Pierre & Vacances Port du Crouesty: A Holiday in Southern Brittany

by Rhonda Carrier

I’ve long wondered what Pierre & Vacances Holiday Resorts are really like – I wanted to review one for the first edition of my ‘Frommer’s Brittany With Your Family’ guidebook but there was no availability at the time of my research trip. They were clearly extremely popular, albeit with a mainly French market, yet visitor feedback on the Internet was very mixed, with negative comments focused mainly on the restricted space in the accommodation itself.

Since then, Pierre & Vacances (pv-holidays.com) has entered the Brit holiday market with a vengeance and now enthusiastically markets itself across the Channel. A friend who stayed in one of their villages in the South of France last year rated her experience quite highly, describing the apartments as well designed to maximise the restricted space but noting that her older son didn’t want to go to the kids’ club because the staff spoke only French. Again, visitor feedback on Pierre & Vacances on various parents’ travel forums and on Tripadvisor remains mixed, with some villages rating more highly than others.

With the second edition of my guide in progress, I decided to try out the Pierre & Vacances resort of Port du Crouesty in the southern Morbihan. Of all the Breton départements in my book, this was the needed to spend the most time refreshing my knowledge of – and also the one that held out the most promise of good weather (Brittany’s weather being notoriously fickle). Le Crouesty is also Pierre & Vacances' only resort in Brittany; its other properties in the region are résidences with fewer facilities, although all are geared up for families. From the website, the village looked to be attractive, with clusters of apartment buildings built in the local style and stone, as well as well endowed with family amenities, including kids’ clubs for various age groups and four pools (two for toddlers).

Arriving on the first dour day of a hitherto blissful week elsewhere in Brittany, our first impression was that, yes, our apartment was on the bijou side. Further investigation revealed it to be, as my friend had said of hers, ingeniously designed to make the best use of the space. The main living space had two sofa-beds that, combined, could sleep up to three, together with a basic kitchenette (without oven but with microwave and dishwasher) that could be partitioned off with the use of sliding doors. There was also a compact bathroom with a tub and a small double bedroom at the back.

It was perfectly liveable, although we found that you have to be rigorously tidy or all hell breaks loose quite quickly. The main difficulty was in finding places to hang wet towels, swimming togs and laundry; cooking in such a confined space was also a bit of a challenge, and there was no outside space. If you prefer more elbow-room, you’ll need to play around on the website to see what your exact options are – the choice of accommodation configurations at Port du Crouesty is actually quite dizzying and complex, with facilities, room layouts and views varying widely. The most spacious options are the tw0-bedroom apartments for 7/8 (usually duplex, with a small kids’ ‘cabin’ with bunkbeds, a double room, and one or two sofabeds, plus a terrace) or the 3-bedroom houses for the same number.  Much of this larger accommodation is in a separate sub-complex called Cap Océane, clustered around the resort’s second swimming pool and toddlers’ pool. Cap Océane has a more exclusive, club-like feel to the main complex (Douce Bretagne), but all guests can use its amenities.

Despite the restricted space, we became very fond of our apartment over the course of the week, a large part of our enjoyment stemming from its outlook over the plant-filled gardens with their large lawn where kids flew kites, kicked balls and blew off steam in the good playground. When our boys had gone to bed, it was great to share a bottle of local cider as we watched the pink-streaked skies change hue over the sea and then Venus wink into view. Not all of the apartments have sea or garden views (some face onto the car park), and we also noticed that neighbouring apartments in the same block and with the same view can vary in quality (one was markedly more modern and stylish than the other). However, I did gather from a receptionist that if you call your specific holiday village a couple of weeks ahead of arrival, you can make specific requests (for instance, those with infants might prefer a ground-floor apartment).

The resort has direct access to Le Fogeo beach; it’s not one of Brittany’s best but it does offer sailing tuition for adults and kids aged 7 or over. Most of our time in the resort was spent by the main pools, where’s there’s also a small snack bar and a table-tennis table. This was the best swimming option since there were other playmates on hand, but in summer I imagine it becomes very crowded. We didn’t feel the need to make use of the kids’ clubs (most of which are free when booked online in advance), but a Franco-German couple with three girls spoke highly of them. There’s also a childrens’ activity corner in the multimedia centre, where you can use the Internet terminals for free or use the pay Wifi on your own laptop, read the papers, and pick up information on local activities and attractions. Other activities on offer at Le Crouesty are cycling (you can hire adult and kids’ bikes and baby seats) and tennis, while facilities include a mini-market and launderette. A posh hotel neighbouring the complex offers reductions on its spa treatments for P&V guests.

Le Crouesty is off-the-beaten track at the tip of a spit of land dividing the Atlantic Ocean and the Golfe du Morbihan, an idyllic inland sea studded with islands. Pierre & Vacances staff can book you on a boat trip into the Golfe – the best option with kids is to take an afternoon excursion, with the boat winding its languorous way through the fragmented island landscape before depositing you on the Ile des Moines, where my boys were thrilled to catch (and release) their first crab on the Grande Plage.

The town of Lorient, just over a hour from Port du Crousety, was largely destroyed during the war but still houses its fascinating former Nazi submarine pens together with the Cité de la Voile Eric Tabarly sailing museum, where you’ll find lots of hands-on exhibits for kids. We also ventured to Brittany’s southernmost border with the Pays de la Loire, where the Plage de la Mine d’Or with its glittering sandstone glittered delighted us with its rare shells and starfish. Also within easy reach are the prehistoric site of Carnac with its world-famous standing stones and family-friendly beach resort, and the hip Breton capital Rennes.

The million-dollar question, as always with family holidays, is whether we liked Pierre & Vacances Port du Crouesty enough to return.  Like Center Parcs Europe, which Pierre & Vacances now owns, this wouldn’t be your first-choice holiday destination if you didn’t have kids. With children, however, it’s an excellent option for those looking at the mid-price range: a 1-bedroom apartment for 4/5 starts at about €250 in low season, 3-bedroom houses for up 7/8 start at about €400, although in high summer, inevitably, you’ll be looking at much more than this. As with the accommodation set-ups, it’s worth spending some time on the website playing around with dates, if you can be flexible about them, to see when the best deals are to be had. Just don’t ask for any guarantees on the Breton weather…

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