Has anyone ever been to Lambeyran, in the South of Massif Central in France, inland from Montpellier? We'd like to give it a try, and we are looking for information. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the largest naturist domain in the world (850 acres). It boasts 30 km of naturist footpaths. The people staying there are apparently predominently Dutch. We'd welcome any information from personal experience.
Hi Jacques
Yes, we stayed at Lambeyran at the end of May last year (2013). But only for 1 night! We were touring in our motorhome (camping-car), and like you were drawn to the site by the attraction of the website and the size of the resort.
Unfortunately, we were very disappointed because so much of the place was in a complete state of disrepair. We are used to varying standards of facilities, but it just seemed that almost everything there was broken and waiting to be fixed. The swimming pool was empty and the surrounding terrace dug up. A number of toilet blocks were completely broken, with no water supply and unusable. And the one block we found that had some services, only perhaps a quarter of the WCs and showers were available / working. They were all dirty, with apparently little or no cleaning. We were sure that none of the grass had been cut at least since the previous season, being 12 inches or more high.
The access roads were narrow long and twisty, climbing some distance up a hill. We had travelled a long way during the day, and if we didn't really need to stop, we wouldn't have done.
The owner said that some of the problems had been caused by frost in the winter, but it was almost June when we visited, which surely should have been time to sort out some of the issues. And it certainly hadn't prevented the grass from being cut. I've no idea if the situation was recovered later in the season, but to us it looked as though the place might not be in business for much longer.
It was such a shame, because clearly it has been a wonderful location in the past, and something had gone seriously wrong. I perhaps shouldn't speculate on here, but I can only provide our experience in response to your specific question. There were only two other couples staying at the site, one of them in another camper were French and arrived shortly after us. They were clearly as disappointed as we were and also moved on the following morning. We both re-located to Village du Bosc, only a few kilometers away, which was much nicer and had easier access roads. I must admit we joked with the French couple once or twice during the following days concerning our experience at Lambeyran.
Sorry to provide such a negative report. We have stayed at almost 50 French naturist sites in the last two-and-a-half years, and plenty more over a longer period - but we haven't come across anywhere in such a poor state. I only hope they have somehow been able to sort things out since our brief visit.
I'd suggest you try to do some more research to discover if anybody else has stayed recently and has had a better experience. I've certainly seen positive reviews online, but they all pre-date our trip.
Good luck, whatever you decide to do.
Mike
Thank you very much for this report. I was actually fearing something along those lines. The only echo that I had had before your report was that no hiking was possible on the grounds early last July, in spite of the mileage of footpaths and the promise of long walks in the surrounding countryside, because of the bramble chocking the paths, as they had not been cleared at all.
What a pity.