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Hello All,

Iam thinking of going to Messanges "le vieux port" in july next year, i just wondered if anyone has been on this site , and could give me an idea of what its like, we are going with our 3 children 9,12,16. also whats the weather usually like down there in July, or if theres a site you could recomend ,any advise would be most welcome.

Thanks

regards Garry

Garry

I have not at Messanges but have further down the coast at Biarritz. For information on the area have a look at this link, its a different site to Le Vieux Port but less than a mile away. http://www.btinternet.com/~/Cote/cote_2001.htm

David

Sorry this turned out into a bit of an essay.

We went to Lou Pignada which is in Messanges which is across the main road from Le Vieux Port.  Le Vieux Port was a bigger site than ours.  The entertainment at Lou Pignada was very french so our family and another family we met on our site decided to go to Le Vieux Port to see what their entertainment was like.  The entertainment was more English orientated than ours, they were doing Scottish dancing the night we went, but because it is a bigger site, the bar is not close enough to the entertainment, they have seats set out like at the cinema in rows and the childrens' play area was right next to the entertainment but too far to see to see the children from the bar and it was in darkness.  There were children throwing fireworks so our children could stay in there and the bar staff were not interested when we told them.  They couldn't understand us, so we finished our drinks and took the children back to our own site.  The pools and chutes at Le Vieux Port were slightly bigger than ours but the children were really happy with the ones at Lou Pignada and they spent their time going down the flumes and then running from the outdoor pool into the indoor pool as it was warmer in the indoor pool. 

We went to Lou Pignada with French Freedom, but if you go make sure you are not close to the bar, as we had a tent just behind the bar and childrens' play area, but we were kept awake until 3am from the noise, they were really noisy clearing away and shouting.  Our tent was also in a dip so we got flooded out and spent 3 nights in different mobile homes.  When we come back to our tent, we could not stand the noise, so asked to be moved.  We were moved further into the camp and our second week was like a completely different holiday - we really enjoyed our holiday then - if ony we had asked to be moved when we first got there.

There are lots of cycle routes through the forests into the surrounding towns.  They are safe for the children (ours are 13, 11 & 8), as you don't have to touch the roads.  Leon is a lovely quaint market town we cycled to.  Vieux Boucau is just down the road.  There are lovely beaches all the way along the coast with a lot of surf, but we spent a lot of type at Soustans Lake and Vieux Boucau.  You can park right by the beach which is lovely and the water is really safe for the children.  There are water pedolos and people wind surfing all day.  Super U supermarket is just a few minutes away before you get to Vieux Boucau - you get really cheap wine (we found a nice white wine called Cotes de Bergerac - Moelleux if you don't like dry wine - just over 2euros) and everything else that you would possibly want.  There's a lovely Pizza restaurant where you sit in the main square at Vieux Boucau - really friendly, lovely home made pizzas/pasta. 

We are going back to France next year to the Vendee, but we are not chancing it in a tent this year, we are going in a mobile home.  We found Keycamp the cheapest this year, as long as you book before 31 October.

Garry

I see the the link I posted is corrupted. If you would like more information please e-mail me.

David

Thankyou Kim charles for your information, it will be very usefull.

Regards

Garry