For three weeks over Christmas we found ourselves joining the many temporary residents at Camping Playa Tropicana, on the edge of Alcossebre in the Valencia region of Spain, who were seeking some mid-winter sun.
This well-appointed campsite is positioned right on the (slightly stony) beach front – affording it amazing sunrises – and it’s just an easy 2km (15 minute) cycle ride (with kids) from the town centre. Adorned with faux Grecian statues (that didn’t always make turning the corner in a larger motorhome easy!) and a chatty Spanish parrot we found this site friendly and felt it offers good-sized pitches on the whole.
We initially had a ‘violet’ pitch, one of the largest they offer. These are positioned towards the back of the campsite and on a slightly wider road, making it easier to get the larger motorhomes in and out. This was something we realised when we moved pitches later in our stay and found the smaller pitches harder to turn our 9m motorhome into.
The gravelled pitches are divided by hedges and trees, and each had electricity and an easily accessible water point. Despite these ‘fences’, we found people on site very friendly towards us. There was a good community spirit on site, and many of the longer-term residents had gotten into a festive mood with plenty of Christmas lights adorning pitches (along with the odd garden gnome!) The site felt very safe to let our girls off on their own – whether it be to the supermarket for bread, the recycling bins or cycling the many paved internal roads. However, the overall feeling of the site was a bit too settled for us.
Camping Playa Tropicana has all the services expected of a campsite, and more – plenty of sinks with hot water for washing up, separate sinks for handwashing clothes, along with washing machines and tumble dryers – all housed in several buildings spread across the site. There are also several places to empty toilet cassettes. The grey waste drainage area also doubles as a cleaning bay so we took the opportunity to give our motorhome a bit of a clean using the pressurised hose, at a cost of just 1 euro for 2 minutes spray.
The large, spacious shower-blocks are modern and fastidiously cleaned throughout the day. There are even vanity mirrors and hairdryers on offer in the ladies!
I imagine it is these great facilities that in part make it very popular with English motorhomers and caravanners. As we were left in early January, a rally of said visitors was just beginning, and was due to run through until May.
Our girls enjoyed the heated indoor swimming pool, and the site also has table tennis tables and a large play park. The latter is great and there is an astro-turfed ball court too but it is next to the external road so not somewhere that we felt the girls could play unsupervised. They also loved exploring the different play parks that were spread along the beach and promenade between the site and the marina at Alcossebre.
The on-site Charter (Consum) supermarket is really handy and holds a good stock of food and camping essentials at a reasonable price. And for the evenings when we were too tired to cook we enjoyed the restaurant! It offered good home-cooked food (and drinks) at inexpensive prices; the kids menu portions were huge!
This seemingly sleepy town of Alcossebre only seemed to be half open over the Christmas period. There were a few bars, restaurants and shops, and even a great barbers! We enjoyed the slow pace of this quiet seaside town, with its lovely promenades and beaches. Plus we were made to feel really welcome by the lovely church community of St Christopher’s. This Church of England community not only meets on Sundays at 12pm in the catholic church building in town, but it also throws open the doors to its community centre twice a week on a Tuesday and a Friday , offering conversation, delicious homemade cakes and a second hand book den for the English speaking community living in the area.
With an ACSI card, and off-season rates Camping Playa Tropicana was reasonable per night for the services, cleanliness and security it offered.
Do note that some Sat-Nav systems seem to bring you in via Capi Corb. Whilst a serviceable road, this windy single track could prove tricky if you were to meet another vehicle! The best route is in via the town centre and then along the beach road.
Camping Playa Tropicana, Camino de l'atall s/n, 12579 Alcossebre (Castellón) SPAIN
Comments