Camping Cala Llevado

The coastline is gorgeous, with lovely walking and cycling nearby. There’s a tough coastal route to Tossa de Mar, or an easier path along the top without the views. Tossa’s old town and castle are beautiful, though the place gets very busy at weekends. The campsite also gives access to four beaches, down a steep path; there’s a train in summer. Dogs aren’t allowed on the beaches, though we saw some there in April. The site itself is enormous, terraced from the top down to the beach, with pitches, tents, bungalows, apartments and chalets. It’s easy to get turned around, and while cars are meant to stay under 10 km/h, I’m not sure many do, so we were careful on the way to the toilets. Our plot was 128, tucked at the top, tightly packed in, with only a slight sea view and people regularly walking past our van to the chalets. We have a VW Camper van, so fitting in was fine, but we needed ramps to level it. We later learned this was the ACSI card area. It was a little away from the main route, which made it quieter. The facilities are plentiful but dated. The toilets were a long walk along the main street and down steps, with women’s and men’s sides separate. I thought they were only cleaned in the morning, and by evening they could be pretty unpleasant, especially on busy weekends. There are lots of toilets and basins, including two plus two private basins, a baby area and showers. The showers have mixer taps, decent pressure and hot water once you let it run for a while, but just one hook and a ledge, so more hooks would help. On the middle level there are about five dishwashing sinks, but the hot water takes ages and the sinks are small. I wouldn’t want to use them at a busy time. Metal shelves above them are handy, though easy to bump your head on. Beside them are laundry sinks, two washing machines and tumble dryers. The site also has a restaurant and bar, a lifeguarded pool, a well-stocked supermarket and BBQs dotted around. We got wristbands, but mine fell off within an hour. It’s a more commercial campsite than the ones we’re used to, and I’m not sure we’d return, especially because of the noise from teenagers using the facilities. On the Friday night, a Spanish holiday, it was packed and loud around one BBQ area, though things quieted down by 11 pm. By Sunday most weekend visitors had left and it was calm again. Then Monday was noisy from 6 pm until 10:45 pm, with big groups of teenagers walking right past our area. We think they were from Acorn Adventure up the road, coming down to shop, eat dinner and use the facilities. It happened again at 8 am Tuesday, when they came for breakfast and stayed. We left at 11 am, so don’t know what happened after that, but camping shouldn’t be that noisy. There’s plenty on site, but our stay was mixed. We needed ramps for the van, and the toilets were a trek away.

We first came here over a decade ago with our four kids, during a busy mid-season spell, and loved it. The steps and climb back from the three beaches gave us some exercise and tired the children out. We returned in 2025 with the same motorhome, this time without the kids. We chose a sea-view pitch, though the view wasn’t especially good because it was beside the bar. If you work remotely like us and need a clear view of the sky, that spot may suit you. You’re paying for the location, and the three small beaches are lovely, with clear water. Since our previous visit a larger organisation has taken over, and bungalows and Kampaoh tents have been added. We still found the staff great and the sanitary facilities very good. It may get overcrowded in season, but it is a business. We’ve had a few good days here and would come back. We will, in fact.

I don’t usually leave reviews, but I wish I’d known some of this before booking. The beaches are beautiful, and some lodges have lovely views; the terrace area is beautiful too. Still, our stay had several problems. We were two adults and a child aged 2.5. Our child sleeps in our double bed, so we wanted a studio lodge with one double bed. They insisted we book a larger lodge with more than one bed because there were three of us, even though we wouldn’t use the second bedroom or its beds. They offered a child cot, but the policy still meant paying extra for a room we didn’t need. It cost us 200 extra. A tip: only the renter is counted at arrival, so you might be able to book a studio if your child will sleep with you and avoid paying for extra rooms. We landed at Girona Airport at 18:00 and called reception to say we’d arrive in an hour. They didn’t answer, even though they were meant to be open until 19:00, and nobody called us back. Luckily, friends were able to collect the key for us. We had paid for bedsheets, but nothing had been prepared, and no one was at reception or answering the phone. A security guard found us some sheets, though they weren’t the right size and we had no other choice. They also hadn’t given us the card to switch on the lights, so the lodge was dark. We figured out we could insert a credit card instead. The floor was dirty, there were huge old spiderwebs on the windows, and the toilet smelled. It seemed like nobody had cleaned the lodge, despite the 120 euro final cleaning charge. The insurance we bought through their website, insurance - neat.eu, felt like a scam. Our flight was cancelled the day before arrival and rescheduled for two days later. We claimed for the two nights we missed, but according to the policy they paid only one day, 60 euro, even though the insurance cost 40 euro. I had to send four emails to the campsite reception myself for invoice changes and other things, plus five emails to the insurer explaining everything. They decided to reimburse only one day a week after our original stay. That left me 20 euros better off. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bought it.

The layout is poorly thought out. The camping area is on a hill, with a long climb up stairs, while parking is on the opposite side, which is really inconvenient. There was hardly ever anyone at reception. You need to be registered to enter, but a car isn’t registered automatically if you book through Booking.com, so we had to wait for someone to show up. Our group had four people but received only two passes for the toilets and showers. For such a huge campsite, there are just three toilets in total.