Walled towns and medieval buildings.

Economically this region was not appealing. This is reflected in the still existing and well preserved buildings and fortifications.

Villefranche-de-Conflent is even today walled completely. The narrow streets are often lined with pink marble.
Prats-de-Mollo is a medieval fortified town on the southern slopes of the Canigou. In summer there are regular performances with simulated medieval military exercises.
Also Arles sur Tech has existed since the Middle Ages.

Forts.

Sebastien Le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban and a famous architect of fortifications was commissioned by Louis XIV to build a number of defenses in the south of France . In the area around Mas de la Balma some of these fortifications can be visited.

You can choose from a visit to Fort Liberia, Fort de Bellegarde, Fort de Salses Fort and Mont-Louis. And if you find it hard to choose, you can of course visit all the forts.

Castles

The region has a wide variety of castles. This ranges from the ruins of the famous Cathar castles like Peyrepertuse and Queribus to the Chateau Royale of Collioure, the palace of the king of Majorca in Perpignan, Chateau de Canet-en-Roussillon, and the 10th century castle of Castelnou, one of the most beautiful villages of the Vallespir.

 Beautiful towns

Speaking of beautiful villages and towns. Like Castelnou, there are three other villages classified as most beautiful villages of France. Eus, Evol and Mosset also have this label, but there are many other towns that are definitely worth a visit, including for example Palalda.

Monasteries and churches

To wealth in a region always belonged richness of religious life. That is still visible in the many monasteries and churches.

Whether it's Prieuré de Serrabona (above) with its cross gallery, carved out of pink marble, or the perched one in Saint Martin de Canigou with a nice walk up to it, the Abbaye d 'Arles-sur-Tech or Saint Martin de Fennolar with its 12th century frescoes, they are all worth a visit.

Mediterranean Sea.

With the Mediterranean Sea at less than an hour's drive a day at the beach can not be missed on your vacation. There's even a naturist beach!

For children

Children sometimes have their own wishes. For them various options for trips for children exist.

Finally.

On this website, we can only give a limited view of what can be visited and what can be done in the area .
At the reception of La Balma a comprehensive updated overview of all possible interesting excursions is always available .

Mas de la Balma and its surroundings

The environment.

Mas de la Balma is located in the eastern part of the french Pyrenees on the spurs of the highest mountain, the Canigou (2784 m). It is an ideal base camp for naturists who like mountain hiking. The Mediterranean is only an one hour drive away.
The camp site is located close to the Spanish border. Barcelone is at a 200 km distance.

Amélie-les-Bains and Céret.

In the immediate vicinity are Amélie les Bains, a spa with thermal baths and the picturesque town of Céret.
These are two small towns not far from the campsite.
All guests at the campsite will go there. Sometimes, for very practical reasons to do some shopping in the supermarket, fill up with gas or to extract money from the ATM.

But also to stroll through the city, to sit on a terrace or to go to the local market.
Amelie-les-Bains has a small market each morning. It is slightly larger on Thursday.

The market in Céret is on Saturday morning between 8 and 13. This is a true regional market

 The history of the region.

Mas de la Balma is situated in a region which is by its inhabitants considered to be part of Catalonia. Catalonia stretches forth from Tarragona (south of Barcelona) in Spain to Salses (north of Perpignan) in France. The Catalonians live in both the Spanish and the French part. They are an ancient people with a rich history, an own language and their own habits and traditions. The Catalonian language is spoken by the majority of the older generations. At La Balma Monique and Rachel speak Catalonian just as their many guests from Catalonia do. Local politics uses the Catalonian flag. The Catalonians are proud of their language and culture. Many traditions have been preserved.

The terrain of La Balma is situated in an area which has become important in the middle Ages, due to the rich layers of iron ore. Quite a lot of remains from that time gone show that by then the area was more densely populated than it is now. Everywhere in the forest you can find small walls for forming terraces, donkey trails, charcoal spots, canals for irrigation and ruins of farmhouses. At the foot of the Coustou (the small round mountain adjacent to the camping site) a nearly perfect furnace from the 12th century can be found.

This rich history is often visible in the whole region. During your trips you will - whether consciously or not - be in touch with it.

Mas de la Balma is a unique family campsite with a unique history.

In 2016 the site exists 40 years!

