One week in La Jenny in August 2016

We have been one week on holiday in the naturist resort La Jenny in August 2016. Here is a small report that might encourage you to spend your holiday there.

The resort

Where is La Jenny ?

The naturist resort La Jenny is located in Le Porge, in the Gironde (region Nouvelle-Aquitaine).

In the north, there is the lake of Lacanau and in the south, the Arcachon Bay. It takes 6h15 from Paris (628 km), 6h05 from Lyon (598 km) or 5h19 from Montpellier (527 km). The resort is easily to find by following the signs La Jenny or your GPS.

The resort is 127 hectares big. It is along an enormous sandy beach at the Atlantic Ocean. It is completely isolated, which is rather a quality for a naturist resort.

The accommodations

La Jenny is not a campsite. There are no pitches for tents, caravans or motorhomes. It is a static holiday resort. To stay there, you must rent or buy a chalet.

In La Jenny, there are chalets of all kind of sizes. It goes from the "Aigrette" of 13m² to the "Oyat" of 60 m². We had hired a small chalet "Frégate" of 21 m². We had all we needed, the most important included, a small covered terrace.

The swimming pools

La Jenny has nice outdoor swimming pools with a pool for swimming and for water aerobics, 2 other pools rather for playing and a paddling pool for toddlers. Around, there is a solarium with chairs. This is a special feature of La Jenny, there are no sun beds. Only chairs. Why ? No idea. Every evening, they are lined up by colour by the lifeguards. It is the dance of the chairs...

The beach

The resort La Jenny is located on the border of the Ocean. To reach the nude beach, you have to leave the resort and to cross the cycling path. So there is a board asking you to put some clothes on, in case that a textile biker comes by. Go on walking for a short distance and you will reach the beach. Because of the separation, it feels less like that the beach is part of the resort, like in Euronat or in CHM Montalivet, for example.

The resort La Jenny is totally isolated. There is nothing around. By consequence, there is no passing by of curious people, what is sometimes the case at other places. This is a plus.

The weak point, was the presence of swimsuits. The people with swimsuits were certainly a minority but we had never seen so many swim wear on a beach of a naturist resort. There was even a family of 5, all in swimsuit in the middle of the naturists ! Ridiculous and appalling ! Of course, the situation may be different one week from another...

The restaurant

The restaurant of La Jenny is located beside the swimming pool. The interior design is traditional. The staff is nice. The food is good but not really cheap.

The shop

The little shop of La Jenny sells all kind of things. And at our surprise, the prices were reasonable, which is encouraging to do your grocery shopping there.

The activities

La Jenny offers a wide range of activities. The animators are dynamic and sometimes naturist. We participated only at some of them. Know that there are plenty of others like golf, boules, art & crafts, sandcastles, chess, beach volley, pound fitness, bike trips, diving, surfing, etc.

Running

A run session is organised about three times a week. The animator and the participants meet at 9 o'clock at the animation booth, « kiosque d'animation », they call it. From there, you start running, first in La Jenny and then outside, on tarred roads and on forest paths. It is a very convivial activity that gives you the opportunity to meet other people in a pleasant environment.

Pilates

The Pilates lessons are given by a very competent teacher. They are followed by a lot of people. The mats are fournished.

Pound fitness

Just the once will not hurt, we will talk you about an activity that we have not done. Why we haven't done it ? Simply because we didn't know what it was. When writing this article, we found in the animation programme : 7 p.m., Pound ! But what is that ? After some search, we discover that it is a fitness lesson on music with percussion sticks. When we watched some videos on internet, we said that it looked very nice and funny. What a pity, we said, that we have not tried it at La Jenny. We could have been more curious, but maybe it is also due to a lack of information. They could maybe write Pound fitness on the programme instead of just Pound ! What a pity.

Water aerobics : aqua tonic and aqua Zumba

The lessons of water aerobics (Tonic and Zumba) are both in the there to dedicated pool, on music, the one after the other. The animator in charge is very good. She is very dynamic, qualified and of course naturist. She is often accompanied by other animators ; this with the music creates a tremendous and splashing ambiance in the swimming pool. Sporty, dynamic and funny, a real success !

Archery

The archery lessons have a lot of success at La Jenny. There are different sessions in the morning according to the demand.

The archery range is big, well organised and divided in two parts. On the left, there are the children with their instructor and on the right the adults with their instructor. All the equipment is fournished.

On Friday, there was a tournament to win a medal. It was quite funny, because each child counted his own points... Some even took the points when the arrow arrived in the target of the neighbour ! The ambiance was nice. The instructors were rigorous regarding the safety and the nudity. Yes, indeed, archery is one of the (only) 3 activities where nudity is obligatory and checked by the animation team. In the entire week, this has caused only one time a problem to a teenager. He has reflected a little moment and has put off his clothes like the others to follow the lesson.

Tennis tournament

On Monday, on 6 p.m. there was a tennis tournament for the children. The maximum age was 13 years old. Only 4 children were present. They all have done two matches. The winner and the second player got a little present (cap, balls). The ambiance was nice and gave the opportunity to the players to make new friends.

