Camping L'Hippocampe

If you feel like taking a different view, see the town and coast from up high at Parc de Valmy (15 minutes’ drive). Six hectares of shady, green oasis surrounding a 19th-century château make for a superb picnic spot – and there are playgrounds for the kids too. Playgrounds of the grown-up variety are 15 minutes away by car at Golf de Saint Cyprien, where you can choose from an 18-hole course with ocean and mountain views and a challenging 9-hole forest course. To get a sense of the history of the area, spend a day exploring the city of Perpignan (25 minutes’ drive) with its huge Palace of the Kings of Mallorca (which dates back to 1276), elegant Musée d'Art Hyacinthe Rigaud and traditional Catalan museum Casa Païral. Salses Fortress (40 minutes) tells the story of the border between Catalonia and France from the late 15th century onwards.