Monique:

 In 1976 Gilles and Monique Borrat decided to start a naturist camp site in this area. In that time, a bold idea. But Gilles and Monique chose to follow their dream. With their own hands, they have slowly and sure built up the camp site. Because of her great love for La Balma Monique, after the death of Gilles, continued running the camp site.
The delicious dishes prepared in the traditional way, are for a large part from her hand.

Rachel:

Rachel is the daughter of Gilles and Monique and grew up on the camp site. In 1996 Rachel met Mark from the Netherlands at Mas de la Balma. After several years of living together with Mark in the Netherlands, Mark and Rachel have settled on La Balma in 2002. They now run, together with Monique, the camp site. Rachel is also a driving force to prepare during each season the most delicious (banquet) meals from fresh local ingredients.

Mark:

Since 1996, but especially after 2002, Mark is actively working on the camp site. He is fully established in the Catalan culture and knows all the ins and outs of the terrain of La Balma.
Mark puts his particular creative and technical mind at work in order to find solutions to whatever has to be done on the camp site, such as preservation of nature, take care of the clean drinking water, assist guests with caravans and he is a fixed point of contact for all guests.

Joan:

In 2004 Mark and Rachel's  son Joan was born. He speaks both French and Dutch and likes to share the details of the site with the children who visit La Balma.

The feasts on the naturist camping site

The feast of Saint Jean

The solstice on June 23rd is the moment on which the traditional feast of Saint Jean is celebrated.
From dawn on Catalonians go to the top of the Canigou, their holy mountain, from where they take their part of the eternal fire back home to their villages. From this fire ceremonial bonfires are kindled both on the Canigou, in the Catalonian villages and on La Balma. This traditional Catalonian feast and dinner are very much appreciated by all guests of the camping site.

The Cargolade on july 14th and august 15th.

On the French national holiday, 14th of July and on August 15th the impressive Cargolade is organized on Mas de la Balma. The name Cargolade is derived from "Escargot" the French word for snail.
It is a banquet during which hundreds of snails grilled on a wood fire and many other delicious courses are being served. All this is accompanied by the excellent red wine from the region.
Besides eating and drinking music is made and guests sing - sometimes even self composed songs - and present small performances.
The Cargolade starts at noon and lasts till after midnight.

 The Rodella of Montbolo

Every year on July 30th the inhabitants of Montbolo, a nearby village, organize a procession which leads from their church “Saint André” to the church of “Sainte Marie” in Arles sur Tech.
This procession brings the Rodella from Montbolo to Arles sur Tech.

Originally the Rodella is a symbol for the sun dating from the very early ages. About 1465 it is annexed with the Catholic church as one of their symbols.
The Rodella is a cross on which a spiral of beeswax is attached. It is meant for a sacrifice to the saints Abdon and Sennen to request them to protect the inhabitants of Montbolo against bad weather, like storm and hail, during next year.

Each year the inhabitants of Montbolo invite the guests of Mas de la Balma to join them on this walk along century old trails.
On Mas de la Balma it has become a tradition to finish the Rodella procession with a good dinner.

The rich nature of Mas de la Balma

The uniqueness of camping Mas de la Balma is the beautiful landscape and its rich natural resources.
At La Balma you can still enjoy the tranquillity of nature and its unusual flora and fauna, both around the pitches and on the rest of the site.

In the pre-season (early June) numerous species of orchids bloom, spread across the area,
For those who are interested Mas de la Balma is at that time a true paradise of orchids.

Very many larger and small animals live on the grounds of Mas de la Balma.
If you're going to look for them it's not easy to find them, but if you constantly keep your eyes open, you will see a surprising abundance.

In the post-season, late August and early September, a true explosion of mushrooms can develop.
Especially in humid and warm weather they grow fast.

Moreover, you can enjoy  the plants, trees and many small animals on site in all seasons.

In order to let you see as much as possible of the nature, on the grounds of the camp site La Balma has a number of well-marked hiking trails
The trails go on the grounds of the camp site and are naturist walks of about an hour. Sometimes they follow the centuries-old donkey trails and sometimes the old riverbeds.
Hiking boots or sturdy shoes are recommended by us. You will have to climb and descent along these trails.

