Camping La Brande

We spent a week in our caravan here and do not feel it deserves 5 stars. On arrival we were met by a somewhat non plussed staff member who said we could choose our 'pitches' she only showed us one however which was right next to the bar. This later turned out to be incredibly noisy until around 1am with lots of rowdy shouting. We asked to move pitches and had to return twice to see 'the boss' to see if this was possible- we then moved to a quieter location but nobody bothered to check if our new pitch was ok. The facilities are dilapidated-the mini golf is falling apart, the toilets and shower blocks are dirty and broken and the pool area is incredibly small and overcrowded. It is nowhere near a beach and the town centre (Chateau D'Oleron) is a car journey away. The one redeeming feature of our holiday was that our children enjoyed the water slide, however this was the most expensive site we stayed at during our 4 weeks away and really was the worst one! Look elsewhere!

49 euro for 1 night (arrival after 7pm) in two persons in a minivan with a small dog is too much! This was the most expensive camping in 2 weeks of travelling and far not the best one as quality! Nice reception and flowers in the entrance... But the bathrooms (on the back side) are old, do not have soap and have only one mirror per unit. We didn't use any other services as they were closed at our arrival. The only thing we needed (2 croissants for breakfast) was not available, because the reservation at 7pm was not possible any more... neighter the flexibility to have a couple of spare bakery goods🙁... A pitty, because Ile d'Oleron is wonderfull and it would deserve a natural simple and calm camping as we usually like... But maybe we just didn't find the right one... No worries, mistakes are parts of the travelling experience 😉

A nice campsite that is close enough to chateau d'oleron to cycle there for dinner even with small children (3 and 5). Beach is close as well, but not really suitable for swimming, at low tide the water is gone and at high tide it is too shallow for swimming. Still a nice beach. The pitches were sizeable and nice. From reading earlier reviews I think the pool area got a bit of an overhaul recently and is better than suggested by a lot of reviews. A few things that make me deduct a star: The facilities are adequate, but not great. When fully booked there are not enough toilets for the amount of people and this clearly shows the further away from the daily cleaning intervall they get. Also, our pitch distinctly smelled of urine when it rained, so I suspect that not everybody makes the trip to the lavatories every time.. It was not possible to reserve bread in the morning and the bread on sale in the shop was usually all gone 20 minutes after the shop opened. We usually got up shortly after 9 and never managed to buy baguette and croissants. Every other camping site (even the two star ones) accepted reservations that you could pick up whenever you were ready. This would have been nice.

Might have been lovely once but very tired now. The pitches were either bare earth covered in dead leaves from last Autumn or over grown with weeds. The shower block and toilets were very old with lots of cracked tiles. The pool area is pretty small with no places to sit outdoors around the pool and no shade at all. It felt really full and busy and the campsite was much less than half full. The footbath was grim🤢 The beach is only across the road so that's good if the tide is right - at low tide the sea is too far away to see! The staff are very friendly and helpful, the place just needs a good tidy up and some major maintenance.

Simply the best! We have stayed at La Brande on many occasions since 2008 with our children and this time without! Due to the pandemic we couldn’t come last year but decided to come in 2021 as we had missed you so much. La Brande has a special place in our hearts and we have so many happy memories. We love the peaceful atmosphere and the lovely staff you provide. This year we enjoyed watching horses in the adjacent field and feeding them apples and carrots! The pool was lovely and quiet as we stayed in September and it was part of the daily routine to have a swim before dinner. I could go on eulogising but I’ll stop there, needless to say we’ll see you in 2022! All the best.