites which are miles away from shops etc
• There are a number of restaurants/cafes near to the campsite as well - geared to British tastes: pizza, burgers etc
• The beach is on hand - miles and miles of beautiful sand
• You can hire bikes etc to explore the local area - its very flat and good for birds/ wildlife, there were several good cycle routes
• There is a lot of attractions within a short walk of the campsite - minigolf, horse riding, fairground rides etc
• The swimming pool at the campsite is amazing
• Due to the size your children will probably find other children to play with. It felt safe for the children to be wondering around the campsite

Now the less positive aspects
(these are all from our subjective perspective and experience when we stayed there- they may not all be negatives for you! Of course everything may have changed since 2019 too)

• Its quite expensive for what you get. This, I think, is true of all the places on the coast - go inland slightly and you get a better campsite (although obviously not so convenient for the beach)
• It felt very cramped - the pitch sizes were very small and so there was not much space and not much privacy. Having been to several Canvas/ Eurocamp sites this felt the most cramped
• The pool got very very busy - it was unpleasant and far too crowded at times (this was in peak season mid-Aug though)
• The playground facilities were good but at times felt a bit overcrowded
• It felt like the whole campsite had been taken over by Eurocamp/Canvas and another Irish company's tents and caravans; no touring cravans/tents.
• When we were staying there was not much of a mix of people - I would estimate that it was 95%+ British and Irish people - not much of an authentic European experience!
• There seemed to be big family groups of cousins etc which our two children (9 and 11) found a bit intimidating at times (groups of children can be quite unpleasant in playgrounds etc)
• Most children were of primary school age - I'm not sure there would be much for a 16 year old to do
• The Eurocamp kids club was big and it seemed to have lots of activities. The site run club didnt seem to be very well attended - ours went once but it didnt really grab them (this may be more to do with our children though!)
• There were a lot of over-tired children at nights - the main camp entertainment didnt start until 8 or 9 and so there lots of children running around late into the night, in many cases not adequately supervised by parents who had been in the bar for several hours.
• The restaurant facilities on the campsite are not great - there is a takeaway and big bar area but not much else. The bar showed UK football which wasnt really what we were looking for!
• There is not a great deal to do in the immediate local area beyond seaside attractions/activities and on the days when it rained it felt a bit depressing. Not much culture! Visits to La Rochelle and Nantes are recommended for some more authentic French culture.

There is another campsite around the corner called Acapulco which seemed to be a bit less hectic and have a better mix of people - Canvas have caravans there and I think you can book direct.

Other companies you may want to look at are Flowercamping and Yelloh villages - these are French based and seem to be a bit chepaer than Eurocamp and Canvas and have a different range of campsites

[Liciaflorrick]

Thank you so much for this @pollypet - that is so kind of you.really helpful. I will look into the other campsite you mentioned too.

[Feelingoktoday]

Have you looked at Italy? I took mine to just outside Venice many times. We flew and then the airport bus. We stayed at two campsites along the coast. Weather hot but it can change because of the mix of mountains and sea. Mainly Italian, Dutch and German but lots of British there too but not the dominant group. I found it so easy to take my two on my own. We visited Venice by boat.

[Liciaflorrick]

I hadn’t looked at Italy- wil do thanks for the tip

[Assanctamonioysastheycome]

Agree re italy. We have been 3 times to the Venice area staying on huge campsites by the sea. Both had amazing pool complexes plus beach/sea, multiple restaurants, large well stocked supermarket, activities, play areas, bike hire. We didn't hire a car, just got a private taxi to the site. First x 2 times we stayed in an apartment owned by the site (like a bungalow), third time in a mobile which was okayish but not amazing....it was hot but not so much you couldn't potter etc ...