Yelloh Village Camping Le Brasilia — Attraction in Perpignan

I've never looked forward to a holiday more than this and came away feeling a bit weird about it all really. ||We had done 3 Yelloh! holidays in holiday parks before. Our first was a small rustic Yelloh! site and then we went to Aloha twice and loved it. We are a group of 10 (2 families of 5 with kids aged 9-13) and wanted to go to the best site possible. Le Brasilia looked amazing, had won tons of awards and so we tried to book. We were told that lines would open at 8am on a date in November 2022 and so, having never had an issue with booking anywhere before, we booked the Pont Aven ferry to Santander (not cheap!) with a plan to make our way across the Pyrenees and ending up with a two-week stay at Le Brasilia. ||So with everything else in place, we met at 7.45am on the allocated day in November with croissants in hand and prepped our phones to call at 8am and make the Le Brasilia reservation. We had decided to book the Creole cabins. ||So at 8am we called and within 3 minutes the whole site was booked out for the summer. We didn't have our cabins. This was disappointing!|So, I embarked on a week of research to look at other Yelloh! sites and narrowed it down to a few, but then Le Brasilia called us and asked us if we knew that Eurocamp still had cabins on their site. We grouped together and agreed that it would be best to stick with the original plan, so we called Eurocamp. ||They had 3-bedroom air-conditioned cabins available at our requested dates so we duly booked. There were some warning signs - no pictures of the cabins and no knowledge of what our cabins would include. In the weeks before arriving I wanted to find out what was in our cabins (coffee machine? Sun-loungers? TV? Noone seemed to know). ||Upon arrival at the site, the excellent Eurocamp staff showed us around, but my wife was soon in tears at how bad the accommodation was. It smelt like someone had been chain-smoking in there. There were no sun-loungers and, in fact, there was nowhere comfortable to sit (for two weeks). The showers were so small I couldn't touch my feet - in fact it was difficult to turn around. The bedrooms were depressingly tiny. The bedding was the lowest quality. If we sat on the decking at night, we were ravaged by mosquitos. The campsite next door regularly partied into the night. On a few occasions, our neighbours partied into the early hours seemingly without anyone asking them to quieten down. As time went on it became increasingly uncomfortable. I suppose the most telling thing is that we were paying as much as you would pay for a high-quality Mediterranean villa and I spent the last ten days going to the camping shower block to wash and use the WC. That is damning. ||And yet, the Yelloh! cabins looked fantastic. If you could get into the Dali cabins or Les Marquises cabins, you would have the perfect holiday. The Okavanga cabins look fantastic and the Creoles cabins also look great, but maybe a little too shaded for my liking. ||The pool area is near perfect. I am a swimmer and they have a dedicated swimming pool where they boot people out if they're not doing lengths (they have three other pools where you can chill). We enjoyed the Aquagym, the Jacuzzi area. There's a poolside bar and three other bars. The restaurant is as good as you could expect on a holiday park and there's an array of excellent shops. The staff everywhere you go are superb. There's even a doctor onsite every day (not Sunday).||We hired bikes onsite for €50/week and loved it. The beach is right there and lovely. There is a free boat across the harbour to Canet en Roussillon, which is an okay town. We spent a day at Cote Plage, the nearest beach club to the campsite and can strongly recommend. There's a lot of stuff around to see. We spent days at Aqualand/St Cyprien, Perpignan, Figueres, Colera, and Banyuls s/mer. I would particularly recommend the coast road towards the Costa Brava and North towards Narbonne. ||So, during the days, we were having a whale of a time. With that in mind, we went into reception on our final Tuesday to see what we could book for summer 2024. This is where my feelings about the place get complicated. |We queued for 20 minutes behind people booking for next summer only to be told that people staying with Eurocamp can't book for next summer yet. Being Eurocamp customers, we were allowed to book a week in advance of the general 1st-time-customers after all of the existing Le Brasilia customers via Yelloh! had been given first option. ||So I guess where they are coming from is that they are rewarding their existing customer base, which I would understand ordinarily. However, we have previously paid for 6 weeks with Yelloh! and were told there was nothing for us back in November. For us, we went with Eurocamp only because Le Brasilia recommended it. The way I see it, we were loyal Yelloh! customers being punished for not being Yelloh! customers. It was delivered in such a matter of fact way that, being honest, I doubt I'll book with Yelloh! again. It's a very strange feeling to have dropped so much money in a place that has told you they don't want your business twice. No doubt, I would be able to book something a week in advance of the general public, but there's no chance of getting a Dali or Marquise cabin. So you find yourself thinking that you would have to stay there twice before getting what you want. It's not a system that works for me. ||We were told quite early on that Yelloh! have taken control of the Eurocamp area from next year. The cabins will be the Petit Sud cabins. I would be wary. Very dusty, very dark and lots of mosquitos in that area. ||So, to summarise, if you can get Les Marquises, Dali, Okavanga or Creole cabins, go for it. If you're a first-time customer, it's quite unlikely that you'll be able to get what you want, so avoid booking expensive travel options. ||Despite hating our accommodation, the site was so good we were looking to do another week next year, but the attitude towards us was such that we were a little offended and will just go with a villa next year. ||All in all, quite a unique set...

!!! ☹😞🧐 !!! Overall, the campsite has potential, but there are far too many serious drawbacks.

#The beach has three exits, two of which are equipped with showers. However, there are no toilet facilities available at any of the exits. For restroom access, visitors must use the facilities located within the campsite, which require a relatively long walk. Additionally, the beach is covered with numerous small stones, making it difficult to walk without appropriate water shoes.

