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We went back to La Grande Cosse for a weekend break at the end of August last year. We took a flight with Ryan Air to Nimes because it was only £1, but it's too far away. OK for Agde for a week though. At the moment, for two people, it's much cheaper to fly and hire a car. There are lots of low cost flights to choose from to closer airports.
As for driving, we've done it 8 or 9 times, we could never afford the sleeper train and it was cheaper with all the kids than flying. Make the journey into part of the holiday by finding good places to stop. This year we went up to Millau to have a look at the bridge in the sky. I might even consider driving down again cross the massive central, as the journey will now be about 6 hours quicker, and it's an awesome sight. The other way to drive down is the eastern autoroute via Lille, Dijon, Lyon, etc. That takes about 24 hours, all in west country to Cosse, and is an easy drive at night if you can share the driving. The RAC online route finder is pretty accurate for traveling times and distances (better than MS AutoRoute).
If you need overnight stops on the way, book them early, or you can get caught out. The Campanile chain is fine. We ended up sleeping under the stars with the rest of the French peasants in a service station outside Montellimar on one trip down. An adventure for teenage boys, but not something I would want to do again. No problem if you have a caravan, not practical with a tent, but we were heading for a mobile home.
About La Grande Cosse; generally the site has improved in recent years. It's in a quiet location, with easy access from the motorway, over the Clape (a small range of hills), covered in vines, olives, cork trees and sunflowers. The route in via St Pierre sur Mer is not as pretty, but easier driving and longer. The is no public transport, so you will need a car or you will be trapped on site. You can walk to St Pierre along the beach but it's a long way, and the town is not much to look at, a sort of tiny French Weston-Super-Mare, or Teignmouth.
Inside the site there are plenty of tress for shade, and somebody has been planting up flower beds for the last couple of years. There is a new big pool (that makes 2), but the transition from the shallow end to the deep end is a bit steep and dangerous. It's now a proper four star site with good facilities. For campers there are lots of good new shower blocks. The huge beach is a short walk across scrub / dry marsh land, and is good. There is one beach bar and that is fine. The restaurant on site is good, and 7 miles just up the coast at Flurie is the very special Lou Carbiniers. The Plat d Jour is very cheap by UK standards and top notch quality. The onsite shop is about 15 to 20% more expensive than local hypermarkets, but average for seaside camp shops.
The water quality and access into La Grand Cosse should be much better this year. Last year the water authority was building a proper pumping station and sewage works to replace the open lagoons of sewage from the surrounding district that are treated there. You can't see or smell it in the camp site, but it's really unpleasant to pass by at the entrance.
There are lots of things to go and see, Nimes and the Pont d'Gard are not far, and there are lots of the usual French markets. If you want to try some modern local French 'culture', go to the HyperU hypermarket (like a very big Asda) at lunch time, go to the Flunch cafe and have lunch. Moule et frit with bier for 4 euros and it's really good.
Personally I would book with Club Holidays on site. Some of their cheaper caravans are a bit tired, but are spotless and you are well looked after. The French are a nation of smokers and poodle lovers so quite often you can hire a place, only to find it stinks of tobacco, or leaves you feeling itchy. The French tourist trade hasn't kept up to speed and now falls well behind the Spanish, Germans and Dutch for quality of the holiday accommodation. I think CleVacances 2 key standard is an absolute minimum.
Alternative sites worth considering: Serignan Plage or the adjacent Club Gymno, Dutch run, larger and a bit better than La Grand Cosse. But the nudist beach is much shorter. The camp site at Agde is OK, better than the flats or apartments there, and it's much livelier than La Grand Cosse.
If you have any comments about this report or wish to add further information
please email them to:
neffupdate @ ada-augusta . demon . co . uk
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