Latest Reviews for French Alps

The Chalet was very clean and tidy and kept to a high standard. The service provided by Claire and Martin was second to none. La tania itself has very limited night life but the ski lodge provides enough entertainment with Meribel just a short taxi ride away.

Accomidation. walked in, walked out!enough said!

We have just returned from a lovely holiday in Amphion near Evian staying at the Hotel de la Plage. The holiday was booked with Crystal holidays and we travelled in June.

We wanted a relaxing and easy holiday as we have a 5 month old baby and this was his first trip abroad. The holiday was perfect and the staff at hotel de la plage and crystal made us very welcome. This is NOT a hotel or town to visit if you are looking for serious nightlife and parties but the perfect place to chill out and relax. The town itself is very small with very few shops, a boulangerie and a couple of supermarkets only.

The hotel is run by very friendly staff. They do not speak very much English (or maybe they do and they were just making us practice!) but they are very accomodating. The rooms were pretty basic but all had small balconies and many of the look out over the lake towards switzerland. If you are visiting this hotel with a child the restaurant is over the road from the hotel so baby monitors are unlikely to work. We just took our baby with us and he as very welcome in the restaurant. The clientele seem to be older and very excited about having children in the hotel. The hotel has a swimming pool which is very quiet but very cold however there is a great swimming centre just along from the hotel which would suit a family.there is a pebble beach and a park right next to the hotel.

The food in the restaurant was typically french and if you go HB then there are no choices for meals, so you could expect to eat veal/rabbit/pouisson. It was very nice food though and if you dont fancy the main course you can always fill up on the fantastic cheese board instead.

All in all this was a lovely relaxing holiday for us with a small baby. The Crystal rep Elaine was really helpful and we met some lovely people.

Lovely setting 1 km out of Cannes high up on hill in residential area. Best thing was the beautiful pool overlooking sea. Resort was quiet as it was not French half-term. Friendly staff, good restaurant, appartment compact but clean with fantastic views (book bigger than you need, it doesn't cost that much more then you get extra shower and bigger fridge).

Free mini bus into Cannes, mini shop for baguettes on-site. Lovely relaxing half-term break only costing £750 including Easyjet flights and accommodation. Only extras were hire car for one day to get food in and obviously ice creams which are not cheap in Cannes! Rue d'Antibes great for window shopping. Iles des Lerins meant to be lovely but we ran out of time. You can also take train along coast.

We can't wait to go back.

Accommodation on the camp site is provided by One Parent Family Holidays. ";Basic"; is an understatement! It is filthy, antiquated and in respect of equipment supplied, borders on safety hazzard. (Kettles that the handles fall off, gas lanterns that explode, gas cookers that don't work properly and leave a smell of gas, minibus for excursions leaks oil constantly and breaks down regularly.)

Attitude of company owner/manager is apalling. You will SERIOUSLY be lectured if you are 5 minutes late on a supermarket shopping trip. You will be lectured about the size of your luggage. You will be lectured about your parenting style etc etc etc.

Could go on and on. The company also runs round the world holidays, holidays in Spain etc etc. DO NOT RISK IT! Fantastic concept to travel with other single parent families - just don't do it with this organisation!

M

This is a great get-away-from-it-all location. Situated at the end of a country lane, there are chalets and BandB rooms close to a lake, surrounded by trees. The old farm house serves as a restaurant and meals are served on a terrace under a canopy or under the trees by a small garden. We stayed in chalet number 2 which faces directly on to the lake.

The tranquility is breathtaking. Kingfishers (3 pairs) are constantly flying across the lake and close to the chalet and you can usually see a heron or two flying towards the far end of the lake. We saw a deer swim across the lake one morning. Over 50 different species of birds have been identified by the owners (who are English). Our grandson enjoyed fishing in the lake and caught a number of fish.

The restuarant serves good quality food including vegetarian and has a specials board in addition to the main menu. They also serve home made pizzas to eat in the restaurant or to take away.
The chalets are well equipped and have full size cookers and a barbecue for self catering.
In the nearby village of Marval (about 2 miles away) there is a French restaurant serving excellent food and a general store selling fresh bread daily.

The family who own and run Ferme du Lac are very friendly and nothing is too much trouble for them.
What to do and see - St. Matthieu (30 mins drive) has a man made beach by a lake and although we did not visit it, we were told how good it was - swimming, pedaloes, fishing, restaurant and bar etc.
Oradour sur Glane is worth a visit - the ruins of a village where 690 people were massacred in 1944.
Angoulemne and Perigeux are nearby as is Limoges - great place for porcelain - all worth a visit. Brantome is our favourite small town and is about 45 mins drive away - market day Friday. All the local villages have a character of their own and it is a pleasure to drive through them and occasionally stop for some liquid refreshment.

Wherever we visited in this area, we always looked forward to coming back to the lake. On a clear night , the lack of light pollution enabled us to see a spectacular panorama of stars.
This was our second visit and we expect to return next year in the Autumn.
Our 12 year old grandson thoroughly enjoyed himself.

We discovered upon arrival at our expensive chalet that there was a room for 'staff'. We thought this was strange and rather surprising, and raised the issue with our cook and cleaner. We were told there was nothing we could do and were told to, more or less, grin and bear it. Little did we realise what hassle and disruption we would be in for. At any time of the day or night we would be disturbed by any number of 'staff' and friends of staff walking merrily into our chalet, either to use our kitchen, or just to go into their room.

Late at night the doorbell would ring. Rather disconcerting, as we didn't know if the ring was for us, or some other 'staff' member who happened to be in the chalet at the same time. At no time could we relax, or let our hair down, knowing that at any time of the day or night, we could be rudely interrupted by anyone walking through our door. We also brought our children on holiday and had no idea if they would be safe in the chalet on their own with 'god-knows-who' walking in unannounced at any time. The staff often wore no badges and we had no idea if they were official company people. When we raised the issue formally with Total upon our return, we received an appallingly complacent and cowardly reply that it was in the small print.

I would advise anyone considering a Total holiday to think very carefully about using this company that hides behind small print on a major issue of concern. We will never again make the mistake of using this company.

Location.
This camp site is a long drive from the channel ports about six hours but the roads are good and it is well worth the effort as the facilities are first class.
It is situated on a peninsular by the town of royan and has many fine beaches near by as well as small coastal villages.

Facilities.
The site is self contianed and has a large selection of caravans,great pool complex (including heated indoor pool)
bar, resturant shop, take away food, bike hire and launderette.
The site also has good childrens clubs and sports facilities which include tennis courts,childrens parks,football pitch and basketball court,
golf practice net, archery and boule courts.
The site is quite simply the best Haven have in France, we are returning for the third time in a row in 2004.

Out and about.
There are plenty of palces to visit once you are on site, these include the local zoo at palmyra (well worth a visit)to the large towns of Royan,Cognac,Bordaux and La Rochelle.
For anyone who plays golf the area has some of the finest golf courses in France within easy reach.

If you are looking for a great family holiday i would highly recommend this site.