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Reviews of Domaine De Chalain
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Domaine De Chalain
Lac Chalain
Doucier Franche Comte (Browse area)
39130 Tel: 0033(0)3 84 25 78 78
Visit their website
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Pitches: 472 Open: 29/04/2024 to 19/09/2024 29/04/2025 to 19/09/2025
Rating:
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Tent Pitches |
Caravan Pitches |
Motorhome Pitches |
Small Campervans |
No Glamping Units |
Holiday Homes for Hire |
No Statics for Sale |
No Seasonal Pitches |
Electric Hookups |
No Hardstandings |
No Fully Serviced Pitches |
Show Full Facilities |
Who's it for |
Families Welcome |
Not Members Only |
No Rallies |
Not Naturist Site |
Dogs Welcome |
No Dogs Allowed |
Groups Welcome |
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Facilities |
Toilet Facilities |
Hot Showers |
Washing Up |
No Bathroom |
No Baby Changing |
Laundry On Site |
Drinking Water |
Disabled Friendly |
Chemical Disposal |
No Battery Charging |
No Gas Exchange |
No Recycling Facilities |
No Kitchen Facilities |
No Freezer / Fridge |
No Motorhome Point |
Wifi Access |
Shop On Site |
Bar On Site |
Restaurant or Cafe or Takeaway On Site |
Activities |
Kids Playground |
TV Room |
Games Room |
Evening Entertainment |
Fishing On Site |
No Wild Swimming |
Indoor Pool On Site |
Outdoor Pool On Site |
No Horse Riding |
No Cycle Hire |
No Golf |
Tennis On Site |
Beach On Site |
Watersports On Site |
No Boat Launch |
Other Features |
No Sea Views |
Not Working Farm |
No Campfires Allowed |
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Coastside Pitches |
Public Transport |
No Dog Walk |
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Reviews:
13 in total, now showing 1 to 10
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Date of Visit: August 2015 |
Unit: Touring Caravan |
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Reviewer: Wilsosd |
14 reviews from this member |
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What a difference 2 years make. Visited this site in 2013 so we knew what to expect or at least we thought we did. Still predominantly Dutch and French families using the site and at peak times you can feel packed in, especially in certain areas of the site. Yes all the facilities are there and its great for families with children, everything on the door step, some of the facilities have been 'updated' or added to like the addition of a great indoor pool if only you could use it for swimming!. The big disappointment for us were the toilet/shower blocks, yes peak season, yes the campsite was full and you expect to wait for a period at times like these, but in all honesty what you don't expect to find is human 'bodily waste' in a shower cubicle. This was reported and unfortunately nothing was done until the next scheduled clean. This definitely impacted on our view of the site, perhaps we are being harsh on the staff as it was obviously another 'fellow' camper that left the deposit so to speak but the reaction should have been better. As for other areas the bar has changed hands and is lacking atmosphere, the entertainment seemed to stop part way through the fortnight we were there perhaps a blessing in disguise. The on site restaurant is over priced as to be expected but the 'PIC VERT' at the top of the site access road offers great value for money, ensure you book it is VERY Popular. The site overall is in a fantastic location and has everything you could want, maybe a little remote from the Hyper markets and bright lights for some but despite everything above would we go back in all probability yes just not in high season.
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Date of Visit: September 2014 |
Unit: Touring Caravan |
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Reviewer: Smarksmith |
27 reviews from this member |
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This is an amazing site, however with every site there are the plus points and the not so plus points.
Getting here - make sure you plan your route carefully. We made one slip up and missed a turning on sat nav which lead to a lot of very narrow village streets and steep mountain lanes trying to correct this error. Turning points for a Sorrento and 7. 5m caravan are VERY few and far between. Be careful as some sat nav’s think there is an entrance into the site from Fontenu, however there isn’t. The only way in is through Doucier.
One on the site you are greeted by a huge car park which is a little daunting as to where to go next and not get stuck. Just keep to the right and you will see a roadway marked out with concrete barriers. This is for the site visitors as the rest of the parking is for the public who come to visit the lake.
The reception is clearly sign posted just before you get to the barrier. We were checked in very politely and efficiently by a multi lingual team. You get your welcome bag which includes plenty of site and local info and the toilet roll (we’ll get to that later). As we were stopping the second week of September (It closes on 15th September) the site was nice and quiet and you just choose your own pitch and then let them know later where you are.
