Site Not Suitable Campervans / Motorhomes / Caravans

13 August 2026 at 08:18:20
We booked this site as had stayed at one of the groups other sites which to be fair was lovely with a mixture of lodges and touring pitches.
This site in Doussard is clearly more aimed at the fixed lodges now however with a limited number of touring pitches. When we checked in I did think we had a slightly... odd reaction as they said "oh you have booked a pitch" - I'm guessing this was because they were rather embarrassed. And rightly so.
The first pitch they offered us was no.10 which was an uneven patch (albeit quite large) of dirt with virtually no grass. Enthusiastically we pitched the van and got ourselves set up for the 6 night stay we'd make the most of it.
Most sites these days have multiple drinking water taps near the pitches, if not on all, so we were surprised that we could not find a single one. We asked a member of staff who shrugged his shoulders and pointed at the washing up sinks. Another member of staff pointed me towards the gate. Finally I went to reception after walking around the site aimlessly for a few minutes. Reception staff pointed me towards the motorhome service area which was located at the edge of the site past the bins store and a car park. There we found a short length of hose attached to a standpipe so this is what we used to fill our water tank (even though it looked more suited to washing out a chemical toilet).
That evening we discovered our proximity to the bar area was such that the dubious musical act followed by all the youngsters leaving the bar area at closing time in holiday high spirits was quite disruptive to what we had hoped would be a relaxing stay, and this was not something we had anticipated when booking.
When we visited the facilities block which was conveniently close by we were disappointed how basic it was but thought so long as we can get a hot shower it'll be fine. Sadly getting hot water out of any of the taps was a challenge at best. The first shower we tried to have was cold to tepid and it was only afterwards we spotted signs dotted around apologising for the fact that to get any hot water you had to go around pressing all the hot taps to get the water running through which took several minutes rather than seconds. Even then, if you managed to get warm - hot water from the shower it would suddenly go hot or cold without warning (and presumably caused by someone in the ladies or the washing up area running another tap or flushing a toilet). They clearly had no intention of fixing the plumbing choosing rather to just put up signs saying "we know we have a problem, sorry".
After one night on pitch no. 10 we asked to be moved to something a bit better, further away from the noisy bar / pool area, a pitch maybe with something resembling grass, some shade if possible and just generally more in keeping with what you might expect of a (self proclaimed 5* site) - I CAN ASSURE YOU THIS IS NOT 5*!
We chose pitch 6 which had shade and what was left of the grass after a hot summer and this is where we spent the rest of the stay. We endured the showers, put up with the basic level of housekeeping in the facilities block and made the most of the site in general for the rest of our stay and whilst we loved the Annecy area, we would NOT use this site again nor would we recommend it to anyone with a campervan or motorhome.
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