# Les Prairies de la Mer Port Grimaud South of France



## norm1955 (Sep 20, 2009)

Hoping to visit this site Les Prairies de la Mer at Port Gruimid South of France. Any tips would be welcome,ie best time or day of the week to arrive. The best type or area of the site to book, our Hymer is 7mts long. Also the best route from the tunnel/or Le Harve avoiding the Toll Roads, speed not important.Thanks All


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## bognormike (May 10, 2005)

hi

do you mean Port Grimaud?

http://www.informationfrance.com/port-grimaud.php


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## Mike48 (May 1, 2005)

I stayed there in May. It was one of the worst sites I have ever visited. Many of the pitches were very very tight - and I mean tight. A tenter next to me had to literally pack up their belongings to allow me in and there are cars parked all over the place restricting movement. I also had to move my van to allow somebody else in. Pitches were so tight there were a few vans scratched on trees. If you like to move your van off site for day trips etc you have no chance. You might be lucky to get a good pitch but there are very few and there is little choice because the site is so full and you might even have to queue to get in.

I intended to stay for a couple of weeks but left after 5 nights.

In order for arrivals and departures to get to *SOME* pitches it was necessary for you to pack up and move your van to enable the arriving/departing van to get in/out.

One incredibly annoying aspect of my short stay was the fact that people were allowed to arrive throughout the night and there was always movement which disturbed a good night's sleep. The site is under trees so there are few sunny pitches - fine in the summer but not much good in the Autumn and Spring.

On the plus side the site is well situated and the toilets and showers are excellent. Its in the ACSI book so cheap for this area off season. The site is on the beach and a short walk from Port Grimaud from where you can catch the ferry to St Tropez which takes about 15 minutes.

I never book sites so cannot answer your question about reservations but I would be surprised if you could book a particular area of the site or pitch as the system there is fairly chaotic although the office is efficient. You are shown to the pitch they invariably choose by an employee on a golf trolley.

There is a fabulous site next door to Prairies De La Mer where you can stay on the beach - I've stayed there but was full when I arrived. You can book a pitch on the beach at that site but the prices range from about 30 to 60 euros a night depending when you go.

As you may gather I didn't like the site and could not recommend it.
However, the fact it was so full suggests that many were content; it just didn't suit me.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

I can only agree with gelathae.

20 years ago it was the same. We ended up on a lay by for 6 weeks with notices in four languages saying no camping. Even the police visited almost every day and understood the difficulty of getting a site in high season.

Ray.


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## dikyenfo (Feb 16, 2008)

In general sites in France are huge UNLESS they are popular areas such as the Vendee etc.,and large vans cannot negotiate the bends on many sites.
There are many exceptions but you need to explore an area for the year following to ensure that a holiday is not ruined.


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## stearman65 (Nov 22, 2010)

*Port Grimaud*

I hired a static van at the Pararies site in the 70's, it was a tip then. In 2001/2 we sailed from Corsica to Port Grimaud and stayed on a mooring in the village for 10 days. Our mooring was an hours walk to the Hypermarket, the weather was abysmal. We eventually left & moored at Marines de Cogolin for the new year holiday, 15 minutes from the hypermarket.

We left there on New years day 2002 bound for Toulon, due to the weather we pulled into St Tropez. The car park was full of camper vans, some using the marina's EHU's, in fact ours was in use when we moored up & had to complain to get him disconnected.


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## PaulW2 (May 30, 2010)

I would probably stay in Domaine de Naiades in Grimaud. Was there for some nights in July. OK rather than great but clearly better than the other one you mention (which I walked through and was very put off by).


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## corkbuoy (Mar 3, 2007)

Camping de la Plage is the site next door, http://www.camping-de-la-plage.fr/content/uk/home/1/.
Stayed there last year in late June for a few days, great site right on the beach.


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## Swift72 (Nov 22, 2005)

Very close ( 5 mins walk) is Camping Club Holiday marina

Not cheap , but secure and no access issues


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## ThursdaysChild (Aug 2, 2008)

Must have been 1982 - before buying our first caravan we thought we'd try a static. No idea how we chose P de la M, but vividly remember that it was frantically busy and crowded.
And for some reason I also remember a generously endowed topless vendorette crying out " baignets aux pommes ". And that, dear reader, is how I came to love apple doughnuts.


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

Hi.

We had a two week diving holiday which was based in Port Grimaud sometime in the early 70's. There were two family's on the diving holiday ours with one kid and my mate and wife with 2 kids.
When we arrived the guy who was doing the holiday took us to our static caravans, ours the curtains were falling down the fridge stank and was full of ants, as was the rest of the caravan/tip it would have done Peter Butterworth proud on "Carry on Camping".

We refused to stop in it but was told this was the only caravan left so we ended having to share with my mate in his marginally better van, it was the fist holiday abroad and the worst holiday I have ever had in my life.

Oh and the diving was crap..


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## scept1c (May 10, 2005)

Hi, just an update on this topic.

We wanted to come to the Port Grimaud area after visiting the Gorges du Verdon. Having read this topic we were dubious about staying at the Prairies site and thought we might use Des Mures as recommended by others. Anyway we decided to have a look at Prairies first before making a decision and then chose to stay at the Prairies site.

The girls at reception and all the staff we had dealings with were very friendly and attentive.

The toilets were of a reasonably good standard and always kept clean.

The site is huge and right on a very nice beach and it has hundreds of modern chalets and beach huts. There is good supermarket on site and the prices are not a lot higher than a Carrefour or Intermarche. There are also several bars and restaurant/pizzarias and lots of childrens activities.
It is only a couple of hundred yards to Port-Grimaud and about 6 miles by road to St Tropez.
The pitches camper pitches near the main entrance were reasonably sized and we had no difficulties getting on and off. As one of the posters previously said, there are lots of trees but fortunately we were able to get a pitch with plenty of sunshine for most of the day. I'm not so sure if the pitches would be good if it had rained a lot because they were sandy and could get quite muddy.

We had a generally good experience there during our 5 night stay with one exception. We left today - Monday 7th May and during the previous four days they had been preparing for a major Harley Davidson event due to start on Thursday. There was lots of activity with the erection of marquees etc and this caused a fair bit of noise during the day.

Then from last Friday a lot of Harley owners started to arrive and many of them spent a lot of their time riding up and down one of the main avenues and it seemed to us that they were having a competition to see whose bike was loudest. Fortunately they were silent after about 10 pm. I like the sound of a Harley but my wife became a bit p*****d off after a while.

To sum up, we enjoyed our stay at the ACSI €16 rate but would definitely not pay the full nightly rates which can rise to €58 for 2 with motorhome during July and August. We also did not use the wifi service with a minimum cost of €7 for an hour


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