Beach holidays have one small problem. After you’ve splashed about in the shallows and lounged about on the beach for a few hours, getting sandy, salty and suntanned, you really don’t feel like changing out of your swimwear and stepping into a car that’s also been gently roasting for a few hours. The answer is to stay as close to the sea as possible, and Camping du Letty is the perfect solution, enabling you to stroll to the showers before ambling back to your pitch refreshed and ready for action. Or inaction if you prefer – Camping du Letty is an excellent place to do nothing. However, as in many of the other larger coastal sites, there’s also plenty happening on site if that’s what you’re after – with bars, a disco, restaurants and entertainment, and a swimming pool and aquapark, complete with slides and a retractable roof.
Yet campers can have a lovely, peaceful holiday here if they wish. A short distance along the corniche from the shops and restaurants of the summer resort of Bénodet, the site is run by two generations of the Le Guyader family. Marc and his parents have their work cut out – the site is spread over 25 acres and has around about 550 pitches – but their enthusiasm and commitment are plain to see, and what’s more the site has been established for decades, so the shade-giving trees are mature and the abundant hedges give each bit of the site a real sense of seclusion. In fact it’s surprisingly easy to forget that you’re in the midst of the biggest tentopolis along this stretch of coast.
The campsite abuts Plage du Groasguan, a strip of golden sand along a slinky lagoon at the mouth of the River Odet. Across the placid water the Dunes Dominiales de Mousterlin stretch away, into a sandy horizon that blocks out the sea’s swell. The result is a choice between a backwater that’s ideal for paddling while parents can comfortably lie back on the shore, or a real beach and bigger waves just a short hike away from the site, where the beach is overlooked by a lighthouse that winks flirtatiously at every passing vessel after dark.
As you stroll along the shore, past the colourful art-deco changing rooms, and then further along Plage du Trez and around Pointe du Coq, you’ll be getting closer to the old port of Bénodet, where you can buy seafood so fresh that it may still be flapping about – perfect to fry up back at the campsite in a butter and white wine sauce. Indeed freshly-caught fish is just another reason to enjoy being right beside the seaside.
The Monday-morning market in Bénodet (or Wednesday in Ste Marine), or the Champion supermarket, may tempt you off site. There are plenty of bars and restaurants along Bénodet’s seafront, but if you’re looking for a more refined atmosphere head for the restaurant at the Grand Hotel l’Abbatiale (00 33 2 98 66 21 66) at the old port, which specialises in the day’s catch (menus from €22) in a room that is smart without being stuffy. Alternatively, arrive early and you may decide to buy your own fresh fish at the shop around the side of the hotel to fry by the seashore.