Sadly just back from our first ever venture into Europe with our caravan. We booked the whole thing easily and simply using the Club travel service and found them extremely helpful, offering friendly advice and answer the deluge of questions we had prior and after making our booking.
We decided to book return passage from Portsmouth to Santander to reduce our our driving. It's worth noting that the apparent nightmare of driving through the Santander town on the way to and from the motorway network has been eliminated due to changes at the port (see Brittany Ferry website for detail) making it easy to leave and return to the ferry port.
We stayed for three glorious weeks, with a few off days, at Le Pavillon Royal near Biarritz as it is just 150 miles from the port of Santander.
As this was our first foray to Europe we can only judge the site against sites found in the UK . We had a pitch with water, waste water and 10amp electrical supply although it was just short of 22m to the nearest hookup, which we found had reversed polarity. The pitch itself was huge ( it's worth asking for a pitch in the 50's or 60's) and our levelling blocks came in handy. The weather when we arrived was atrocious and we initially pitched as on club sites but due the strong winds, swung the caravan around to put its rear into the wind, thus reducing buffering and still having ample space for the caravan, awning and cloths dryer.
This is probably the friendliest site we've ever stayed on, everyone talks to everyone, regardless of nationality, the staff all speak English and are happy to pass the time of day with you and nothing appears to be too much trouble.
The facilities are ample in number and clean and there's a nice swimming pool,a well stocked shop, good restaurant and bar too. It's worth noting that the manager had passed away at the beginning of the year and although a new manager took up post on the 1st July the interim period has left the site looking a little tired and in need of some TLC, something I expect will now improve. The beach, which is a surfers dream is just at the bottom of the site via a site security gate and two short flights of steps, one set may appear to some a little steep. The beach is really the focal point of the site and the sunsets to die for.
Away from the site there's plenty to do and visit within easy reach, that is if you can drag yourselves away from the site to explore the surrounding area. It's a great site in a fantastic location and should be on everyone's to visit list.
