Name: Aquatique Club La Pinède
Address: 2103, route de la Fouasse, Les Mathes, Les Mathes, Les Mathes, Les Mathes, 17570, France
Rating: 8

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Rochefort -Saint-Agnant Airport

Minimes Beach

L'Espace Encan de La Rochelle

Aquarium La Rochelle

Maritime Museum

Tour de la Lanterne

Tour St. Nicolas

Tour de la Chaine

Porte de la Grosse Horloge

Grand Temple

La Rochelle Hotel de Ville

Musee d'Orbigny-Bernon

Musee du Nouveau Monde

Musee des Beaux-Arts

Natural History Museum

La Rochelle-Ile de Re Airport

Aquatique Club La Pinède

Les Mathes

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kitchen

Stayed in an ultimate with my wife and 2 kids. Good value for money holiday with great pool and slides. Beds weren’t the best and you might need to take a couple of extra pillows. Bar was good and breakfast from the on site shop, but food from the restaurant and takeaway wasn’t exactly high quality. Overall a nice break here, but the site will need to up its game if holidays like this are to remain as attractive as they were 25 years ago….

Nice stay

What a fantastic experience! Our first Eurocamp and if this is the standard of them certainly won't be our last. We travelled as 2 families of 3 and shared a Comfort Mobile Home with 3 bedrooms. We made full use of the BBQ and ate outside on the terrace, it was perfect. The waterpark was brilliant, we had 2 x 12yr old boys with us and pretty much didn't see them from open to close. You do need to make sure you have correct swimwear though, the non-baggy shorts rule in France is upheld (we thought we'd get away with it, we didn't!) and the men & boys must all wear tight fitting swimwear. It is however the norm out there so after the initial embarrassment from the boys they soon realised everyone of all shape and size wear them!

The bar and snack area caters for all drinks and the food is really good and affordable. We didn't use the onsite restaurant but our travelling companions did and enjoyed it. 

The onsite shop stocks all essentials (morning pastries are amazing) but the supermarket is only 10 minutes away to do a full shop if needed. 

Evening entertainment is energetic and unless you are fairly fluent in French you won't be able to catch most of it although they do their best to include everyone. 

We had a couple of beach days - you can either go to Cote Sauvage which is dune-ey and beautiful beaches but has no facilities whatsoever so make sure you take all you need for the day. Or head into Les Palmyres and the beaches there are just as nice but you have a bar etc if required. 

Luna Park is pretty much opposite and puts funfairs in the UK to shame. Rides are 3 or 4 euros each and there is a huge range of them, along with the crazy golf there it is definitely worth visiting. 

All in all, if we didn't want to experience other areas of France we would 100% book there again. 

Negatives from the experience ..... pillows are awful in the mobile homes, take your own and if like me you love your tea take a kettle there isn't one in the accommodation. Neither of which would stop us from visiting again :-)

What a fantastic holiday!

We spent 11 days at La Pinede at the start of the French summer hols and while we were disappointed with the mobile home, we really liked the site.  So we booked an Ultimate mobile home through Eurocamp and the photos did not reflect the mobile home we got.  

On the website, a modern mobile home is shown with recent looking interior and fixtures/fittings.    In fact the website states that Ultimate accommodation is the most recent.  Not the case. I know from doing lots of French mobile home holidays that the website photos may differ slightly from the reality but we haven't ever been so underwhelmed by our accommodation.   It was tired and dated and frankly dirty.  It was obvious that the home had had only a superficial clean. 

There was dust/grime in every corner of the floor.   The curtains in the living space were filthy and had what looked like mould along the bottom.   Then in the 2 bathrooms, the shower attachments couldn't be adjusted and were fixed so high up the cubicle that only someone over 6ft would be able to wash properly.  Finally the floor everywhere needed a deep clean.  I mopped it myself when we arrived and found it was filthy.   It really wasn't the Ultimate mobile home marketed on the website.     If  I had booked the cheapest accommodation, I would expect a dated and worn decor and furnishings but in an Ultimate I did not and Marvilla and Eurocamp should make sure the description matches the actual accommodation.

That said, we really liked the site. It is set among lovely pine trees and has a really friendly atmosphere,
a good multi sport court for the kids, table tennis and our emplacement was spacious and private.  The pools were great and thanks to a very animated "Animation" team,  we all had a lot of fun at the pool.  The same team provided the evening entertainment and again they were great.  We loved the Asterix production and the NRJ disco.   

The snack bar was really handy on days when we didn't want to cook, with pizzas to takeaway and roasted chicken, panini and sweet stuff too.  The bar was good especially during the Euros and I enjoyed a good morning coffee there.

