Route du Littoral
66702 ARGELES sur MER Cédex
9h – 16h30
+33(0)468811448

Website: http://www.camping-le-soleil.fr/campsite-argeles-france/

Date of Visit: 29th July – 12th August 2017     Unit: Caravan

Yes we have been here before and yes we are going again, already booked next year.
So why a new review? Well we were in a different area this year and a couple of things have changed at the site.

SO you can read all about our 2017 trip here.

This campsite is about as close to the beach as you can get. On our first trip to this area with the stroppy teenager in tow we noticed a site that was closer to the beach as we trekked through the sand dunes to the beach. only to find that where we had come out was Nudist to the left and clothed to the right. The look on her face was priceless!
A google maps/earth search back at home revealed the name of this site and the website to visit. We liked what we saw and 2 years later we arrived for our first visit.

The only issue with this site is it’s location. No the actual location of the site is fantastic. Closest to the beach, on the outskirts of town so easy to get into the hustle and bustle or stay away in the relative calm  of the site. I mean its a LONG WAY!
The drive from Calais is 10 hours+ with no delays so you will probably want to look at an overnight stop. The other channel crossing routes do not really save much driving time for this destination and the extra cost involved means that cost is really a non issue, it’s going to end up about the same.

There are a couple of options for route mainly the Massive Central/Milau Bridge or going via Tolouse. We did Tolouse this year and must say it was much flatter and probably less traffic.

You arrive at site down a narrowish lane and enter over a bridge which is wide enough for 2 cars but the entrance narrows to only allow one. Swing right into the car park, park and report to reception. Early arrival is not a problem and as long as your pitch is free you can get on early.

Reception can be busy, there are over 1000 pitches on this site and a good many are camping/caravan pitches. There are also plenty of statics and the main “Camping Holiday Companies” all have a presence including Canvas, and Eurocamp etc…

Once checked in you are given a wristband which must be worn, a sticker for your car and the code for the gate. Gates are locked at 11:30 and no cars can get on or off site until 7am.

You are given a map of the site with all pitches shown and all services.

Pitches are spacious our caravan and full awning went on with no problem and the car too. We could get another awning up as well if we had wanted. In fact most caravans had a full awning and a sun canopy up, most left the sides out of the awning as any breeze is greatly appreciated in the heat.

The toilet blocks are plentiful and are dotted around the site in the middle of a group of pitches that they are designed to serve. Showers are free and hot water was never in short supply. The actual cubicals are covered but the walkways between are open. There are plenty of pot wash sinks and also a row of clothes wash sinks. The toilets and showers are seperated by sex ie male toilet row and opposite male sink row,then the potwash then the female toilets and sinks. Funnily the Make showers were on the rear of the female toilets and the female showers on the rear of the male toilets separated by a solid brick wall but why not keep the pot wash in the middle and then males to the left and females to the right? I have no idea not that it actually bothered most people they just used whatever was free regardless of label. Oh there are some urinals which have no door on as is the French way. No issue as you can not see anything when a man is stood using it. In fact you will see more at the side of the road as when the French have to go….They do. The only comment I heard about these urinals was from a teenage british girl who told her friend “everytime I walk past there is a man having a pee.” “but their in the mens section. Why were you walking past?” “well I had to check.” Doh!

There is a Turkish style toilet in both male and female should you wish but all the rest are standard and even have seats which a lot of public toilets in France don’t have.

 

While pitches are spacious the roads around site are not very wide and of course there are cars parked all over. This can make for some tight manoeuvring if you have a larger van. We saw a beautiful Dutch van turn up on site and I remember commenting “good luck getting that on a pitch”. They did, and it fit but I have no idea how they did it. The van was HUGE!

I managed to reverse our van onto our pitch in one go and got straight into the position that we wanted it.

Other facilities on site include 2 shops. One general store selling almost everything you will need and one “Presse-Tabac” Newsagent & Tobaconist

2 restaurants and a take away

This building houses 2 restaurants with different quality menus. We ate in the lower quality one but the food was great. The other one is more expensive but does look a very nice menu. The take away is very handy and we used it at least once to buy some frites to add to our meal.

Some more images from around the site

The site is busy but as you can see there never seems to be large crowds around.
There are 3 bars on site. One near the playground. One by the pool and the Beach bar which is where the evening entertainment takes place.

A Night club/disco and a foam party area.

The pool is heated and is large. It is split into 3 areas, a main pool for swimming, a shallow kiddies area, and a mixed area where aqua aerobics etc takes place every morning.

There are a number of slides but in all honesty the site could probably use an update to the slides there are a number of sites in the area with more exciting looking slides. But there is always Aqualand at St. Cyprien or Argeles Canyoning park just around the corner.

There are both kids and teenager clubs and something for everyone.
This site is a busy or a quiet site that has something for everybody. Prices are not extortionate but you do need to book! We have been twice now and have already booked for next year. We booked this years trip at the end of August last year and it was becoming hard to find a pitch. For the first two weeks in August there was only 75 pitches free from 1000 so this year we booked while we were still on site and when we made the booking we discussing the pitch for next year with the staff member who said to us, “lets find your family pitch” They know they have something special and they know that most of their customers return year after year. In fact they even own a storage facility and many customers from all over leave their vans here and arrive each year to find their van on their pitch all ready for them to set up.

We love this site. We love the area, the facilities, the people. We are going back and next year it looks like more of the family will be coming with us.