Le-Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer holiday villa: le Rayol/Canadel

Together with friends from the U.S., we spent two relaxing weeks of family holidays at Mas Notre Dame during September 2009. The house was perfectly suited to accommodate two families with together four little children. Also, both the pool during the day and the large terrace with a grill offered us the opportunity to stay home rather than always have to venture out. We enjoyed some great evenings barbecuing and taking in the spectacular sunsets. We found that two beaches were in easy reach (2 and 5 minutes away by car) which were not large, never crowed and offering more than sufficient entertainment for families with small kids (between 7 month and 3 1/2 years). Also choosing September for the vacation was a good thing as we enjoyed spectacular weather, with temperatures between 30 and 35° Celsius and water temperatures of around 23 to 25° Celsius. There are also opportunities to rent scooters, sailboats, motorboats etc. at one of those beaches. Furthermore, to entertain younger kids, we found a great kids park at Hyères, about 25km from Mas Notre Dame, which offers a lot of entertainment option for kids despite the fact that it looked quite disappointing from the outside – we even went back a 2nd time. Another excursion which worked fine for us was going to Port Grimaud (approximately 20km from Mas Notre Dames) where we spent an afternoon / evening and undertook a boat ride in the harbor. Other excursions for families with little kids are somewhat limited but our kids anyway preferred to spend the time at the beach or at the pool. However, we do not recommend going to St. Tropez, as most likely, you will find yourself stuck in a traffic jam for quite some time. An alternative excursion for families with kids we found out too late is an Aqua park situated on the other side of the Col du Canadel, i.e. about 5km away from Mas Notre Dame. We also liked the scenery along this part of the coast quite a lot since it is rugged and mountainous. The only drawback from our point of view was the occasional traffic noise during late evening time at Mas Notre Dames from speeding motor bikes and cars on the road below. We also appreciated that the owners, Jenny and Peter took very good care of the property and were always available to help and assist us.

Fantastic villa, very friendly and helpful hosts, and amazing views. Villa was a clean and tidy with great facilities, good size, lovely swimming pool and a fab entertaining/BBQ area.

Trouble was, our stay was just not long enough!

Would highly recommend this villa to anyone looking to have a relaxing break with friends and/or family, and who enjoy living in comfort.

A wonderful house with a a great entertaining terrace providing sun and shade from dawn to dusk with a fantastic framed view of the med.

This is a real home from home with everything you could need to cook and dine at home and plenty of space for everyone to relax.

Then within a few minutes drive Rayol has everything you would want to shop for from a great Boulengerie, Charcuterie Boucher a small supermarket, Tabac selling English newspapers, as well as an occasional stall selling fresh fish and another with Pizza cooked over wood.

There is a sandy beach is 10-15 mins stroll down a bit longer back up hill but well worth it. Club Tropicana provides welcome shade and refreshment in the heat of the day.

Don't miss a trip to the Islands you can see from the balcony particularly renting bikes and exploring Pocorelles.

Jennifer & Peter are great hosts there if you need them but not if you dont.