The mini market didn't have a lot of choice,  but with so many supermarkets in the area, we only used it to buy baguette.

Bike hire on site is a good feature.  We took out bikes for 24 hours and didn't regret it, the cycle paths here are so rewarding.  

So in all, la Pinede is a very good site, made better than average by its position amidst the pines its pools and its staff.  It is let down by its very dated and dirty Ultimate mobile homes.
 
As a comparison, we extended our break  and moved to a site just across the road run by a different operator. The Premium accommodation there was exactly as pictured on the website and so we weren't disappointed.

Lovely site shame about the Ultimate accommodation

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!

An excellent stay from an Irish family, many thanks!

This was our first time at this site so we were unsure what to expect. However we were not disappointed.

We arrived early on our first day but luckily were able to get into our home which was a 3 bed, 2 bath mobile with hot tub overlooking a meadow with a pony and goats very peaceful and a wonderful spot.

The pools here with 5 slides and a lazy river are excellent for all ages, particularly love the giant beanbags on the decked area didn’t want to move!!

The bar area opened for a couple of hours at lunch & again in the evening, very friendly staff who adapted to whatever nationality you were and the young lady that served us all week was wonderful and very friendly.

We ate at the restaurant twice in the evening and once for lunch all the food is excellent with lots of choice.

Entertainment they tried to do different things each night from quizzes, karaoke to a show which was a cabaret show outside, this was mostly all in French but this made it even better!  The entertainment team were all excellent and full of good energy.

The site shop was well stocked, you had to get there early to get what you would like for breakfast before it sold out.

Supermarkets close by, Le Palmyre Zoo 10 minutes away was an excellent, highly recommended day out.

To be honest there is so much to do on site, we hardly left site.

We will definitely be back to this wonderful place.

First time here

We are currently staying at La Pinede and are having a wonderful time. 
On arrival we were initially unimpressed with our caravan - but this is on us as we booked the cheapest one, as an extra week with our little one following on from a larger family holiday in the may half term. We upgraded caravan the next day, during which reception staff were very helpful, and we just paid the difference in price.
This is the week after half term and the campsite is very quiet, and absolutely wonderful because of it! All the staff are very friendly, always say hello and are always smiling. 
The animation team are fabulous, especially Adam who always explains the bar games in French and English and tries to include everyone. 
The lifeguard at the pool is also wonderful, speaks to everyone, is very friendly, and very good at his job. The pool complex is spotlessly clean, the water is warm in the pool and the slides are great! The toilets at the pool are also kept very clean and are very stylish and modern. Speedo style swimwear for men are a rule and everyone seems to wear them.
The bar does a lovely mojito, again, the staff are friendly.
The campsite shop stocks basics, the croissant and pain au chocolate are ok but not the best. We found going into one of the local towns and finding a bakery to be the best thing for breakfast.
We brought the campsite WiFi and it has been mostly good, decent reception 80% of the time, enough for our little one to play games and stream YouTube when required.
We did a couple of days at a nearby beach, the water was shallow and not too cold which was perfect with kids. 
There does not appear to be a laundrette on site, but we found a reasonably priced one in nearby La Tremblade
All in all we are loving La Pinède. The facilities are good but the staff make it wonderful. They are friendly and absolutely brilliant with our little one!


Great site!

We stayed in a 3 bed privilege club accommodation for 7 days which was great. Superb location, close to the ocean, beautiful, absolutely amazing beach near by. Great activities for the kids ( mini golf, table tennis, great pool with slides, mini farm) sadly, animations  were  strictly in French, such a shame as there were a lot of English kids.

Great Camping Site

This is the 6th time we have been to La Pinede with our children and I came as a child multiple times 30 years ago! There have been so many improvements over the last 8 years - its been great to see the site grow

3 families, 3 touring pitches requested in advance all next to each other - pitches are a good size - however not all are on the site so its worth ensuring you get a pitch big enough for your van/ tents etc.

The site has so many positives - location, pool area, bar and restaurant are all really good and well maintained, staff are very friendly and really appreciate when you try and converse in French. One of the reasons we like this site is there are typically so few English, slightly more this year but still predominantly French. As a result all of the entertainment is in french - this doesnt bother us, however if you are looking for somewhere more 'british' this probably isnt the site for you.

Two areas that I would note as requiring improvement - shower/ toilet blocks - particularly the red one near the front - this is pretty dire, very poor standard of cleanliness and hygiene, no soap or hand sanitizer in sight. Availability of seating around the pool - in the morning this tends to be ok, however after lunch there is never any available and quite often lots of beds with no one coming back to them for long periods of time - some days this is managed and the lifeguards make everyone go back to their beds but not very often

Other than that another lovely 2 weeks in The Pines and cant wait to return!

