Places to stay in Southern France

Don't you all sometimes with for a little cottage in a warm and sunny place, at the beach, surrounded by palm trees and with a front porch facing the sea? I sure do. I would spend more time on the porch than in my house, just sitting there, listening to the waves and the birds, never wanting to be anywhere else but there - on the porch of my cottage at the sea.
At the French riviera we experienced something like that. Seriously! There was a cottage, a front porch, the sea, the palm trees, the birds. The waves were not actually lapping around my feet, but there was a nice panorama view of the Mediterranean sea so I won't quibble over details. It was pretty amazing. And who doesn't love to get to a place and immediately feel ... understood. Like "Yes, that's what I'm talking about: cottage, sea, trees, birds, thank you!".

That's how we felt with our cottage at the Homair holiday village of La Baie des Anges in La Ciotat. Our cottage was clean and nicely furnished and had everything you need for a nice stay, including a sofa and a coffee machine. Thinking about it, the house could have been empty for all I care, because we didn't really leave the patio the whole week - except for extensive snorkeling and seashell collecting at the beach. Have I mentioned we had sea view?
The rest of the campsite is beautiful as well, we found many different cottages surrounded by huge pine trees and flower bushes, the oldest olive trees I have ever seen in my life and some almost surreal places like an area completely  roofed by maple trees, giving the place a cool and moody atmosphere even on a hot summer day. 

And yes, there is a supermarket and a tennis court and a restaurant and a pool area and who knows what. We didn't really feel the need any of those (surely great) facilities. Why go to the pool if you can swim in the sea in 5 minutes?

Homair has many different holiday villages all over France, Italy, Spain and Croatia and if they're all like Le Baie des Anges I'll be glad to book again some day. We loved the quiet and relaxed atmosphere that never made it seem like you're in a huge holiday village.

But fellow bloggers beware! The wifi fee will make you want to cry. You might want to consider internet-free holidays. I'm serious.

I'm still working on a little video from our trip so this won't be the last time you hear me babble about France and the sea and baguettes and suff. In the meantime: pictures!