Camping Sandaya Le Ranolien — Hotel in Lannion

We stayed on the first week of the season starting with the Easter weekend. We had a motorhome pitch with a private toilet cabin. Easter was very busy, with barely a motorhome space free. After that, it was quieter. Pros - The staff. Every single member of staff was lovely, and I'm very grateful for their speaking English to us. Sullyvan made a special effort for my daughter to meet Koolaya when we were the only ones who came to the Kool Disco in the rain. She was really pleased. I felt staff were excellent and very friendly, and should be commended for their attitude. It's worth going to the welcome meeting too. The man spoke both English and French and was able to help out with a few questions.

Location - a few mins walk from a stony beach excellent for rockpooling and I went for a quick swim. The difference between high and low tide is huge so be careful of the tides. There's some seaglass too. We found beadlet and snakelocks anemones (just one patch of snakelocks), top shells, cuttlefish shells and oyster shells. We also found a mermaid's purse (Ray or skate egg case) and shrimps and crabs. We saw snorkellers looking for crabs too. It's near a Super U for fuel and groceries, plus several shops selling local produce, which are worth a visit.

Swimming area - several outside pools, all open when we arrived (which was great, as the other campsites this trip all had pools closed in April), and although cooler than indoors, fine for a swim once you're in. There are slides and an outdoor jacuzzi. Inside is a large pool with adjoining toddler pool and a water play area. This was very clean and excellent for my daughter.

Spa - again, immaculately clean facilities. Hamman, sauna, small swimming area, aqua bikes and a bubble area (standing rather than sitting). Good value at €14.50 and delicious tea that is also for sale at the desk.

There is a shop, a mini market, creperie, bar, cinema and games room. There is a bouncy castle but it's a little worse for wear.

Cons - All the pitches were on a slant, and it took a lot of work with the ramps to offset the odd angle.

The roads and paths are full.of potholes and I sprained my ankle. It's not ideal at night.

The laundrette. It's great to have, but it's a very small machine load for €5. Several machines and dryers don't work, although the staff were v good at coming and putting another on (thanks to the night security officer for this too). Machine 7 finished a cycle and when I opened it, smoke came out (not steam), leaving towels smelling smoky. One dryer did nothing but melt some underwear and didn't dry anything. This area needs some looking at.

To start with, we found it very difficult to find out about activities and when we asked, staff weren't sure. This was resolved at the welcome meeting a few days into our trip, but meant my daughter missed out for several days. We contacted Sandaya as well but got no reply, which was disappointing and frustrating.

The private toilet cabin - nice structure, v clean overall but expensive for what it is. The hot water in the shower runs out as soon as you've got the soap on, and goes very cold. I found putting it on the lowest water setting and lukewarm meant I could have an actual shower. It's open plan, so water gets everywhere too. There was a big brown fingerprint on the flush too, but I cleaned it and it didn't come off so maybe it's been left by builders. There's an outdoor sink too which is handy. There's also a heated towel rail which was great for after swimming to dry towels.

Pitches are small and there is a less natural feel to the site than other sites. During busy times, there were a lot of kids riding bikes really fast and we were nearly ran into a few times. Easter was noisy, as to be expected for how busy it was. We had a few off lead dogs run at our rescue dog as well, which he finds very frightening, and dogs are meant to be on leads. These issues aren't the fault of the site, but helpful to be aware of for some.

Overall, great for kids and we will...

The staff were helpful. Reception greeted us warmly. The shop was great. They exhanged a faulty item with no hassle. The supermarket was well stocked in our first week but wasn't sufficiently replenished the second week. The launderette was busy on a Monday morning but I was able to bag the last washing machine. Our little one loved the bouncy castle & was impressed with the playground. We found the outdoor exercise stations needed maintenance & updating. The indoor & outdoor pools were great. These are more leisure pools for playing rather than for laps. The slide options were great. We only had one day were all of the outdoor loungers were already taken. We paid extra for access to the spa, which we alternated between the two of us. This was a highlight for the adults. The campsite is well looked after. No litter & it felt safe & secure. We found the cottage, 5 person 4 stars, was small & basic. We're a family of 3 & we found it was limited with storage & a tight squeeze around the beds. The TV seemed an afterthought, positioned on top of the microwave, not that this hindered us as we didn't watch it. However, the cottage was clean & everything worked. We had paid the extra 30 euros to select our cottage & were very happy with our location as it was very quiet for us. We paid the extra money for WiFi so were disappointed to find that this was for only 1 phone, which we felt was a little tight in this day & age. The campsite is fantastically located. We loved having such quick access to the sea as soon as we left the campsite. The Pink Granite coast is exceptional. We loved clambering the rocks. We caught fish at Pors Rolland (& let them back in the sea). We bought our fishing net from the local Mr Bricolage. We went sea kayaking at La Plage Saint Guirec. We saw numerous sunsets & got up early one morning to see the sunrise. We spent many afternoons walking the Pink Granite coast in both directions to the beaches. For reference our little one is 6 years old. They had no problem with the distances. Overall we loved it. Any negative points raised here are minor & didn't overshadow...

Unfortunately we did not enjoy our time at this campsite. We feel the campsite is overrated and had its best time and is in need of renovation. The restaurant is far too small and looking out onto an old concrete playground with a |Limited menu. The take away serves pizza, fries, burgers. Other options are limited and look unappealing. The restaurant & bar are all in 1 unappealing area combined with a play area which makes it feel like a ‘holiday factory’, entirely aimed at children. The swimming pool feels dated, inside is way too crowded, outside area no real|Swimming pool other than small pools for the slides. In the first few minutes we were very rudely sent away because my husband did nog wear the right swim shorts. The surroundings and the walking path along the cliff are stunning.|The old french buildings and trees on the sire are very pretty. Unfortunately our cabin was very disappointing- dated, poorly kept, musty smell, ripped sofa, the terrace was in need replacement, unsafe for|Our toddler, uncomfortable bed with rubber sheets. The shower kept going from warm to|Cold constantly. When we tried to change cabins there was unfortunately no other availability and in relation to that staff were also not friendly or helpful. Also doing laundry took too much time as we had drive to the atm to get money and then change it to the required coins as there are no options to pay in other ways and the campsite receptionist would not give us change. When we tried to get coins from a machine that says ‘ cash’ on it, in the games room, we just got game coins. When i explained at reception we made a mistake and i wanted the cash back, she said she couldn’t do that, which seemed odd to us and annoying as we’d already spent so much time trying to|Figure out how it worked and driving to get money from the cash machine. She said she ‘couldn’t’ but it seemed like a ‘wouldn’t’ to us. || Especially in bad weather, the cons weighed heavily and therefore we left much earlier...