A peaceful campsite close to nature with pools and football
25 June 2023 at 17:44:24
We went to this beautiful mobile home site with our 10 year old son and all three of us loved it so much, we will definitely return. Yes the pool area is fantastic, but the best surprise for our football mad son was the small astro turf pitch which is perfectly situated under the shade of trees at the... edge of the wood which borders this campsite. We booked a mobile towards the back of the site and our son loved to pop over to the football every morning and evening to play with his new German friends, who were all around his age. It would only fit maybe 6 kids, but they loved the size of it and the little goals built in to the walls.
There are 4 pool areas and each is a different depth. Only one was out of depth for a 10 year old but it was nice for him to have that option too. The slides are built into canyons so it all looks really nice. Really nice food at the pool bar; burgers, tacos, crepes, galettes, salads etc.
What we loved also was the location of Boid de Valmarie. It seems so few mobile home sites are situated right in a seaside village like this is. Le Racou is more of a hamlet but there's lots of restaurants to choose from. The restaurant that's part of the campsite is situated just outside the entrance and is really nice. Some evening they have live music on the terrace and the atmosphere is good.
Being Irish we appreciated the abundance of mature trees in the campsite. It feels like this site was built in a wood and most of the trees remain, providing tree lined 'streets' with lots of privacy and dappled shade.
The walk up to the pool was only a couple of minutes and you can stay closer to the pool area if you prefer.
But there's more trees closer to the wood at the back of the site, so we prefer this. June was a lovely time to go - kids have lots of school holidays in June so it was great to get a holiday in before it got really hot and packed. The site felt about three quarters full in June. Very relaxing. The temperature was around 23 - 25 degrees so not too bad.
It was difficult to entice our son to leave the campsite so we did less travelling than we planned but we did get the €1 bus to Collioure and enjoyed tapas and a dip in the mediteranean. We brought snorkels and loved swimming with all the fish. It's a lovely old town to stroll around with an interesting artistic history. There's also a handy ATM here and a small Casino supermarket right by the bus stop. You could get the boat here from the port, but we didn't bother. Quite expensive versus the €1 bus! Apparently there's a little electric tourist train that goes from town to town but we never saw it. We did see one in Collioure but it just goes up the hill to the fort and back again.
We didn't spend much time on the beach in Le Racou but had some sunset strolls along there coming home from dinner. Stunning. The little streets between the row of restaurants and the beach are sandy and filled with flowers with crickets chirping in the evening. So nice.
There's a supermarket at the entrance to the campsite run by lovely Dutch people, I recommend the rotiserie chicken and potato wedges which you can order and eat on your deck. You can buy most essentials in here - croissants, deli items, cereals etc but also snorkelling gear, inflatables, footballs, pool balls, straw hats etc. At the end of Le Racou is gourmet shop where you can buy a wider range of fresh fruit and veg, olive oils, nuts, meat for the BBQ , wine etc. There's also a 'cave' a few doors up, where you can stop for a glass of wine, or buy a bottle to bring home; €7 - €10 only.
Foodies would like the restaurant 'Nous Deux' in Le Racou. Everything is grown kilometres from the restaurant and it's all organic, including the wine. The menu is all in french and hand written on a board, but they explained anything we didn't understand. While the owner came off very rude, the other staff were excellent and the food was amazing and memorable. But there's plenty of other places to eat for less expensive options: pizzas, burgers, tapas, charcuterie boards etc. You can't go wrong.
A highlight and a real treat was dining at Chateau Valmy. Reception will give you the number of a taxi to get there, and then the restaurant called one for our return trip (€15). The menu was approx €40 per person but is was very good and they did a kids menu for about €15. Enjoying a meal and wine from the terrace, looking out at the vines and down to the sea is very special. There's a park to go for a walk but it was closed the day we were there.
One evening we walked to Argeles Port which is only a 10 min walk. It's quite nice. Lots of restaurants, but they didn't look as appealing as the ones in Le Racou. We had a meal there but it was very average, maybe we were just unlucky. You really don't have to make much effort to have a lovely time at Le Bois de Valmarie. It was our first campsite holiday but unless I can tick all the boxes with another place, it might be the only one for us.
Tip - bring cash. Although most places accepted my Revolut, some places couldn't make it work and there's no cash machine in Le Racou.
Bring table tennis bat and ball. Nice table under the trees, next to football and playground.
Bring a few washing machine tablets.
Also, visit the adult only jacuzzi - It's situated above the restaurant, outdoors under an olive tree. I had it to myself and it was heaven,
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11 September 2023 at 12:11:17
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25 June 2023 at 17:44:24
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