L'Escale

Rated 4 of 5

Rated 2 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 2 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 4 of 5

Good for families

Stunning location but for us average facilities

I thought it important to write a recent balanced review as they seem to be missing for a few years on the CMC site. On the positive side the location is amazing in the French Alps with east access to gondola and chair lift that in good weather gives you many walking or hiking possibilities. We also caught the local bus Y62 to Annecy a must if you have time. Local shops and bars are expensive so stock up before you arrive. The site however is probably OK for families but the facilities in our opinion were poor, hot water is intermittent, toilet paper sometimes missing and areas not always clean. Our serviced pitch was located OK but we were used to the water tap being for us, however several others would just show up and help themselves. Electrics a little suspect the first time I’ve experienced reverse polarity warning on our control panel, as junction box had no earth. To summarise fab location but consider others unless you can live with some limitations.

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TOM 88

Reviewed on 30/07/2023 17:40

14 reviews

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Rated 4 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 4 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 4 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

Alpine Adventure

Enjoyed a 12 night stay at L'Escale with our 2 children. The site itself is situated in the heart of Le Grand Bornand which is a 5 minutes walk away. Two small supermarkets are available in the town and a few gift shops and plenty of eateries offering local fayre. If you're a fan of fancy sausages, this is the place for you. The town contains many facilities for a family including an open air lido (about £5 per person ) , petanque areas and volleyball facilities. Copious areas to walk and great for committed cyclists ( we were glad we didn't bother with the kids bikes, it was more for the lycra clad gang) , rock climbing was well signposted up into the higher reaches of the town. The cable cars in the town were quickly walkable from the site and offered a great trip in combination with the chair lifts. The views were spectacular and the paragliding amazing. I understand that this area is world renowned for the sport. The site offered reasonable facilities- a small inside /outside pool with amazing views of the mountains. It never seemed to get too busy or suffer from the hog a lounger problem. The pitch sizes were good and toilet facilities modern in blocks of mixed toilet/basin cubicles/showers. Personally I'd rather these weren't mixed because I'm not the greatest fan of cleaning my teeth in an open topped cubicle next to someone having their morning ablutions. The cubicles were unisex. The restaurant on site was not overly welcoming when we enquired about eating there or getting a takeaway so we didn't bother and walked into town. The reception said nothing about the 'free drink' advertised in the by the CC and we didnt ask. There was no real facilities on site to get a drink as such. The site gave us free bus tickets to use to various places which we took advantage of to get Le Clusaz- a nearly own with more restaurants , taboggan run, more cable cars and chair lifts, and plenty of other activities. Annecy is approx 30km away and we discovered a lovely grass 'beach ' in Veryiers de lac to go for a dip with very cheap parking 2 minutes walk away. Beautiful clean lake. Would visit again to explore more

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Wag1

Motorhomer from South Glamorgan

Reviewed on 12/08/2019 16:42

3 reviews

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Rated 4 of 5

Rated 2 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 4 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 4 of 5

Location

Rated 4 of 5

Good for families

Beautiful scenery but noisy and surprise festival!

We are just concluding 12 nights here with our two children having wanted a site with access to the mountains. We certainly weren't disappointed with the location, it's is stunning with cable cars and mountain bike trails within easy walking distance. The town itself is pretty and well serviced with two small supermarkets and numerous cheese and local produce shops. The site is fine but not the best we've stayed on. You will need hard ground pegs! Pitches are of a good size and electric and water/drainage was on hand. The pool is ok but v cold even in 30degree heat. Our stay was slightly marred by v noisy neighbors who were visiting for a week long childrens arts and drama festival that we only became aware of on arrival. The festival literally shuts the town down for a week every August meaning the site becomes packed and the town also (we needed to obtain wrist passes to get to the supermarket for bread!). Had we known about the festival we would have probably chosen to come at a different time as the character of the site definitely shifted in our second week. In summary a beautiful location and pleasant site just avoid the penultimate week of August unless you like being surrounded by school parties and large groups!

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GIZMO77

Caravanner

Reviewed on 25/08/2017 16:19

1 review

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Rated 4 of 5

Rated 3 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 4 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

Convenient Site in Stunning Location

My wife and I stayed 7 nights in July 2017. It was our second stay. We have a modern camper van and large awning. The site is a few minutes walk from the village centre. Good shops with adequate small supermarket and several restaurants. The site has its own restaurant and takeaway which we used and found good. Apart from the onsite pool there is an open air pool in the village and children's play area. The site has very compacted ground and even steel pegs struggled so take spares and a decent hammer! We booked 5 months in advance but we're given limited choice of pitch, neither of which we would have chosen but we made the best of the two offered. Other people refused the pitches first offered and we might next time. Pitches we would have preferred we're vacant all the time we stayed so not sure why the site held those back. Unfortunately the site also allocated the two adjoining pitches to a rather boisterous school camp which did affect out enjoyment and we would not have taken our pitch had we known in advance and I suspect the site did know. The facilities are relatively new and kept clean though hot water was not available a couple of times. The area is great for walking and local guide books/maps are available at the Tourist Office. There are Tour de France climbs in the area and even aged 70 I managed to cycle up Col de la Colombiere and Aravis both from the site. The site has its shortcomings but the location is superb and we will be going back.

