L'Orangeraie

The apartment felt dated, and there's no air conditioning. You also pay €3 to use the washing machine, and the upstairs apartments don't have clotheslines. Still, we had a fantastic stay: the setting is lovely and quiet, the staff are friendly and professional, and the parking was handy. The pool is big, clean, and well cared for. Beautiful weather and lots of great swimming. Perfect!

We booked at the last minute and got a really warm welcome from the manager. Everything, pool included, was spotless. Thanks!

The garden is lovely and beautifully kept, almost paradisiacal, and there are plenty of things to do: pétanque, table tennis, swimming, or wooden games from the shed. The owners are nice, though some of the games were incomplete or hard to figure out. The narrow, densely planted drive also needs some pruning. When loading or unloading by the apartment, bushes scrape the car and make worrying noises as you pass. This suited us for two nights to split up our drive back from Spain, but I wouldn't stay longer. We booked for the pool and had a small ground-floor apartment with an open outdoor seating area. The layout had a bunk bed in the hall and a fold-out double in the living room. On our arrival day, it was 42 degrees. There was no standard cooling, only a fan you could rent for 10 euros. The only openings were doors, not windows, so at night you had to open doors opposite each other and hope nobody came in and no bugs got inside. The door separating the living area from the hall, where the parents' and children's beds were, couldn't be shut because the kids would be in an unventilated space. In practice, the whole apartment became one big bedroom. We had to wash the dishes before using them because they were dusty or not properly clean, and every knife was very blunt. Two drawers came loose just from opening the rickety living-room chest. We got itchy at night, though I don't know if it was bed bugs or the heat. A group of young people made a lot of noise late into the night, smoking weed and playing French hip-hop. The hosts did step in and the noise stopped, but we kept smelling weed around the pool too, which wasn't pleasant with small children playing and swimming nearby. Afterwards cleaning wasn't included. It cost an extra 30 euros if you didn't want to do it yourself. For us, the price didn't match what was provided. The next night we paid the same per night at a hotel with a pool and table tennis, but it had air conditioning, breakfast, bedding and towels included, plus two bottles of water and two bottles of juice waiting for us. At 135 euros a night, we got more comfort and care at an Ibis Styles hotel.

The village is small, with some really nice local shops, and it's 15 minutes from Perpignan airport. This is a lovely place to unwind, with a peaceful, very clean pool. The welcome is wonderfully warm and friendly, always with a smile. Don't hesitate, go!