Camping La Pinède

The cabins were really nice and had all the amenities we could want. We came in mid-September, outside the busy season, and it was wonderfully quiet. There were hardly any kids around then, which suited us just fine. Definitely recommend it.

The beach is right there, and the water isn’t too cold. You can wade out about 100 metres and still be only knee-deep, so it’s great for children. Staff were super friendly and helpful, and the site has good amenities. Just bring toilet paper, since it often runs out. Evening entertainment ends around 11, but beach parties tend to start and carry on until about 2 a.m. That’s not the campsite’s fault, but it’s good to know.

We left a day early. The last annoyance was renting a bike with a child seat on our final day, only to find it was broken. Waiting for a replacement made us miss our lunch reservation at a restaurant in Yvoire. A small thing, but really frustrating at the end of the stay. The bigger problem was our pitch near the entrance and entertainment area. We arrived with our three-year-old and hadn’t been warned about the noise. The entertainment was noisy and, to me, poor quality, going until 23:00 every evening. Afterwards, teenagers and adults kept hanging around, partying and making noise late into the night. We couldn’t relax at our pitch in the evenings, and getting to sleep in the tent before 00:30 was impossible. The whole campground also smelled of urine. I assume that was from guests at the electronica festival the weekend before we arrived. We’d been travelling for four weeks through Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and France, and this was by far the worst campsite of the trip. Maybe we should have realised when booking that it’s a huge, busy campground. With children aged 6 to 13, and a pitch well away from the entrance and entertainment, I can imagine it being a very nice place to camp with kids.

This was stop nine and the last campsite on our ride from London to Les Gets. We had a level tent pitch and good showers and toilets, and the lakeside setting made it a great place to spend a couple of days exploring Lake Geneva. Swimming felt safe for the whole family. We’d definitely recommend it.