Fantastic Holiday - Will be Back
15 August 2024 at 09:55:20
Just back from a fantastic 2 weeks at Prairies de la mar, highly recommend to families looking for a touch of luxury, and let’s get this crystal clear, this is absolutely not a ‘’camp site’’ it is a high end resort, and you pay for what you get! The cabin was very centrally located, about... a 2 min walk from the beach, entertainment area and 5 mins from the pool. Cabin was clean, modern & had everything we needed for a family of 5. Very good mix of holiday makers including French, Dutch, German & English. Very few Irish when we were there but probably because this was August. We will definitely come back.
Highlights
Teens Club – Our two older boys had a fantastic time at the teens club, the leaders of the club were fantastic and they had great fun meeting people from all over Europe. The trips they went on were memorable including parasailing, bowling, banana boat, paddle boarding and kayaking as well as other events on site including a BBQ – thank you so much to the teens club from Sean and Flynn.
Ecole des Champions – Our youngest did a week’s soccer camp with Rene, tough going in the heat for an Irishman but Rene was fantastic and our son had so much fun.
Entertainment – The evening entertainment was high end, this is no Eurocamp cheesy entertainment, this was bands, djs and musicians all of whom were top quality.
Cleanliness of the camp – all throughout the camp the common areas were kept clean all the time.
Other People staying on the site – No riff raff on site = no problems, this place attracts a certain type of clientele – no big gangs of people wearing football shirts & lairy beer drinkers.
Staff – very friendly and helpful
Beach – we used to go to the pool in the morning & then beach in the afternoon, the beach to the left of Tangerine is the better beach as its sandy and easy on the foot going into the water, we used to love our sundowners, the view of the bay of St Tropez was unreal. We also loved our Maxi Beignets, if you know you know. We got up one morning and did a sunrise swim, unforgettable!
Breakfast – Breakfast in ‘’The Sun’’ was excellent.
Picnic – Great sport for take away/sit in food, really quick service, although very skimpy on the ice-cream ; ).
Les Baigneuses - Loved this place for a morning coffee, evening snack, night cap.
Relaxed Attitude – staff just let you get on with your holiday, on other French ‘’Campsites’’ they can be like the military police at times, however, the staff here let you enjoy your holiday, no speedo type shorts in the pool is a God Send!
People of Reduced Mobility – This site goes out of its way to help people with reduced mobility, it was great to see, beds were reserved around the pool & easy access into the pool as well, this brightened up my day seeing how many people of reduced mobility could go about their day to day routine and enjoy their holiday.
Areas for Improvement
Sunbeds – Pool area is huge & there is a big opportunity to include more sunbeds, there is certainly the space available to do this. If you don’t arrive by 10:15am little chance of getting a bed until people start leaving for lunch, we used to set up camp in the pool beach area and then wait for beds to become available, would also recommend that the management deploy a system whereby towels are removed after 30-45 mins if none of the beds being used, this was rife and families would keep 4 to 5 beds but only use 2 for the adults, lots left the beds when they went to lunch.
Wristbands – 3 of us had to get new wristbands during the stay and one day my 13 year old son was made to feel like he was an intruder on the camp as the temporary pool attendant (normally a security guard) made him cut off his wrist band because it didn’t have the wooden bit on it (had fallen off), suggest new wristbands that don’t break are put in place.
Smell of the River - There is a river that runs through the resort, the boardwalk is amazing and evening walks back up towards the sunset were fantastic, however, due to the algae in the river, the smell is absolutely horrendous at times, so much so that we couldn’t enjoy our meal on our last night at The Tangerine as our seats were right next to the river, the smell was that powerful it gave me a headache.
Bar Closures at 11pm – All bars/restaurants with the exception of Canopy close at 11pm sharp, the bar is closed and all music shut off, I have read other replies that say this is because this is a family resort, however, I don’t think extending bar/restaurant hours to 11:30pm/12pm would be negative, lots of people on the site ready to spend cash. I would also add that the dynamic of the age groups for kids is 7+ years – 16.
Outsiders – People who aren’t staying on Prairies de La Mer can use all of the restaurants and bars and can walk freely around the resort, nobody is challenged coming into the resort by security, for such an exclusive and expensive resort, I believe that only people on the site should be using the facilities. (The pool is strictly monitored). Priority should be given at the restaurants for people staying on the site.
Toilets – Very unhygienic, both at the pool and the beach, no soap to wash hands!
Disappointments
Canopy – service & location was excellent, but food was a let-down, the tacos, tortilla and lamb tagine we had were not up to the level (price paid) as we expected.
Things to be aware of
Reservations – you can’t reserve tables at any restaurant apart from Canopy.
Pool area – No slides – don’t book here expecting water slides etc (we knew this before we went and kids still had a great time)
Paddle Tennis - €30 per hour was very expensive.
Auchan supermarket – 5 mins drive away – go here for a big weekly shop as its much cheaper than on-site supermarkets, although they do serve a purpose.
Prices of drinks – very expensive, €11/€9 for a pint of beer depending on where you go, €5 for a coke, take advantage of the happy hour 7.30-8:30pm
Ordering Piscine of Wine – they load the piscine glasses with lots of ice, you pay €2 more for a larger glass but in reality you get the same wine as a small glass which is €4. Ask for a large glass with not lots of ice.
Bike hire – bring your own if you can, very expensive, €90 each per week, for a family of 5 for two weeks that’s €900!!!
Boat to St Tropez – Get the green boats from Port Grimaud into St Tropez, €15 return for adults and €9 for kids, takes 20 mins and much better than a 1-hour drive in traffic. Note that on market day (Tues, Sat) you should book online or get your tickets the day before as the boats between 9am – 10:30am sell out, boats run all day on the hour until 23:50pm.
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