Camping municipal de l'île d'Or — Hotel in Loches

This is a really lovely, big municipal site with all the essential facilities. It is accessible only to campers with their own code to open the gates. The campsite is situated on a river island, fenced all the way round, bordered on one side by a pathway along the riverbank and on the other by a large public park. Local hot air balloon companies use the park to take off. At the end of the island is a outdoor fitness area and small mountain bike track. There is a games tent on site with a table tennis table. Free Wi-Fi is available though coverage is patchy at best! The large pitches are more or less separated into areas for large tents, touring tents and motor homes, some with no shade. It can get very hot here! There are no hedges between pitches - we like the open plan feel but it may not suit everyone. Pathways throughout the site are a mix of tarmac for the motorhomes and gravel for the rest of the site. There are now three well maintained super-clean sanitary blocks, as well as a motorhome service point. The blocs sanitaires contain toilets, urinals, wash cubicles and good showers, laundry and washing up facilities. The provisions for disabled campers are excellent, with six wheelchair accessible showers, and a number of accessible toilets and washrooms. The newest block has particularly spacious shower rooms but the water is unheated. You won't see any staff around the campsite (other than the army of toilet cleaners!) but the reception people are lovely and very helpful. There is a swimming pool next door, with reduced rates for campers (the French "no shorts" law applies as you'd expect, and the campsite reception sells swimming trunks for those who forget) and a mini golf course too. The Bar Brasserie de l'Ile d'Or is adjacent to the reception and serves delicious food and its own beer. Bread is available from here each morning. Amboise is a short walk away just over the bridge and has a variety of small shops (including a well stocked convenience style Carre Four with decent opening hours) and some lovely restaurants. There is a typical French market on the quayside on Sunday mornings. Larger supermarkets are a short drive away (Aldi, Intermarche and a huge E Leclerc.) Amboise and the surrounding area is beautiful and this campsite is a great base from which to...

We stayed 2 nights at this campsite in June. Reception gave us a numbered pitch supposedly next to one we were reserving for our friends due the next day. We soon discovered these pitches were occupied and the comment from the occupant was ' we were told we could go where we liked'. As he was part of a group - all adjacent to each other- we didn't make a fuss but asked reception for two more pitches. We were cooking our evening meal when a camper van drove up beside us and an irate man told us we were in his place and refused to believe us when we said it had been allocated to us. He was aggressive and rude. We refused to move until later on that evening another camper arrived saying, once again, we were on his pitch. This time we went to reception and were told we had to move. The following day our friends arrived and set up on the pitch next to us - within half an hour another van arrived to claim their pitch! Once again an aggressive verbal attack on our friends but, after going back to reception, the irate man was given another pitch and our friends stayed, This upsetting set of events together with incompetent and unapologetic staff, three separate and different codes to punch in to lift the barrier which didn't work, ( meaning trips to reception each time,) decided us to move on the next day as soon...

The campsite is very big. Bathrooms are clean but very busy. There is only one washing machine so be prepared to wait and get in a queue to wash your clothes. The restaurant is good and there was entertainment on every night we stayed. Not all of it was our cup of tea, but that's OK. The WiFi was excellent for our whole stay. The location is very good, so nice to walk to amboise and experience all the town has to offer.

The main issue we had was with the swimming pool, the campsite should really warn campers about the swimming shorts rule. The local shops didn't have the correct shorts for adults, just kids, so we had to drive to tours, over 30 minutes away. The times the pool is open are very limited, too. I know the pool is a municipal pool, and the campsite might not control the rules, but they could've prevented the stress if we had known before we arrived about the swimming shorts rule. We heard many people giving out about it so it is a very common problem for them. The staff were friendly in dealing with us and understanding our complaint. I just feel it would serve the campsite better to let guests know before...