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is there such a thing as FANTASTIC toilets ??

Oh yes there is!!  Any will do when needed.  Incontinent does not mean living in mainland Europe.

Quote: Originally posted by Val A on 27/5/2012

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No horror stories, but we didn't like Canet Plage much! We stayed at Ma Prairie, at Canet last year.  We found the area noisy - with intrusive road noise all day and night, and during the last week in August all the site facilities were closed, despite having notices that they would open 'Demain'! 

I've decided I much prefer inland France, with a river beach, where you can get around, and where there isn't 'wall to wall' advertising, and tacky markets!

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There really is no contest – Bay of Rosas every time. Benefits:

Avoid the crowds, there is a 10 mile stretch from Ampuria Brava to Escala which is a national park. There are no hotels, no busy roads, just the small town of Sant Pere Pescadore, lots fruit farms, campsites, and a nature reserve with Europe’s largest flock of Flamingoes

Fantastic beach – 10 miles of golden sand, plenty of space for kite flying, football, boules, sandcastle building etc

The sea – warm, gently shelving, shallow enough for younger kids. Swim out a little with a snorkel and see loads of fish

Water Sports – one of Europes best venues for Windsurfing and kite surfing, segregated areas for sailors so that swimmers are not put in danger

Other things to do – lots of cycling around this area, Figueras has the Dali Museum and a fantastic castle, where you can get a tour in a Landrover and a boat trip in the reservoir under the castle. The Pyranese are less than 10km away, Cadaques is a popular town to visit, Barcelona is less than 2 hours away. It is worth a trip to Rosas and Escala (home of Fernando Alonso – you can even have a go on the carting track where Fernando started his racing career), there is even a big aqua park close to Ampuria Brava. Believe me, there is loads to do!

The campsites – I have stayed at Aquarius, Las Dunas and Nautic Almata and visited L’Amfora and Balena Alegre 2 – these sites are brilliant with excellent facilities. Aquarius is by far my favourite and this year it won the Alan Rogers campsite of the year, however, it has no pool, so that rules it out for some people (see my review of Aquarius on this site) . L’amfora has the best pool complex and it has toilet facilities on each pitch – however, it is a little large and impersonal and lacks shade, it is also very expensive, Nautic Almata is located at the mouth of the River Fluvia and is the best site for boating – especially jet skis and power boats, it even has its own marina. Las Dunas and Balena Alegre are both very large sites with good pitches, you are more likely to get a discount here. Balena Alegre has some pitches with a private pool shared between a small number of pitches. There is a very good Club Mistral windsurf centre next to Balena Alegre and Las Dunas

Mention Spain and everyone thinks that it is too far to drive – well the Bay of Rosas is 30 minutes from the French border, around 1 hour from Perpignan, driving from Calais takes around 11 hours can can be completed easily with 1 overnight stop. We catch the 7am ferry from Poole to Cherbourg and will be in Spain with the tent setup with enough time for a late afternoon trip to the beach the following day

As for expensive campsites – you typically pay 45+ Euros per night, however, everything else in Spain is far cheaper than France. In my opinion the campsites are far better than the French campsites.