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Reviewed on 02/08/2017 17:06

1 review

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Rated 4 of 5

Rated 5 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 5 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

First class caravan and motorhome site

This is our fourth stay at the site. It's our favourite site in France and we have travelled extensively with a large rig. Discovery and Buccaneer cruiser. Set next to the small and pretty town of le grand bornand it is not too large, generally quiet and a real sporting location. Cycling, walking g, running g and paragliding. Not such a great location for children we would think. Large flat pitches. We always have a special pitch. First class in every way. Our bad news this year is that are travelling couple, also CC members had their little dog attacked and killed on site. A large Bull Mastif not on a lead against site rules and French law was to blame. All is now in the hands of the gendarmarie. Very sad that the little might died last night after a large and very expensive operation to attempt to rebuild its ribs and lungs. This in no way was the fault of the site. It remains still a first class location. Be very careful with your dog's whilst travelling.

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Margarita

Motorhomer from Norfolk

Reviewed on 08/07/2017 10:08

54 reviews

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Rated 4 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 5 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 4 of 5

Good for families

Picturesque stay in the French Alps

We stayed at Camping L'Escale for 11 nights from late August 2013. Access to the site was easy - there is a steady climb from Thones followed by a short decent after St Jean de Sixt - nothing too steep and the road was adequately wide. Staff on reception were very helpful and spoke good English. The Toilet and showers are very new and smart with plenty of hot water on hand. WiFi is free and works well but is restricted to the area around reception. There are good views of the surrounding hills from most of the site. There are nice indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a small games area. The pitch surface was compacted hardcore with grass and weeds but generally flat. Bent a few rock pegs putting up the awning! The electric hookup is a bit ancient but worked reliably. The site was generally quiet but there is occasional noise from the nearby road. Le Grand Bornand centre is 5 mins walk from the site with a good selection of shops and restaurants. There was a nice Wednesday farmers market. The village is on the mountain section of the Tour de France cycle race so lots of decorative bikes around. There were quite a lot of cyclists practicing but this did not cause a problem as even the mountain passes are double width. There are many places to visit within 1.5 hours drive of the site. Annecy is nice but very Tourist orientated - don't miss the 2hr boat trip round the lake. A day in Chamonix with the ascents of the Mont Blanc range by rack railway and cablecar was a definitive highlight. Plenty of scope for walking - we especially recommend "Cirque du Fer à Cheval" and lake "lac de Roselend". Also several ski lifts were open enabling fast ascent to get to high walking areas with fabulous views. Certainly a site to recommend.

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MartinL

Caravanner from Dorset

Reviewed on 26/09/2016 15:32

9 reviews

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Rated 4 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 5 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 4 of 5

Good for families

Stunning site

I agree with the reviews below of MGSG, BerksCaravanner, and Unox - nothing more I can say, except we plan to go back for a week next time!

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SusanD

Caravanner

Reviewed on 18/09/2016 10:25

12 reviews

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Rated 4 of 5

Rated 5 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 4 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 4 of 5

Good for families

Summer visit

Stopped off for 2 nights on our way back from Italy. Excellent location. The site is pleasant and clean, my only negative comment is that the locations for plugging into electricity are few and far between so do make sure you have plenty of cable to reach.

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MGSG

Motorhomer

Reviewed on 13/08/2016 21:31

1 review

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Rated 4 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 5 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 4 of 5

Good for families

Fabulous site in great location

This site is 5 minutes walk from the lovely town of Le Grand Bornand which has a good selection of shops and restaurants. Whilst it is a tourist town it has not been overdeveloped like some of the others nearby and still retains a village feel. There is a range of activities organised by the town which are listed in a weekly leaflet. The restaurant is at the entrance to the site and is excellent. There were many customers from outside as well as campers. Swimming pool looked good although we did not use it, and the excellent showers/toilets looked fairly new and were kept spotless. There are many local walks accessible via the free ski bus and the local walk map is worth the 5 euros cost. Further afield there is Annecy and Chamonix (discount leaflet from reception who were very helpful). Would definitely return, and only downsides were a little traffic noise and the very hard pitch base where I managed to bend several rock pegs.

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BerksCaravanner

Reviewed on 11/08/2016 20:50

7 reviews

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Rated 4 of 5

Peace and quiet

Rated 4 of 5

Facilities and cleanliness

Rated 5 of 5

Location

Rated 5 of 5

Good for families

A great site in a stunning setting

Ok, this is a 3 star site and some of the pitches, whilst being huge are only marked out by lines on the kerb which can be a bit confusing, and it can feel a bit like pitching on a car park. There is some road noise but not enough to disturb. Those are the not so good points but these are totally outweighed by the good. Just across the road and over the bridge and you are in the most delightful alpine town, beautiful buildings, great restaurants and bars, obviously equipped for year round tourism without being too 'touristy'. The area is stunning, with your tourist tax you get a free ski bus pass and I urge you to make full use of this. Within the village there is a cable car, which leads to a chairlift giving wonderful views over the surrounding areas. The on site restaurant is great, serving good local dishes at a reasonable price, but in the town there are more excellent eating places - but above all the scenery!! If you love mountains, views, local food, chalets cheese and cows with bells on you'll have a great time. Highly recommended we shall return!!

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Unox

Caravanner from Bedfordshire

Reviewed on 12/07/2016 16:25

12 reviews

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