Another great trip ....

This is our second visit to the site. Came back here as the children ( 14&16) loved the slides at the pool. 
We had a really good plot, spacious ( bit noisy as near the exit / entrance/ pool complex and restaurant) but we were happy as the plot accommodated campervan, large tent and sun shelter as well as our large trailer. Plot was dusty and a bit rocky in places but fine for us. Needed rock pegs in some areas of the pitch otherwise we wouldn’t have be able to put our tent up ( for reference) Pitches are generally semi shaded and a mixture. Can be noisy if near the field with the alpaca and goats ( goats bleat most of the early morning so if that bothers you, ask for a pitch at the back of the site) and you also have Luna park across the way. 
It was quite busy when we went here mid July and left early august but not comfortably so. 
Reception staff were friendly and very helpful. Security were efficient. Had an issue with very noisy neighbours and it was dealt with well. The ladies at the shop were a bit grumpy towards us if we paid by card.. beware! 

My BIGGEST issue with this site was the hygiene. We were close to the wash block ( red coloured interior near the front of the site) I was pretty shocked to see that there were NO soap dispensers or gel machines in the age of covid.  I did say this to reception and the lady there said there were soap / gel machines in all the wash blocks. In hindsight , not sure whether she understood ( my French is poor so speaking English) The wash block were poorly cleaned ( personally feeling) I’ve been camping for 40 years and mostly other campsites close the wash blocks a few times a day and hose the whole thing down, not here! So many times poo were around the loos for DAYS, the place stank, tissues over the floor for hours, the drains were blocked and it was fairly unpleasant. Put together with no soap and you’ve got stomach bug central waiting to happen. Generally I saw the cleaner with a cloth wipe around the sink ( 🤮) , wipe out the water on the floor rather than cleaning it all down with fresh water etc. Quite nasty. No bleach down the loos, no cleaning the whole toilets, just the rim with the cloth ( I’m hoping it wasn’t the same cloth that was around the sink) There we’re no toilet seats on the toilets either so pretty grotty…. The best toilets were the ones at the restaurant. They had soap and the elusive toilet seats. 
I can understand not having toilets seats if you are hosing the whole block down, as this wasn’t happening , it was just really dirty and unpleasant. We won’t be coming again due to the bathrooms to be honest. This was our main holiday so it was really important that we felt comfortable ( our son is also immunosuppressive due to Crohn’s disease so even more important it was clean) I don’t think the campsite view this area of there business highly enough. I did report this but like I say, perhaps the language barrier was an issue.  The soap in the restaurant did run out, I asked in French it had run out, was left empty a few more days. I then asked the cleaner again and she grumpily filled it. 
All in all, the location is good , if you can tolerate the noise from everywhere, the swimming pool is lovely and has been improved in the 7 years in between our visit and the site is lively. The entertainment is ALL in French but I think that’s fair enough. If you need to put your English children in the clubs, they might struggle unless you want them to learn French.
We did enjoy our holiday and so much of it was good, just not the hygiene ( that I’m sure you can see is quite an important element to us)

Ok… a bit disappointed

We arrived at Camping La Pinede after a very long journey and I explained in reception that  I didn’t have a car and asked if we could be located near amenities. Nothing was said and when we checked back in to reception to get our key we discovered that not  only were we not neE amenities, we were at the farthest end of the campsite from everything. Maybe there was a good reason for this but it wasn’t explained. The lady we spoke to, an older lady was not very welcoming. A few days later I asked about getting a taxi into La Palmyre to collect a hire car (I decided to rent as there are no taxis qnd few buses) and the same lady reprimanded me for not giving them more notice. I was told more than once they were too busy with check-ins . There was no-one else in reception while we were there. 

Then I was told there were no taxis and I’d have to get the bus. I asked what bus and I was told they didn’t know but she vaguely pointed in the direction of the bus stop. A reception in a resort that doesn’t know the local area? Or the buses that run to local areas? 

I went over to the bar/restaurant and asked a very helpful member of staff about buses and he went out of his way to try to help. The staff there are  generally very nice.  They should be running reception. Myself and three kids went to get a bus and it never came. I rang the hire car company and I changed the date until tomorrow and I’m hoping I can get a bus there. It’s a crazy situation in 2022

The resort has plus points, the pool,s, the wooded areas , the games area . All the entertainment is in French, we were sitting having our dinner and French people having great craic at an aperitif game that everyone else is excluded from. Same with the evening act. A fair few Irish people here . I wouldn’t mind all that too much if we had a good reception where you could go for advice and information when in an unfamiliar place.

Aquatique Club La Pinède

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