Things to bear in mind when choosing your pitch: fresh water is only available from the toilet blocks and they can be a fair distance if you pitch by the lake like we did. However by the lake you get a fantastic view and you can walk 50 feet to the water’s edge. So we just took the car daily with toilet cassette and fresh water carriers - it’s a bit of swings and roundabouts. It’s a very green site with lots of trees and the pitches are pretty big down by the lake - it’s all open and trees mark the pitches.
The amenities: well these are interesting. As it gets a lot of general public use they are “Back to Basics” in their approach. You will find lots of sinks, showers, pot and clothes washing sinks, toilets and copious amounts of water. They may well be cleaned very regularly during the main part of the season however as it was the last week of the season they were looking a bit unloved. You won’t find toilet seats, sanitizers, or toilet rolls or for that matter any “niceties” they are very practical The showers are the hottest we’ve ever known with water pressure that blasts you out of the cubicles in the open air block, the newer heated block although recently renovated obviously had very poor ventilation as black mould was very prolific in the ceiling corners.
The entertainment: as this is the last week of the season we weren’t expecting to see much, however this site and the Lake really are a centre of not only the community but the whole region and a “Family Fun Day” to use no better words to describe it, took place on the Sunday which was amazing. Hundreds of people with events from Scuba diving to Archery, kids treasure hunts to Triathlons so a really entertaining time.
The water park (which they charge €6 a time to outsiders to use, and they pay it) is pretty good. It consists of various indoor and outdoor pools and slides, with loads of stuff for kids. It’s not really an adult place but stunning for kids little and large. As a resident you get one entry per person per day of your stay (i. E. For us 3 people for 7 nights we got a card that had 21 credits loaded onto it). Although the pools were good, they can not beat the lake. It is almost an iridescent turquoise blue that in September was 22degrees of fresh water loveliness. The last time we saw water of this quality it was in the Maldives and the Indian Ocean.
The lake has a really long beach running the length of the site and is completely man made. Be aware it’s not sand and us soft footed English folk will find it tough to walk on bare footed - flip flops and wet shoes are a VERY good idea. The lake is not tidal and was flat calm during our stay and beautiful to swim in or if you are more adventurous hire canoes (VERY popular) or pedalo’s. We did a bit of snorkelling and found that the shelf in the water gently goes out to about 2 metres deep and then a steep drop off to around 10m (couldn’t free dive much deeper than that).
If you fancy a walk there are several walks mapped out near reception of varying durations and difficulty. If you walk down the right of the lake there are several small beach areas, a little further on is a Monkey Park where Big and Little Kids can go climbing through the trees. Even further around (20minute brisk walk from the site) is the Plage Naturiste which isn’t signposted, till you get to it, just keep taking the path left and you will come to it.
The shops: The site has an excellent array of shops - Bakery, Grocery, Ice cream, Tat shop etc. Etc. The prices are more than if you went to Super-U or the like but when you figure that the nearest decent sized supermarket is 30-40 minutes away it’s pretty good and well worth supporting (and they do a mean croissant and Pain au Raisin).
There is also a restaurant, takeaway and bar on site which again are all priced around what you would expect for on site facilities. We can’t comment on the quality as we like to cook for ourselves.
Around and About, Shops are not really on your door step here. There is a small General grocery store in Doucier but for the likes of Super-U, Intermarche, Lidl & Aldi they are all around 20-25km away and if you are going out for the day its best to plan them in that way as they are either South, West or North of the Site and around here the roads are all small slow roads.
If you want a local trip for a couple of hours the Cascades du Herrisson are a nice place to see, although when we went the water flow was not that high so the third waterfall was a bit of a let down after the hike to get to it. Be warned the trail is not suitable for those who are unfit or unstable on their feet. Proper metal steps and guard rails have been installed in areas but it is a fair trek even for the fittest walkers.
Geneva, Switzerland is only a 90km away and so makes for a different day trip, just remember your Swiss Francs and Passports.
Some other bits: TV reception is a bit pants here - satellite is probably your best bet if you need TV (We didn’t miss it) as you really are in more of a crater than a valley. Mobile & Wi-Fi - Mobiles you can get a voice/text signal without an issue but data is rubbish.
Wi-Fi is available by reception, it is very expense in comparison with other sites (10hrs €15) so we just had to go cold turkey and catch up on the way home.
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Date of Visit: July 2014 |
Unit: Campervan |
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Reviewer: Teffers |
2 reviews from this member |
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Returning with my own family after last being here 30 years hence as a kid myself I was keen to see if it would live up to those rose tinted memories, and more importantly, if it would impress my wife.
