Huttopia Versailles

The site makes a great base for Paris. It's a 20-minute walk to Viroflay station, then another 20 minutes to the city. If you're driving, it's outside the Crit'Air zone, which is handy. Coming from the north in a vehicle over 2m high, like ours, avoid the final stretch of the A18 because of a 2m height restriction. The campsite is in a small wooded area, with pitches among the trees. The washing facilities are in a little log cabin and were clean, with hot water. There's a bar and restaurant on site, a swimming pool, and free things to do like table tennis and boules. Perfect for a Paris camping trip, and I'm sure we'll be back :)

We came to see the gardens at Versailles, and this was an ideal campsite for that. Cycling to Versailles was easy, and we could lock our bikes just outside the palace gates. Our VW T5 had a fine pitch, and the facilities were excellent, very clean and laid out brilliantly. The staff were all friendly and helpful, especially Miguel. This was our first Huttopia stay, and we were so impressed. Merci beaucoup!

There were plenty of good things here, which makes it a shame to leave a negative review. The location is excellent, with a scenic, quiet setting and a five-minute walk to a bus for Versailles that costs €2.50. Reception and restaurant staff were efficient, welcoming, pleasant, and spoke very good English. The laundry had only one working washer, and the dryer was useless. I paid €5 and ended up hanging things on a line. The showers and sinks were fine, with plenty of hot water, but cobwebs at head height in all the shower units made it look like cleaning was being rushed. Those are ordinary campsite niggles. The serious issue was the electrical supply. Some pitches apparently lost power during the summer, and management decided to wait until the off-season for a proper repair. That's understandable, but the temporary fix involved extension leads running across and around the roads, with one plug feeding four sockets for four campers. Each original socket was limited to 10 amps. The lead kept tripping when I plugged in, because my all-electric van draws 6 amps just to charge. I spent two hours trying to explain the problem to ground staff. They were polite but seemed clueless, and tried to brush me off by blaming my van. Then one staff member plugged in a light to prove the power was fine. When I said that proved nothing, he got angry, stormed off muttering something, and spun the wheels of his golf cart while waving his arm at me. I eventually moved to a pitch with an original supply, and my van charged without any problem. That pitch was muddy and short on gravel, with a million acorns on the ground, which I didn't notice in the fading light and rain while setting up. It was very windy overnight, and the acorns kept hitting the van like stones. I didn't sleep. I know things go wrong at campsites, but don't try to bluff an electrician about an inadequate supply, and don't let staff blow up at a customer. At €44 a night, some compensation at checkout would have gone a long way.

The campsite has a good atmosphere, and it's perfectly placed for visiting Versailles and Paris by bike. It's nicely wooded, easy to book, and the pitches are big enough, though the hills made access tricky for our long, low camper. We managed. After a long drought the grass was yellow and many pitches had turned sandy. I worry heavy rain will wash it all away. The pool is fairly small and doesn't offer much to do, but it's covered, so you can use it when the air is colder. The toilet blocks are attractively built to fit the outdoor setting. There was always hot water, regular cleaning, toilet seats, and toilet paper. Reception staff were very nice, and the night guard kindly let us in when we got back from Paris after midnight. Laundry costs €5 per coin and the machines were good. There's a large, hilly wooded Domain next door, great for hiking, trail running, and mountain biking. Fresh bread can be ordered, but collecting it meant queuing for at least 15 minutes. I think the process could be quicker and smoother if people paid when ordering and bags were prepared by family name or accommodation number. You can order fresh bread, though the 15-minute-or-more pickup line could be improved with payment at ordering and bags sorted by family name or accommodation number. All in all, a good campsite, but an expensive one. It was by far the priciest site we stayed at this summer.