The beautiful story of Le Dauphin
A passionate family committed to your well-being
Our 5-star campsite in Argelès-sur-Mer, in the Pyrénées-Orientales (66), France, stretches across 12.5 hectares of landscaped parkland and offers a wide range of accommodation across 346 pitches.
96% of our guests are satisfied, as attentiveness and guest satisfaction have always been at the heart of our philosophy
Les plus
A committed quality and ecological approach
Well-being during Low Season and High Season stays
A passionate family and a dedicated team
Listening to and satisfying our guests
A dream come true
The well-being of our guests comes first, and our team is organized around this quality approach, passed down by a passionate family.
Camping Le Dauphin was created in 1970 by Claude and Marie-Jeanne Bessoles. Newly married, they decided to pursue their dream under the sun of the Pyrénées-Orientales: to create the best campsite just a few steps from the beach in Argelès-sur-Mer, on a vast field dotted with apricot trees.
At the heart of this project was Claude Bessoles’ passion for nature, his construction skills, and his talent for manual work—qualities that enabled him to build the site and its first infrastructures. From the very beginning, his wife showed great attentiveness to the guests, carefully listening to their needs to ensure their satisfaction and make their holidays enjoyable.
These values have been passed down and are now deeply rooted in Camping Le Dauphin. Already committed to quality, the couple created large and spacious camping pitches—no less than 100 m² each—within a pleasant landscaped setting. And very quickly, the campsite was fully booked in Argelès.
In 1982, still driven by this pursuit of quality, Claude decided to build “private sanitary facilities” with a sink, toilet, and shower on many pitches. Ahead of his time in both vision and execution, he prioritized guest comfort above all. The campsite still benefits from this distinctive feature today, as it is the only one in Argelès-sur-Mer offering such an advantage: “97 Camping Pitches with Private Sanitary Facilities”, a unique concept that appeals to guests and stands out among campsites in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
In 1987, Claude continued enhancing “space and comfort” at Le Dauphin. His insightful vision of space led him to create not just one, but three swimming pools: a semi-Olympic lap pool, a learning pool, and a paddling pool for introducing children to the joys of water. The campsite’s range of accommodation expanded with fully equipped mobile home rentals, while the services offered continued to rise in quality (restaurant, tennis court, mini-golf, children’s playground, entertainment hall…).
The continuation of a dream…
A blend of dreams, hard work, and emotion, Camping Le Dauphin was taken over in 2002 by their son Paul, who in turn dedicated himself to this 5-star campsite in Argelès (66), where he spent his entire childhood. He carried the torch forward by developing new infrastructures, adding premium services, and enhancing the green spaces and the site as a whole. Having become a true Camping Club, Paul created the festival area in 2007, which hosts shows, cabarets, musicals, and themed evenings every summer.
Guest satisfaction and comfort remain at the core of our quality approach. His father dreamed of it, and together they made it a reality: the campsite’s new aquatic area, featuring the dolphin-shaped pool, opened in the summer of 2011—hydro-massage, multi-jets, counter-current swimming, whirlpools, slides, massage fountains… 1,300 m² dedicated to well-being and 6,000 m² of poolside beach!
That same summer in Argelès-sur-Mer, Paul became a father, and Claude became a grandfather…
Camping Le Dauphin, a beautiful family story…
