This is the fourth time we go to a pierre & vacance resort and have always been happy about our stay but have come back with mixed feelings this time.
- We paid 2000€ for a (very little) house with two (tiny) bedrooms. The house was okay, clean and I was happy to see that the kitchen was fully equiped, all necessary pots, pans and utilities are present. Only one two person sofa for a house for six people though... The bed in the master bedroom is small for two tall adults. It rained 6 out of the 7 days we were there (week starting on 16/07/11), the one day that it didn't rain we had a big leak in our house and had to spend most of the afternoon waiting for someone to come fix it and then wait some more for the cleaners. We were told we needed to be present for this.
-Facilities: nice pool, water was 26° which felt cold as the weather wasn't good. Mini golf very run down and expensive for the state it is in (11€ for one adult and two children). beach volley court and multi sports court ok. Nice playground for young children. NO little supermarket just a few very basic groceries on sale in restaurant. There is really nothing to do for children when it rains. Everything is outdoors. There is one playstation at reception but is was had a sign up saying it was broken the whole week we were there. Seems like they could have fixed this quickly if they had wanted too. When we arrived we were surprised to hear that internet was free at reception. The truth was that internet didn't work and that's why is was "free". They had to reboot the system every 15 minutes or so to be able to use it for a few minutes, meaning that in the evening (when reception staff had left) there was no internet at all! I think this is unacceptable for the price we paid for a weeks accomodation. I can understand that they would need a day to fix this problem but we heard from reception staff that the probrem had started two weeks earlier! Many guests were annoyed by the internet issue.
-Restaurant: Good and not very expensive. VERY friendly service. Great pizzas.
-Kids clubs: Our 10y old loves the p&v Junior Club it's the main reason he adores p&v resorts. They do many fun activities with the children like paintball, a visit to the adventure park, standup paddle, etc. It is not free though, 16€ for a half day. Most people who run the children's clubs don't speak english which I found very surprising. They obviously mainly cater to french families. Our 10y old wasn't bothered by this though. Ou 4y old on the other hand didn't want to participate because of this lack of language skills.
I think this resort is probably great when the weather is good but our week spent in the rain wasn't such a success. I can't help but feel that the resort isn't well managed, they don't take care of the services and facilities (language skills, broken internet, run down mini golf, etc).

Grandparents, uncle and aunt, as well as parents and 2 children, aged 7 and 9, had a wonderful short break at this very pretty location. Julie, as well as Carol, and all other members of the personnel there go to great length to make your stay as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. The houses are extremely well equipped with all crockery and cutlery you may want or need, appliances and furniture. The restaurant has a simple menu but very fresh and tasty and the pool is very popular. The beds are slightly on the short size for anglo-saxon people and charging for the internet-which doesn't work properly anyway - is definitely unacceptable. With the exception of the two latter criticisms, this is a very good destination for families with young children.

A relaxing, well organised resort with many family orientated facilities. The resort is set in pine forest and partially surround by a golf course about 2km (1.3 miles) from the beaches of Lacanau-Ocean. The resort is owned by the same consortium that runs Centre Parcs and it has the same 'in the countryside' theme as the Centre Parcs resorts. The resort language is French, but some of the resort staff spoke relatively good English.

We hired a 5/6 person 'superior' house facing the pool. The little house was very clean and well stocked with cooking equipment and cutlery etc. There was a microwave oven, a four ring electric hob (no oven), kettle, coffee maker and dishwasher. The open plan kitchen/dining room/living room area was light and airy with a TV that included 25 channels (including Sky News). In addition, there was a toilet near the front door and storage under the stairs. Upstairs there were two bedrooms and a bathroom with a toilet and bath/shower unit. The water supply was powerful, but beware the hot water temperature was very hot!

We were a group of 4 adults and one 16 month old toddler and the house suited our needs very well. There was an integral stair gate at the top of the stairs and on request we also got a second stair gate for the bottom of the stairs as well as electric socket protectors. We also hired the baby package which included a highchair pushchair, bath and changing mat (40 euros).

There are clubs for 3 to 8 year olds, 8 to 13 year olds and 13 to 18 year olds, with activities running throughout the week keeping the kids amused and the parents relaxed. Note that the clubs only run 'in season' (French Easter holidays and summer holidays). In addition, there is a heated pool, mini-golf, playground, and bike hire with trailers for younger kids (open in and out of season). However, the heated pool was a little cool (25 degrees C) for April.

The restaurant provides a standard bistro type menu with theme nights, for example the first night (Saturday) was Moules Frites. The price is about average for Lacanau restaurants (9 to 14 euros for a main course) and they provide a take-away option (but they do not remove the inclusive 10 % service charge.) The pizzas were very good, but some of the more complicated meals were not so well prepared. The restaurant has a small shop area for basic provisions. Furthermore, you can buy and pre-order bread and croissants. However, the resort is only a 10 minute cycle ride or 30 minutes gentle walk to Lacanau-Ocean so you can easily eat out or get your groceries from one of the local supermarkets. We ended up eating at a restaurant down in Lacanau-Ocean called L'Assiette quite often and recommend it!

The only negative point relates to the lack of activities for children under three. There is no baby/toddler club and no advice on suitable baby-sitting facilities. There is a playground but it has a sign stating only "for 3 to 8 year olds" and no attempt has been made to provide toddler-safe equipment. For example, there are two swings but neither have a cradle-style toddler seat. In a way it is surprising that the under threes are not well catered for given there are so many things for children of three years and older.

In summary, a great family resort that allows the parents to relax!

Stayed here from 24th August to 31st August. We were 2 adults with one teenager and one 9 year old.

Lovely apartment for 4/5 people. Clean sheets and towels on arrival for the week, although we could have changed them each Saturday of our stay. Appartments not air conditioned so somewhat warm during the night.

We didn't have a car which was a disadvantage. The site recommends you have a car but says it's 2km from the beach, so we thought it would be ok to walk it each day, but it does seem further than this. Bikes can be hired on site for a reasonable price though the deposit for each was 180euro which meant we'd have had very little spending money left for the time we had the bikes.

There was plenty for the kids to do on site. Our 9 year old joined the kids club for tree climbing activities, archery and other things. The kids clubs are for babies, then 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, 13-15 and 16-18 years, so kids are all in suitably aged groups. Our teenager had surfing lessons every day at the beach. (These cost £100 for a weeks lessons, 2 hours a day for 5 days)

There was all sorts of activities for adults each day between 9am-12noon and the 4pm-6pm. Aerobics, archery, volley ball and step classes to name but a few. These were good fun.

The kids clubs and adult activities are all free. Evening entertainment was at an outdoor amptitheatre and involved most of the staff at the park. Well organised and nice to have shows where there not selling overpriced drinks and snacks all the time.

The onsite restaurant served delicious food at a good price and a childrens menu and each day there were fresh croissants and pastries in the small onsite shop.

The swimming pool was excellent with 1 full time lifeguard who was very dilligent and approachable. Staff generally were friendly and professional. This was a holiday resort for the French so there was a lot of information available in French, but not always in English which made things a bit tricky at times, but we got by.

Lacanau Ocean itself is a small seaside town with a cosmpolitan feel. Lots of cafes and fresh foods and clothes shops. Waves were very big on some days, with helicopters fishing people out of the sea. Lots of lifeguards on the beach and supervised areas for swimming.

We would definitely holiday with PV again and can recommend it for the accommodation and onsite activities. If you've got small kids though and want to visit the beach in this area then make sure you've got a car so you can go further North up the coast where the waves are reported to be a lot calmer.