We arrived off the back of a pretty hectic tour around Germany, Austria and Italy so were looking forward to parking and staying put.
The site was perfect for us and our 11 and 8 yr old kids, with plenty to do and, despite being quite busy, a safe feel to it.
Lots of Dutch and English families, everybody friendly including the staff.
We really loved the on site shop and takeaway, didn't use the bar but enjoyed the very French line up of free live open air entertainment each evening. The kids loved the high ropes course, swimming pools, table tennis and the gift shops!
We took bikes with us (sadly not all mountain bikes - this would have been slightly better suited) and cycled the 24km(?) around the lake exploring, as well as swimming in the lake itself - lovely.
As I mentioned, we didn't want, nor need to leave the site for anything - a good indication of how good the on-site facilities were, but I still have an itch to explore the Jura in more detail so will happily put this site on our list to revisit.
Recommended for people with kids to keep entertained.
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Date of Visit: August 2013 |
Unit: Trailer Tent |
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Reviewer: Njones |
26 reviews from this member |
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We spent 8 nights there.
Nice huge site with lots of activities available. Middle of no where though so everything off site involved a long drive.
Recommend bikes as walking to the shop, pool etc was a bit of a chore.
Wifi rarely available (ironically we usually avoid going online when away but I was in the middle of changing jobs and hence needed access to email).
Pool was freezing so visits were short. Weather was mostly fine but it was absolutely freezing at night. We were en route back from. 3 weeks in Italy so found it a massive adjustment. Far colder than the Alps had been previously at the same time of year.
We wouldn't go back.
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Date of Visit: August 2012 |
Unit: Tent |
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Reviewer: Moongate10 |
2 reviews from this member |
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Our third visit to this site, I can't recommend it enough, stunning location, clean, well kept, we stayed on a large ( 18x12 ) pitch with electricity,
it is a large site with a bakery, a well stocked shop which sells everything you could possibly need at very reasonable prices, fresh bread on a morning at 80 cents a loaf, still warm, gorgeous with local honey.
It has a gift shop, leatherwork shop, newsagents, pub, restaurant and takeaway which does amazing omlettes and large frites for 6 euros, great value and tastes amazing!
The site is surrounded by woodland and forest, in a natural quarry on the far side of glacial lac de chalain.
The lake is the absolute highlight of this site, is wonderful for water sports of every kind, crystal clear tourquise blue water, excellent for swimming, it is actually warmer than the site pool complex.
Nearby in Clairvaux is an Aldi which is comparative with the Uk and a atac supermarket which is great to have a look round. The Jura area of France is beautiful forests, mountains and lakes, if you have good weather, (we stayed july into aug and average temp was 30 degrees) you can't beat it.
Domaine de Chalain is not overly commercial which we love although it is a large site it doesn't seem so and because of the natural environment you are in, it seems like you are part of the surroundings, not in a man made site.
As I've said before, I would highly highly recommend this site to uk campers, hence we have been back 3 times, it ticks all the boxes for us 2 adults and 3 kids ( 9, 10, 12) they love it,
It is fantastic value for money, and I have absolutely no doubt we will return there again.
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Date of Visit: July 2012 |
Unit: Static |
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Reviewer: Foscamp |
1 review from this member |
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Had a wonderful eight days at Chalain and found the site excellent. Very friendly staff, both French staff employed by Chalain and Keycamp/Eurocp/Canvas employees. Lots of outdoor activities - high ropes course - playgrounds etc etc. Indoor pool really warm and sauna/steam room great. Outdoor pool was a bit cold - but not too cold to keep you away! Outdoor pool varied and large - but as Others have stated is not as big as brochure Makes out (as normal - brochures are adverts). Lake calm and peaceful and great for dingy's - lots of fun for older children/young teens. La Cure to Nyon train a must for the scenery.
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Date of Visit: August 2011 |
Unit: Tent |
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Reviewer: Bert07 |
5 reviews from this member |
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We have just returned from 7 days here. As previous reviewers have said, sat nav does not get it right you need to follow the signs for the lac de chalain instead. It was about a 5 hour drive down from calais - we stopped in reims overnight (novotel and ibis are just off the toll road) to break the journey up as we were travelling with a 3 year old.
Check in was straightforward and we were allocated a pitch right by the restaurant and lake. Made for beautiful sunsets and easy access to everything however it was a congregating section for teenagers in the evening, they were moved on at 11pm every night and it went quiet then.
