Club Med La Palmyre Atlantique

We stayed in a superior first floor room in the forest. It was in a beautiful tranquil setting and only five minutes walk from the resort centre. The room was comfortable with adequate storage space, but not luxurious. The shower was very good though. Compared with other Club Med resorts we have been to in Europe this one has an extensive list of included activities. We particularly enjoyed power walks, aqua gym, archery, step aerobics and sailing. There were plenty of other activities on offer and at the start of October group sizes for all activities were small so in some cases we even had one to one tuition. One can do aquagym twice a day at this resort and the pool is very big with swimming lanes over 30m long. The pool was also heated so warm enough to swim in in October. The resort has beautiful well kept grounds with some exotic plants and scented hedges. It is right next to a quiet unspoiled beach and there is an interesting walk along the beach one way to some world war two bunkers. There is a pedestrian and cycle track the other way to the water sports and village centre, although you can also get to the water sports on a Club Med petit train. Whilst mountain biking is an included activity there is an extra charge for borrowing bikes for normal cycling which is a pity as the area seems ideal for quiet road cycling too. The Club Med buffet was extensive and generally very high quality with a lot of seafood main course options and some delicious puddings. We ate very well. The only downside was that some of the vegetables were left steeped in water rather than strained. As others have mentioned there is a slight issue with small birds flying about near the aperitif nibbles and sometimes flying in the restaurant itself. However it was possible to find tables inside away from the birds. Despite being low season there was still a good Club Med vibe and GMs of all ages appeared to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. There were regular shows in the theatre in the evening. For us being able to practise our French is a bonus of Club Med holidays and this resort was not untypical of European Club Meds in that the majority of guests were native french speakers. Nevertheless the Manager Vahap lead the evening entertainment in French and English making everyone feel welcome. He also made a point of introducing himself to us on the first evening and was always approachable and friendly throughout our stay. Given that there were a number of non French speaking guests (eg Danes, Dutch, English, Americans and New Zealanders) some of the other GOs could have made a little more effort to involve non french speakers more, for example on the Karaoke night and during the after lunch coffee games. Particular thanks to GOs Magali, Martin and Olga who went out of their way to make us welcome and joined us for supper on separate nights and to Vito who welcomed us on the first day. One final reason we chose this Club Med was that it is really straightforward