If you’re looking for an affordable holiday with kids you really can’t go too far wrong with Eurocamp (and no! They haven’t paid me to say that!) But they are great holidays on a budget, especially if you book outside of peak season.

This is a review of our stay in the Cote D’Argent campsite in Hourtin Plage which is a 5 star camp site right on the beach. The nearest major city is Bordeaux, which is about an hour away, and which is great if you want a cultural day out.

We stayed in the last week of August/beginning of September which is what we like to call the Eurocamp sweet spot! Prices drop massively as schools start to go back so if you’re lucky enough to have a late start due to inset days, or don’t mind you’re kids missing a day or two, then you can get your break for a serious bargain. We stayed for 5 nights/6 days for around £250.

For 5 nights leaving on 31st August this year (based on a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 children) you would pay just £176.80 right now. This is in a 2 bedroom comfort XL mobile home. If you go two weeks before on the 16th August, right bang in the middle of the summer holidays then 5 nights will cost just over £1,200. So mess around with the dates, there are bargains to be had!

Here’s my quick review:

What Are The Facilities Like?

First things first, this is a perfect site for water babies! There were 2 big pools, one of which was covered, and 2 slide areas in the pool complex.

The first had some racing slides and a swirling slide going into the pool of water. The second was a pirate themed water fun park with tonnes of slides, a huge tipping bucket, and other water play features.

The weather wasn’t quite on our side and it didn’t go over 26 degrees for our whole trip, but the pools were heated and it was still warm enough to swim everyday. One particularly cloudy day we did decamp to the covered pool, which was the warmest of them all.

Exit the camp and walk for less than 5 minutes and you will find yourself on a huge expanse of sandy beach. We spent so much time here! The area is famous for the quality of its surf and its surf schools. You do have to walk down (and therefore back up again) a hill/sandbank to get down to the sand, which is something to consider if mobility is an issue.

We booked the boys in for a couple of surf lessons and it definitely gave them the bug! The school we chose was Surf Medoc and I would definitely recommend them: everything we needed was provided, and the more lessons you booked the cheaper the price became.

Back on camp and you’ll find playgrounds, a well-supplied supermarket with a bakery (we got croissants and fresh bread every morning and noone wanted to eat anything else because it was so delicious!).

There’s also a restaurant, where we stopped for ice cream most afternoons, a kids club (which we didn’t try), as well as football pitches, tennis courts, and other sports equipment hire.

We didn’t try the pizza in the restaurant because we were never on site at the right time, but the menu looked good and the prices looked great.

There was a creperie that opened by the pool in the afternoons and as you can see from this very chocolatey face, they werre met with rave reviews!

We packed the boys scooters and they loved using these to get to the supermarket each morning. Cars are allowed on site but the roads are narrow and the speed limit is 10mph so we felt safe letting them whizz around.

The playgrounds will be a particular hit if you’re travelling with young(ish) kids as they’ve expansive, fairly newly built, and well done in a combination of surf and woodland themes.

What Was The Mobile Home Like?

We are very rarely in our hotel room/accommodation when we’re on holiday because we’re always on the go. So we opted for the cheapest accommodation option which was the comfort range.

This was clean, well presented and in a great spot right by the pool complex. There were 2 bedrooms (one with a double bed and one with twins for the boys), the toilet was separate from the bathroom which is always handy, and then the living room/kitchen area was an open plan space with enough kitchen supplies to cook simple meals.

The unit had air conditioning and a big deck outside where we could sit and play cards in the evening. Each pitch came with a gas BBQ too, but ours looked pretty old and rusty, so we decided against grilling, which was a shame.

NOTE: This unit doesn’t come with a TV which didn’t bother us but I know it would bother some people. And the boys were definitely pleased to turn the zombie box back on when we got home!

What Is There To Do Nearby?

At first glance the cote d’argent village seemed very remote. In fact as we drove through miles of nothing but woodland to get to it we were worried we’d made a bad choice! But there’s so much to see and do in the area.

We like to be out and about, and we managed to get out and explore every day. One day we went into Bordeaux where we explored the architecture, did a little shopping, and went to a Salvador Dali exhibition in a disused submarine base.

We spent plenty of time on the beach surfing, swimming, and building sandcastles. The surf school was available in French and English, the teachers were patient, and the lessons were affordable so I definitely recommend this if your kids are interested in giving it a try.

And if you want to explore but don’t want to travel too far afield then Hourtin lake is less than 10km away. This is a largest inland lake in France and is a great place to sit on the sand, or to try your hand at windsurfing.

You can walk along the pier, visit the children’s island which has a huge fort-themed play area on it, or even try your hand at the water based obstacle course. This was called the Hourtin aqua parc, and cost around 10 euros per person.

Everything was affordable (the play area was free) and we had a great day trying so many new things.

That’s what I think Eurocamp holidays are all about. Getting outdoors, exploring, and trying new things.

Getting There

We took a road trip! We crossed the channel via the Eurotunnel which is incredibly easy and convenient and then cranked up the tunes and drove through France! If you’re considering La Cote d’Argent then I will say it’s probably too long a drive to do in one day.

We broke up the journey with an overnight stay in the Medieval city of Tours. I will write a review of this place shortly because it is one of the prettiest, and most walkable cities I have ever visited. Great not only for a quick stop but for a trip in its own right!

The journey was easy and I would say 90% of it was on the motorways and toll roads. It was only on the final leg of the trip that were were driving on rural, country roads.

I wouldn’t recommend this site if you want to fly: it wasn’t quite close enough to anything else that you wouldn’t be forking out for taxis to explore. We were definitely glad of the car to get around!

Have you been on any Eurocamp holidays? Do you have any site recommendations? We have just booked another one for this summer, staying in Clary’s Plage (via The Sun’s £9.50 holidays!) which is another beach side site where the boys can take more surfing lessons. If you’ve been i’d love to know what you think!