Excellent facilities on site, decent shops and supermarket, also a butchers and cheesery, bakers, newsagent - all match the hypermarket prices nearby. In fact for the first 4 days we didn't leave the campsite as there was so much for a 3 year old to do! The swimming pool is very cold so we left it until the afternoon to go, it is a lot smaller than the pictures suggest, great for children but probably not so exciting for teenagers. The indoor pool was warmer and attracted everyone, at times I felt it was too busy and would say they were over their safe numbers in there.
Play areas are everywhere and although suggest age 4-10 my 3 year old was happy enough on them.
The beach area is safe and since we were camping so close we took the chairs down with us to relax on.
The one downside for us was that the main lakeside camping area was serviced by one wash area (8 showers and a few more toilets) so there was often a big queue - however if you went further up the campsite to the mobile home area there was another bigger washarea which housed many more showers/toilets and more often than not having walked past a queue of 5 people waiting for a shower at the first area the other one would be empty.
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Date of Visit: August 2011 |
Unit: Tent |
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Reviewer: Ijf1 |
1 review from this member |
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Amazing location, it took us awhile to find the site as our satnav took us to a very close village of Fontenu which has no access to the site. Lots of great facilities very clean toilet blocks. Some great bike rides, good mountain biking and some very good family routes. A loop around Le Frasnoise being very nice.
Downsides - our kids were disappointed with the water park which was not very good and they rarely used it.
Hoards of Dutch who seem to be roaming about shouting very loud between 9pm and 2am. Every night large groups headed for the lake lighting fires and shouted/ chanted very loud, occasionally they were moved off the lake, they then passed our tent shouting as they went. On the last night at about 1am after about the tenth group of what I thought was shouting kids I went out to find they were mainly 40 yr olds with a few kids.
All the entertainment was in Dutch such as dutch Karaoke in an open air area.
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Date of Visit: July 2011 |
Unit: Touring Caravan |
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Reviewer: Rwc.hughes |
1 review from this member |
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We've just returned from 12 days on site, we being my wife and 2 teenage sons 14 & 16 and here are our thoughts¡K
The site was relatively easy to get to from Calais, however beware that your sat nav. May want to take you on some pretty narrow but scenic roads once you're about 20 miles away. Not too much of an issue if your only in a car but if you're towing a van with 2 mates following on behind who are also towing vans, then expect to buy the first beer when you get to site. My Tom-Tom has a lot to answer for although it did take us right to the door eventually!
We had pitches right down by the lake - alley Vivaldi - they were ok but quite small on our side of the road - we had been warned and didn't mind because we were all together but you would certainly need to make friends with your neighbours if you were on your own!
The toilet block and showers near us were fairly old and could benefit from an upgrade, but they were cleaned at least twice a day and there was always plenty of hot water in the showers, although a lack of hot water in the washing up sinks was a bit of an issue from time to time.
The lake was superb and the approach to the campsite took our breath away as we glimpsed it out of the trees - we had a mixed bag of weather with a couple of cloudy days; a spot of rain and only 2 really sunny days but we were able to go in the lake without any worries every day, a little cold to plunge into but very nice after you¡¦d swam around a little.
No power boats make it very tranquil and you can launch your own inflatable without charge, you can also hire pedalos etc. Which seemed like fun - be warned that the beach is more akin to fine gravel and you need flip-flops or windsurfing style shoes to be able to walkabout comfortably on it - take something to sit or lie on in addition to a towel or you'll soon get uncomfortable.
We saw a few fish but my friend and my son spent at least 3 hours without even a nibble, probably best to hire a boat as I did see some guys having success further out from the bank!
My two friend's 7 year old boys really enjoyed the water park but beware that it is only really suitable for under 10's, anyone older than this will be disappointed as the photos on the website give a bit of a false impression, it's not as big as it looks and the slides are very small.
Whilst we were there we went to see the waterfalls just down the road - the first fall was stunning, it went downhill the further uphill you went if you get what I mean , but it was worth the 4 euros to park anyway. We also visited Switzerland which was about 90 minutes away via the most beautiful mountain roads you can imagine, stunning.
But and it is a big but our best experience outside of the camp was to fly in a micro-light around the lake - the airfield is only 1KM from the village and the pilot spoke brilliant English and even put up with my dreadful French! Both of my lads and I had an 8 minute taster flight costing 35 euros each, but it was worth every cent, fantastic!
