Les Rizieres - Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France 

If you are thinking of going to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer then you are probably faced with the dilemma of whether to stay in the village or just outside. If you've got a car, I would definitely recommend staying a little further out (parking is a total nightmare) and if it's 'budget' that you're after, then I'd also recommend Les Rizieres. The rooms are basic but clean and all have mosquito grills over the doors and windows - trust me, that's important! But what really made our stay enjoyable was the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff... they were lovely. They were more than happy to help us arrange any activities and always went out of their way to make sure we had a good time. The hotel is about 2km from the town centre (not 600m as described to us through hostelbookers[-]) which is about a 7 Euro trip in a taxi if you don't want to take the car with you in the evening. To be honest, apart from eating and drinking or tacky souvenir shopping there probably isn't much reason to go into the town - the surrounding countryside holds much more to draw your attention and hotel is a perfect base to explore. The breakfasts are good and the pool provides a much needed opportunity to cool off after a day in the Camargue sun.