An excellent stay from an Irish family, many thanks!
29 July 2024 at 05:24:24
We were in La Pinède end of June, beginning of July and had a GREAT time! Don’t listen to others as I read so many reviews before we arrived and had felt nervous but as I quickly found out, there was no need!
The first biggest concern I had was with the Wi-Fi, due to other reviews – we were staying... in a ‘3 bed Ultimate’ in the second site on La Pinède approximately in the middle. There were no Wi-Fi issues, streaming was around 30 MB which was ample for us, it was also included for free with our unit . It did mention that only one device was usable at one time but we found that 2-3 were able before we had to remove one to add another. At the pool there was a different Wi-Fi connection that gave 60 minutes for free, I used this once to watch a rugby match and the connection was as at 100 MB (it can be purchased for longer prices attached in image).
The phone signal was also no problem – as we were EU roaming we were able to use the Orange network which gave us a speed of 50 meg – there were no problems with this signal and I did check around the park as I had noticed complaints in other reviews but be assure there are no connection issues to the Orange network. I did notice other network providers in the area but Orange worked 100% for us!
I have to mention the staff, they were so friendly and welcoming. Anais at our check-in was so thorough and helpful, we really appreciated it after a 7 hour drive! Our two youngest went to the kids club (on from 10am-12pm and again from 3pm-5pm)and loved the staff down there - a special mention to Sonia. The staff mostly spoke French but were so helpful as they always tried to speak English when they could – we really appreciated this! It wasn’t until the first week in July the older teenagers club opened and our 12 year old was able to attend, even though he wasn’t really of age to go (14 upwards) they allowed this and the reception staff, on request changed his colour wrist band so he felt included.
On arrival to our unit, we found it spotless and extremely clean - there were no issues here! The fridge was a generous size and just enough room in the freezer. Kitchen is well equipped with plenty of glasses/crockery and cutlery. Our unit did not come with an oven but we decided in advance to bring our Air Fryer and to us it was brilliant to have! The outside bbq was a gas unit with one burner which was perfect for our dinners each night! The rooms were a good size and our room was en suite. We also had a shared bathroom and separate toilet for the kids. Unfortunately, the TV was useless to us as it was French channels only, pity as BBC news or something similar would have been great to have. For the techies out there, I had brought our firestick to log onto a streaming service on the tv but unfortunately the Wi-Fi connection needs a mouse to navigate a webpage to click t&c's which I couldn’t do as I had no mouse! The units are within a forest with high trees, we had some sun in the morning but due to the orientation of our unit we had no sun in the evening, no complaints though as we could see some of the sites had no sun at all! Word of warning, the trees drop sap on the cars so we covered the windscreen and used hand sanitiser to remove.
The site is not within walking distance to any restaurants (except the onsite one) but we could have had dinner in other neighbouring parks, we considered it but decided not to. Unfortunately, the sites restaurant/bar seemed very overpriced, a pint was €6.60 and the cheapest bottle of wine was (for memory) was approximately €20…couldn’t understand this in France! While we were there Ireland were playing South Africa in the Rugby and there was some Euro football games on, it as a pity that there was no effort by the bars to have a ‘happy hour’ or similar to get people in to meet – I thought this was a missed opportunity.
Luna Park is opposite the second site at the park, we couldn’t hear it from our site but I can imagine if you were closer to the entrance you could. It’s a good fun night (reminds me of an outdoor Funderland, if you live in Dublin). Wasn’t expensive either, most rides were €3 each.
BIG RED FLAG HERE!! Under no circumstances are men or boys allowed to wear ‘normal’ togs or swim shorts into the pool area!! I was approached by the lifeguard on entering and was told very nicely that it was ok for today but I would need to buy the tight swim shorts in order to use the pool from tomorrow. They are available in the site shop at a cost of €15. I don’t understand this rule and it made no sense to us but ‘when in Rome’ I suppose. I found the lifeguards extremely friendly and helpful, I also felt that they were very attentive while working and it gave me comfort allowing our kids to use the pools and waterslides. I also thought the staff entertainment at the pool area was very good and they tried very hard, unfortunately if they only used even a little English while entertaining instead of only French it would have encouraged us to participate a little more. But all in all you could see everyone was working very hard to entertain.
The site is within 10 minutes drive of the local town, which was quiet when we were there but id says that was because it was the beginning of the season. There is an Aldi and a Super U around 10 minutes drive from the park, we found the Super U much better for what we needed.
The shop onsite is adequate if not a little more expensive than the supermarkets. I can understand this and didn’t find it a complete rip-off . It is well stocked with bread, beer wine and general cooking ingredients.
All in all, we REALLY enjoyed our experience in La Pinède. I would have no hesitation in coming back or recommending! One piece of advice is that we found the drive from La Rochelle by google maps a little tiring, there was an alternative route by a tolled motorway that is slightly longer but it is the way I would go if I was making the journey again.
I have tried to give the best review for this site as I found so many other reviews unhelpful, I hope this will help others making their decision.
Many thanks to all at La Pinède, we will be back!
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