Padel tournament

When we read the animation programme, we discovered that there was on Thursday, at 9:45 p.m. a night tournament padel for families. Padel ? What is that ? Curious, we have gone to see it.

When we arrived, we have been welcomed, like they knew us since 30 years and like that they were just waiting for us to start !

There were already 2 or 3 teams and there was one lady who wanted to play, but she was alone (not practical for a double!). Her husband and their son formed already another team. This small world felt on us :
- You're gonna play, come on ...
- Oh no, we have never played and we even don't know the rules...
- OWe will explain it, it is very simple...
- We don't have the rackets...
- We will lend them to you...
It has become all too clear, we should compete in the tournament.

Some small precisions about padel (not to confuse with Stand Up Paddle (SUP) on water, that has nothing to do with this sport. To make it simple, it is like a mixture of tennis and squash. You play generally by team of 2 (even if you can play alone). The racket looks like a beach tennis racket but more complex. Like in tennis, the ball must bounce on the ground. Like in squash, it may also bounce on the transparent walls. The serve is not crucial like for tennis. You are only allowed to serve under-hand. To learn more, you can read the following page : All about padel.

We had an excellent evening. The ambiance was very friendly. Padel is a sport that is absolutely genious and much funnier than tennis. We suggest to try it, even if the courts are difficult to find and if the sport is in its stage of development. It seems, unless I am mistaken, that for the moment, La Jenny is the only naturist resort with a padel court.

No tennis table tournament

After having competed in the tennis and the padel tournament, our son was impatient to compete in the tennis table tournament and to win his first medal. We read the animation programme over and over, but we couldn't find any table tennis tournament. This is a pity, because they have the equipment. Close to the swimming pool, there are outdoor table-tennis tables and in the room nextdoor there are 2 indoor tables...

Medal ceremony

The medal ceremony of the tournaments of the week takes place on Friday at 7:30 p.m. between the swimming pool and the bar. The children who have won a tournament are very happy to collect a charm.

Note that some tournaments are not included for the medals. For example, at the tennis and the padel tournament you can win a present, but not a medal... That's why we haven't won them :-)

Little suggestion : the medals are neutral. If possible financially, it would be nicer to offer a medal with the inscription "La Jenny 2016" for example. It would enforce the side souvenir for the old days...

The highlights in the surroundings

Arcachon

See Arcachon and die. Well, this will be for another time. On Tuesday we decided to visit Arcachon. We took our car. We turned around the Arcachon Bay and there started the drama ! A trafic jam, style French Riviera (maybe even worse). After one hour driving at a snail's pace, we abandoned the plan to go to Arcachon and we took to the right to the port of La Hume, at the west of Gujan-Mestras.

The quay of Port de la Hume is a very charming place. There are a parking, boats, a textile beach, a nice view on the Arcachon Bay and plenty of restaurants serving mainly oysters and mussels.

We have eaten excellent mussels in the restaurant "Les Richesses d'Arguin". After our lunch we found back the same trafic jam. Our patience was runned out and we drove in the direction of the Pilat Dune.

Afterwards, we discussed with other holidaymakers and they learned us that the best way to visit to Arcachon Bay is by boat...

The Pilat Dune

Visit the Pilat Dune in the month of August, is like visiting the Eiffel Tower. There is a lot of people.

When you arrive, you first have to queue to enter the paid parking. Then, you have to search for a free parking space. There are only a few, despite the big parking.

Once parked, you have access to the dune by a path bordered by gift shops and bars. If you don't have a bottle of water with you, it is a good place to buy one. In the high summer, when it is hot, it is capital to have some water.

Down the dune, there is a staircase. It has 154 stairs. Another little effort and you are on the summit (114 metres). The view on the Atlantic Ocean, the Banc d'Arguin and the entry to the Arcachon Bay is splendid.

Once on the top, you can :
- Walk along the dune (2,7 km).
- Go down to the Ocean towards the textile beach.
- Go down back to the parking (which would be a pity !).

We have taken the option beach. It was really nice, especially the walk down. The walk up on the way back, without stairs, was a slightly less funny...

The visit of the Pilat Dune is unmissable and is worth the trip. The panoramic view is incredible. If you are lucky, you will maybe cross the French actor Franck Dubosc...

L'Herbe

L'Herbe is a nice little village of oyster aquaculturists located at 29 km of La Jenny.

Small houses are aligned one beside the other. You have a nice view on the Arcachon Bay and on the Pilat Dune. There is also a small chapel to visit : Sainte-Marie-du-Cap.

Our opinion

La Jenny has many qualities :

- A nice isolated nude beach
- A big swimming pool
- A big variety of activities
- Original activities (golf, padel, pound fitness)
- A dynamic animation team
- The highlights around (the Arcachon Bay, the Pilat Dune...)

And one default : the respect of nudity. There are not enough 100 % naturist activities and often when you walk through the resort, you have more the impression to be in a clothing optional village then in a real naturist resort.

However, we have had a wonderful holiday week and we will not hesitate to come back.

Address

Naturist village La Jenny
Route de la Jenny
33680 Le Porge
France
www.lajenny.fr