Parc des Roches is a 3 star Marvilla Campsite with a pool, restaurant, bar,  playground, and kids club. It is located next to the town of Saint Cheron, which is on a direct trainline to Gare d’Austerlitz station in central Paris.

We booked through Eurocamp.

We chose this campsite after reading about it in the TravelLynn Family blog post, and decided to give it a go ourselves. Here’s what we thought.

The Good

LOCATION

It is a 5 minute drive or short cycle ride downhill to the lovely town of Saint Cheron. The train station at Saint Cheron is on a direct line to central paris ( Gare d’Austerlitz) and is the main draw for choosing the campsite for us! It is usually a 50-minute journey to Paris for 10 Euro per person.

Unfortunately for us, the trainline was disrupted, and a dreaded bus replacement service was put on instead.

Google estimated it would be 3 hours each way, so obviously, we avoided doing this! We booked with Eurocamp, and the rep / reception staff did not seem to know how to advise us ( slight language barrier), so we used Google to work out a different town we could drive to that was on a different train line. We ended up driving to nearby Orsay, parking, and getting the train from there instead, which worked out fine.

THE COST

We paid £70 (80 Euro)  for 2 nights in a 3 bed cabin here. That’s amazing value for a family of four and was a great low cost option to add Paris on to our itinerary.

THE SPACE

Camping Parc du Roches is a large, spacious, and leafy campsite, and you really feel like you are in the middle of the countryside and not 50 minutes from central Paris! We loved the large shady pitches in the forest. Our cabin had a secluded feel and plenty of outdoor space around it.

THE POOL

The pool was a godsend the afternoon we got back from Paris, it refreshed us all and we had loads of fun swimming and playing with the kids. It was a great, large pool, heated and impeccably clean. Its a standard rectangular pool with sunbeds around it. You do have to take all footwear off before entering the pool area, and the ground is stoney and sharp, which was a bit annoying. Also worth noting, speedos/ tight trunks are required, and we did see someone turned away for trying to get in the water wearing board shorts. There was a security guard on duty but no dedicated lifeguard.

Somethings to consider

The cabin was quite old and looked a bit tired. It was clean and fine for two nights,though,  and the fact we were using it as a base for Paris meant we didn’t spend long in there anyway. There wasn’t much space for a family of four ( even in a 3 bedroom cabin) and it felt quite pokey. For more information about pitches for tents and campervans, check out TravelLynn Family review of the campsite here.

The facilities such as the play area and kids club looked a bit tired and worn out. It didn’t really affect us (the kids club was closed during our stay), and the boys loved the playground regardless, but we did notice it. The playground has a football pitch, slides, swings, and climbing frames, but our kids being 7 and 5, it was suited for perfectly; there wasn’t much equipment for the older ones.

Summary

All in all we enjoyed our stay and found it great value for visiting Paris. It’s a bit outdated and in need of a revamp, to be honest, but it’s cheap, so with that in mind we found it did exactly what we needed as we were trying to keep to a budget. There isn’t much to do here, in the campsite or the area, apart from go to Paris which is the main selling point of this campsite.

The nearby Saint Cheron is a lovely town, and has a carrefour and of course a boulangerie for any baked goods you might need!

We were looking for low cost accomodation we could drive to and commute in to Paris so this fitted the bill perfectly. Next time, we will try the other Eurocamp on the east side of Paris ( Croix du view pont), which has a higher star rating. If it fits in with your itinery and you just want a bed for the night, this place would be fine. The pool is great and a big perk of the campsite.

There is a small shop with a few basics in, and the restaurant/ bar serves a limited menu in the evening from 630pm. We ate here twice and enjoyed our burgers, chips, and pizza. We didn’t have to book to eat here.

It did get a little loud at night (luckily I don’t go anywhere without ear plugs!) But after the rest of our French Road Trip but after.reading a few blogs about other sites I think thay might be just be part of camping in France!

Overall, I would say it was cheap, cheerful, and did the job, and we ended up having an amazing day in Paris. Read about our day in Paris here.

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Hi! I’m Lizzie, a mum of two living in the Cotswolds. Here on Travel Happy Family, I share all of our travels with you, where we’ve been, how we got there, and how much it cost!

If you are looking for ideas on where to travel with your kids, inspiration for new destinations, or just want to follow us on our journey, welcome, and I hope you find what we write helpful.

Happy travels! Xxx