Enjoying the freedom of naturism: walking and swimming

Swimming in a natural water pool with great waterfall

Plan d'eau

The natural water pool in the lowest part of the camping site is fed with water from the river by a beautiful waterfall. Next to the natural waterpool are the ruins of an old Catalan watermill - forge. The channel which used to flow through the mill, now feeds the beautiful waterfall and by that the natural water pool. For many guests it is a challenge to jump into the natural pool from the four meter high waterfall. The plan d'eau is surrounded by sunbathing areas and plenty of natural shade.

Le paradis

From the other side of the camping site the river of Saint Marsal flows through a rocky bed into a natural basin. A beautiful pool in the river where it is wonderful to splash and play, it is called 'Paradis'. Many adults and children share the fun: building dams, following the river and admiring all kinds of life as occur in and around the water.

Naturist walks on more then 50 ha of beautiful nature

To enjoy nature even more the ground of La Balma has a number of well-marked walking trails. All walks are on the grounds of La Balma and are naturist walks with a duration of about one hour. Sometimes they follow the centuries-old donkey trails and sometimes the old riverbeds.

  Basic Walk (70 minutes)

This walk brings you to the special places of the campsite.You start at the old Mas, and walk along the path of the camping to the Plan d'eau. After that you pass a riverbed and will after a short walk arrive  at Le Paradis.
Along this basic walk you will find the starting points of all other walks.

  Route de Riu Sec (30 minutes)

Riu Sec means 'dry river'. The route leads you mainly over trails along a dry river and through its bed..
The walk has a connection to the walking path to the village Taulis.

  Route the Coustou (90 minutes)

The Coustou is the mountain opposite the campingsite and is visible from nearly all pitches. The trail has some steep parts, so sound shoes are indispensable for this walk.
The climb will be rewarding. There are many view points from which you can you can have a spendid view on the mountainous scenery. Maybe you can even recognize your own tent or caravan from one of those view points.
You can also follow the road to Saint Marsal from the route the Coustou.

  Route de Ravin d'en Marti (50 minutes)

A centuries-olddonkey-trail leads you from the camping site to the Ravin d'en Marti. After ten minutes walk you will arrive at a point which you might not easily forget. Not only because of the 360​​° panorama, but also because of the unprecedented tranquillity. From this viewpoint the trail goes down and after that a bit of climb straight across the forest leads to the next viewpoint.
Also for this walk is sound shoes are indispensable.

Walks outside the naturist camping site

The camping site is very appreciated by mountain hikers. They have their base camp on La Balma and make day trips from here. There are often experienced mountain hikers who will walk with less experienced guests to show them the region from a different perspective.
The reception of La Balma has maps of walking trails in the region as well as suggestions for other activities in the region.

The Facilities of Mas de la Balma

The bar

The Mas (Catalan for farm) is the central point of the campsite.
Here you will find the reception, bar and terrace. Guests meet each other here over a cup of coffee or tea or a glass of limonade, beer * or fine wines from the region.

Camping shop

Every day you can order bread for the next day so you can have freshly baked bread or croissants for breakfast every day. *
In the shop at the Mas you can buy the most basic food products. Also regional products such as wines and honey are sold.

Eating and feasts

Every Sunday evening  a domestic caterer prepares Paella or Fideoda on a wood fire. *
A few times a week you can enjoy  enjoy a communal dinner in the Catalan style. *
A few times per season you can participate in the great feasts.

Toilets and washrooms

At the Mas, guests will find three toilets, three sinks and eight hot showers.
Elsewhere on the camping site two facility blocks each have two toilets, a washbasin and a refreshing, non heated, outdoor shower.

Other facilities

The campsite offers electricity supply at most pitches.
Besides several sinks for hand washing there are a washing-machine and a tumble dryer.
Your ice packs can be frozen at the bar.
Your meat, toppings, etc. can be kept in a refrigerator for guests.
Guests can use a landline telephone.
You are never far away from one of the many drinking water taps.
At the Mas you can use Wi-Fi.

* Not all facilities are running in the low seizoen or are not avalable every day.

Camping Pitches

There are 50 spacious pitches for tents and caravans.

The pitches are on terraces with a total area of 3 hectares.
To give every guest the feeling of space and tranquility in nature the pitches are generously spacious and partly surrounded by trees and bushes.
There are pitches in the shade, partial shade or in the sun.

On almost every pitch a 4 Amp (920W max.) electrical connection can be provided.
On the highest pitches, which are reserved for caravans and motorhomes, a 6 Amp (1380W max.) connection is available.

Look here for the attractive rates