We booked a simple mobile home in a holiday park at La Grande Motte, Jean Balladur’s purpose built resort in mid June. Wonderful beaches, lovely parks and shaded areas, huge market. Full of French visitors.
The mobile home park was 1 km from the town and the beach and we walked in on the first day and rented bicycles which we used all the time. With a basket on the front and some bungy cord on the back, we could take our swimming things and have room for shopping. Our mobile home was functional and well equipped. Two bedrooms, a shower room and a living room and covered balcony. We went before the season had really opened and the activities usually on offer had not started. There was a BBQ area, and boules. The centre was quiet, but enough people, some of whom spend the whole summer there, so you did not feel anxious. It would all be much noisier when full and we were situated by the pizza van which would have been busy in the high season.
On the last day, the season was opening and we saw lovely white horses from the Camargue and young bulls running nearby – this was quite exciting! We failed to go on a boat trip to Sete as it didn’t run every day but we did cycle to the next villages – early morning cycling before it gets too warm was particularly enjoyable and we got sunburnt through our shirts when cycling further than we meant to in the midday sun. Lidls and other supermarkets are nearby and there is a charming port area, and you can rent a parasol and sun lounger with a shower and a w.c.
The beaches are wonderful, and the sea safe. Miles of dunes with numbered entry points all along the resort with its Mayan inspired buildings. Different, but definitely interesting – once this was an area of swamps – and built at the wish of General de Gaulle to compete with the Spanish beaches.
Montpelier airport is a small airport and you should reserve taxis on arrival and for departure several days in advance. Tourist information in town, and organised walks and a little train (more days in high season).