Camping La Citadelle

Great comfort pitches, and the location is great. The castle is a must visit. Good value for money.

Loches itself was lovely, with beautiful buildings, independent bars, restaurants and shops, plus a fantastic Saturday market. The campsite is quiet and within walking distance of town, with big pitches if you pay for premium, a pool, a water slide when it works, a bouncy castle and play area. Bar staff were lovely, and the beers and wines were decent and reasonably priced. We saw the dough being made for the homemade pizzas, though we didn’t try one. Even with those good points, this was one of the most disappointing campsites we’ve stayed at across France. It’s relatively expensive, perhaps the location explains the price, but poor communication and dirty toilet blocks made us decide against returning. We’ll use a local free aire instead. The non-premium plots looked small and short on privacy, and the entertainment board was rather sparse. We tried giving feedback at reception, though it felt uncomfortable after being told it wasn’t their fault. An apology and a few questions about how to improve would have helped. On the toilet blocks, they said they clean them three times a day but people are just dirty. Other campsites don’t seem to struggle like this, so the attitude or possibly the team needs to change. There were a lot of smaller problems too. Reception gave very poor information about where facilities were and whether they were available, and often didn’t say something was out of order until we complained. The showers were cold, and the toilets and showers weren’t cleaned deeply or often enough. Most washing machines didn’t work. We only learned one did after complaining, and there were no signs on the machines or advice about which ones worked when we bought tokens. The slide was out of order the first day with no notice, then working the second. We got bitten a lot by mosquitoes. Kids’ karts cost 5 EUR an hour, which is almost pointless when my kids rarely want to ride for a whole hour; other campsites provide them free. Washing costs 5 EUR per load, twice what we’ve paid elsewhere.

The main reason I wouldn’t stay again is the mosquitoes. The site was absolutely riddled with them, day and night. The location is great, right in town, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. The bar was good too, with nice food at reasonable prices. Some of the premium pitches, which have their own shower and kitchen, were small enough that several people couldn’t fit their tents.

We paid nearly €1800 for a week, which felt incredibly overpriced for what was offered. The main pool was closed for the first few days, and nobody contacted us to let us know. The rest of the site looked tired and run down, nothing like the website pictures, and it definitely didn’t feel like a 4 star place, closer to 2 star. Our Executive 3 berth with a hot tub was new and very well equipped. I think we’d have left if we’d been in another type of accommodation. The general store was about 15 items at reception. At the restaurant, you have to collect your own cutlery and return your plates. I’ve never seen that at a 4 star site, especially with five staff working who mostly stood around.