#The swimming pools Guests are not allowed to wear flip-flops around the pool area and are required to walk barefoot on the tiles. While I understand this rule might aim to maintain cleanliness, but when temperatures rise above 30°C, the tiles become unbearably hot and can burn your feet. Even small children are required to remove their footwear. My son’s feet were burning so badly that I had to carry him to the exit where our shoes were left. This is completely unreasonable. I wonder if the campsite manager has ever walked barefoot in the heat to see how painful it actually is? The animators, who also act like lifeguards and enforcers, strictly monitor guests and reprimand anyone not following the rules — especially regarding footwear. Furthermore, no food or drinks (other than water) are allowed to be brought into the pool area. If you’d like a drink, including beer or any refreshment, you must go to the bar. This is inconvenient and uncomfortable. We have visited many campsites across Europe, and nowhere else have we encountered such strict and impractical rules regarding footwear or food and drinks by the pool. To be honest, it seems the management here doesn't understand how to properly run a campsite. I live in Germany, yet this campsite, Le Brasilia, had far more rigid and excessive rules than anything I’ve seen in Germany.

#The children’s disco events were also disappointing — the music played was from the 70s and 80s, which didn’t appeal to the children at all. Instead of fun, age-appropriate songs like Baby Shark, the music choices felt outdated and irrelevant to young audiences.

#The foam party was especially alarming. The area near the foam machine, including tables and chairs, had not been cleared. As the foam grew to 2–3 meters high and began to spread, the children tried to escape, but couldn’t — the tables and chairs blocked their way, essentially trapping them. It was a dangerous situation. My husband and I began pushing furniture aside to create a path for the children to exit. Others quickly joined in to help. We alerted both a waiter and an animator, but they told us there was nothing they could do at the moment — only for "next time." My daughter was caught underneath the foam and struggled to breathe and find her way out. She later explained how frightening and suffocating the experience was. This kind of event, without any proper safety measures or staff ready to intervene, could one day lead to a tragedy.

#There are numerous birds throughout the campsite (such as seagulls, pigeons, and others), which defecate everywhere. Each morning, we had to clean our bungalow from their droppings, as the awning only covers half of the structure. In the uncovered area, not only do many pine needles fall from the surrounding trees, but bird droppings accumulate as well.

#There is a shipyard and a marina located right next to the campsite. Throughout the night, the noise from various machines can be clearly heard, making it difficult to sleep. During the day, the sounds of machinery, hammering, and whistling from the ships are constant.

At Le Brasilia, in particular, the service does not meet expectations in terms of hospitality, entertainment, safety, and overall guest comfort.

The main issue seems to stem from poor management. We strongly believe that with a change in management, the campsite could attract more satisfied visitors and significantly improve its reputation.

Our entire family was deeply upset by the lack of responsibility shown by the campsite staff. We would never return to...

We had a really bad experience at the restaurant on site. We kept seeing other tables being seated after but served way before us. After 40minutes we got bored and asked for someone to take our drinks order. Got our food quickly, which was nice. Another 40mins/an hour waiting for the bill - after complaining about the service an argument broke out with a waiter who ended up calling my husband an idiot 3 times! Horrendous and disappointing experience!!||||UPDATE TO THE ABOVE||We couldnt update this whilst still on site for fear of further retribution from the camp director.||||We emailed the campsite at the same time of writing this review and had a pretty speedy response and they asked to meet us at the reception that evening. This felt very positive and we were happy that our complaint was going to be concluded.||||This meeting turned out to be a very mediocre attempt at a mediation meeting between ourselves and the staff from the night before - all sat infront of the camp director like naughty school children. After discussing the complaint we ended up in another argument with the same abusive waiter - he denied calling my husband an idiot. At one point we had to express that the meeting was not productive and as customers we should have never have been put back into further conflict with the same staff. The camp director also remarked that we spoke to much and we were left being blamed for the way his colleagues had conducted themselves. After 25 minutes we relented and shook hands as we were very eager to go offsite for the evening and enjoy our second night.||||We left the meeting and agreed to put it to bed - vowing to not let it spoil the rest of our stay. I wasnt going to update the review at all despite the further disappointment.||||However, the next day we had a visit from the camp director at our accomodation. At first we thought he had come to follow up from yesterday and to ask how we were. We were very wrong. He pulled out a printed copy of this very review and very rudely said "I got this from headoffice - I thought we resolved this yesterday?". I replied i had written the review at the same time as the email he had recieved. He then followed up with "Are you not going to change it?". I said i would change it at the end of the holiday - As i wanted the reflect on everything and hope to have atleast some positives to share. He said okay and left very abruptly.||||Everytime we saw the director after this he would actively avoid eye contact and ignore us or ride past our accomodation and scowl. Much like a petulent child who had not got his own way - there is clearly a correlation between him and the poor service recieved at the restaurant. As a senior person who works directly with complaints on various social platforms, i would not have a job very longer if i handled my complaints the same way. If you would like some tips on how to resolve complaints efficiently without upsetting your guests further please do reach out||||Nevertheless heres some positives for the site - The site is clean and the pool is good. Phil at reception was very friendly and the staff at the snack bar were wonderful - great sense of humour and always polite (There must have been a different hiring manager on the day they were hired). Eurocamp and their reps on site were also perfect. The best reps we have had - we have booked with Eurocamp again for a different site in the same region for June next...