Back at the campsite there was lots of facilities which were all reasonably priced, we didn't feel as though we were paying over the odds for anything especially as you are a bit of a captive audience given the location of the site itself - the shop and bakers were very reasonable and the bread and pastries were lovely and freshly baked each day on site - sometimes the bread was still warm and we had eaten it by the time we got back to our pitch and had to go back again! Don¡¦t let the big queue put you off they are very efficient and whiz through it so you hardly wait at all.
The weather was a bit hit and miss but was always very comfortable and we were able to sit out in shorts and t-shirts until quite late, then once the fire-pit was alight and you had a sweatshirt on you could stay up until at least 2 in the morning drinking wine and beer quite easily!
There was actually very little noise on the site and whilst you could hear the teenagers in the special place around midnight it was too bad, there was never any trouble and we all felt very safe at all times.
Would we go back again? Absolutely without a doubt, we would ask for pitches on the other side of the road and we would make sure we had some padding for the beach but other than that there wasn't anything else that needed changing.
All in all a great campsite, fair value for money and on the most beautiful lake - superb!
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Date of Visit: August 2010 |
Unit: Tent |
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Reviewer: Moongate10 |
2 reviews from this member |
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You first glimpse Chalain is on the drive up to the campsite through the trees, the view is simply breathtaking, we had never seen a lake so beautiful, the colour is the brightest turquoise you will ever see. It looks tropical!
The lake has a lovely beach which stretches out around the lake making room for everyone, its not sandy though and I would recommend beach or pool shoes especially for littlies, but you could manage without, its gritty rather than pebbly.
The site itself is first class, facilities excellent, staff friendly and helpful, toilets cleaned thouroughly twice a day (jet washed and disinfectanted) no toilet seats mind, but I think that just makes them cleaner to be honest, lots of hot water in the showers and plenty of washing up spots too. Toilet blocks are dotted all round the site, so you are never far away. We travelled with another family and had 2 decent sized pitches side by side, plenty of room for our cars too.
The site has a wide range of shops from butchers, grocers, cheesery? and the best of all a bread shop, selling fresh warm croissants and baguettes every morning, you might have to cue but they are to die for! There is also an ice cream parlor, gift shop which is lovely, a small amusement arcade, a leather workshop, a paper shop selling papers of all languages and a great beach shop selling everything you could ever need for the lake. There is also 2 restaurants and a takeaway selling fries, burgers, hotdogs etc. Things are very reasonable and we bought most things direct from the site.
The site pool complex although looks fantastic was FREEZING! even in August, our kids could only manage about 20 minutes, I couldn't even get a toe wet! It does have an indoor pool mind which is heated, but gets very busy. The lake is much better for swimming and suprisingly warm (once you are in!) The lake is absolutely the highlight of this campsite, we were there every day bar one, the kids loved it and we had to drag them away on an evening and for food, you don't have to worry about them, there is no current and its relatively shallow, we had a dinghy, lilos, buckets and spades and inflatables and that was literally all we spent on entertaining the kids for the 2 weeks stay. They did not want to leave the site!
In near by Clairvaux (about 15 min drive away) there is an Aldi, shop there you will save a small fortune, prices even cheaper than at home, they sell a wide range of produce, fresh stuff, wine, cheese and have a frozen section, we loved it in there! For the guys, lager 19p a can and I was told, very nice too! There is also a large supermarket (with petrol station) over the road which sells an even wider range but is a little more expensive but has a huge fresh produce section.
Is there any negatives for Domaine De Chalain?, its a canny drive ( about 6 hours from Calais direct to get to it), the weather can be a bit hit and miss shower wise, but its never cold, if you go prepared you will be fine, lakeside can get a little noisy at night, but soon quietens down, during cleaning times, the toilet blocks are closed off for about 20 mins which can be a pain as they all get cleaned together, so just go after all the jetting has stopped, but that's really nit picking!
All in all I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this site, we always said we would never go to the same place twice, but we are booking to come again this year. Fantastic site for families, fantastic value, stunning location, I really think it would be hard to beat it. First Class
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Common Questions
Is Domaine De Chalain child friendly? YES, it accepts children & has a playground View all facilities
Does Domaine De Chalain have a swimming pool? YES, there is a pool on site View all facilities
Where is the nearest shop to Domaine De Chalain? There is a shop on site View all facilities
Is Domaine De Chalain dog friendly? YES View all facilities
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