Fairy Bay – stay like a fairy tale or far from a fairy tale?

Fairy Bay - Fairy Bay camping site and hotel

We recently returned from a short stay at Bayka Bay in Opolskie Province. We got a lot of questions and saw that the place is very popular, so we would like to share our impressions, observations and pros and cons…. because unfortunately, it’s not fully fabulous yet.

We first read about Fairy Bay in the context of the campground. Just looking for an interesting place for a tent, with water at our fingertips, and at the same time away from the beleaguered beaches of the Baltic Sea, we came across several recommendations of this very facility. So we decided to head to the campground, which is located right in the Bay of Fables, right on the water, near the border of the forest.

In high season we recommend making reservations, because as it turns out, even for tents there is sometimes not enough room here. Therefore, we chose to stay from Sunday to Tuesday to avoid the crowded weekend. And it was a hit.

When we arrived at the site on Sunday, around 4 pm, we found a crowd of people on the beach…. Lounger next to lounger, lots of children in the water, it would be hard for us to spread out with a blanket. We gave up beachcombing altogether and took advantage of other activities on site, which we write about below.

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Monday and Tuesday, on the other hand, are a completely different story ;) Definitely less tents and campers, less people on the beach, less noise…. finally peace and quiet….

Table of contents

About Fable Bay

But before about the stay itself, a few words about the facility. Fairy Bay is a sizable resort with a 3-star hotel, villas (these are still under construction) and a camping/tenting field. So you can pick and choose from accommodation options.

The bay is also, or even primarily, water. There are two artificial water reservoirs: in one you can swim, splash, water bike, and fish in the other. We will focus on the first one – it is not a very large reservoir, but with a sandy bottom and quite shallow. It is around it that there are beaches, and on one side on its edge you can also pitch tents. The water is clean, although cold (after all, we are still in Poland, not the Mediterranean ;)), and on top of that it is full of fish!

You can also enter the Bay as an outside guest to enjoy the beach itself and the attractions around it – it is not an area closed only to hotel guests. However, in order to enter you have to pay a fee (on the weekend £15 an adult and £10 for a child), so you can enjoy most of the attractions on the bay to your heart’s content. Most, because paid extra, are inflatables for children.

A water playground, two sizable wooden playgrounds and playing fields are available as part of the entrance and as part of a stay at the hotel or campground.

Fairy Bay is also a catering facility. There is an à la carte restaurant and a beachside restaurant. On top of that, food and drink can be ordered from the bar or food trucks. We especially recommend the food trucks, the burgers are quite good, and you can order cool, refreshing lemonades.

There is also good food at the Fairy Tale restaurant. It’s worth coming for lunch or dinner, even if you’re staying overnight in a campground ;)

Our stay in Fairy Bay

Our stay in the Bay of Fables will not refer to all points from the Bay, because we stayed in a tent and do not know what it is like to spend the night in the hotel part. However, we took advantage of all the activities on site, tried the dishes in the restaurant as well as breakfast at the hotel.

Pros:

Great place for families with children. A very big plus for the water playground and the pirate themed playground. There are plenty of spaces to play and have fun, including beach volleyball and basketball courts. On the plus side, we also add inflatables, which, although charged extra, prices are not exorbitant, and you can buy admission for the whole day.
Dining facilities – a very positive surprise that you can eat more than a casserole and waffles :) Not only is there a delicious restaurant right next door, there are tasty burgers, Thai ice cream and refreshing, fancy lemonades right on the waterfront.
Price – it is not an expensive facility. Although we paid £160 for two nights, which may seem like a high price for a night in a tent, you have to take into account that this price includes almost a 3-day stay for everyone in the Bay.
It is relatively clean (except for the bathrooms, which we write about below). Beach, sidewalks, lawns – well-maintained, cleaned daily, no trash on the beach.
A good place to relax, peace and quiet, but only during the week, better to avoid the crowded weekends ;)
Possibility to park a car at the campground (no need to carry or carry all your stuff). It is also possible to connect to electricity and access to running water at some stations.
When there is no occupancy, there is a wide range of options when it comes to pitching a tent – you can deep in the woods, on the beach, safer away from the water, etc.
Observed silence at night. Although loud music accompanied most of the day, it gets decidedly quieter after 9 pm. Probably a big part of this is also due to other guests, but during our stay y although it promised to be loud parties, everything quietly quieted down at a normal time.

Minuses:

Sanitary facilities – unfortunately, a very big minus for dirty and smelly toilets and insufficient showers. Even on the weekend, with a flurry of visitors, bathrooms are cleaned only in the morning. It’s a shame, because the bathrooms are new, and more frequent cleaning and adding paper would have sufficed. There are only 3 showers for the entire bay: one hidden in a handicapped/for families with children toilet and two portable ones, something like a toi toi. There are queues in the evenings, and cleanliness leaves a lot (oh a lot!) to be desired.
Crowded on weekends, loud music, a lot of people, a lot of car traffic.
Breakfast – we are glad that we did not stay in a hotel with a purchased breakfast. We went once for breakfast, adding it to our stay (35 zl/person). Unfortunately, the restaurant is completely unready for the number of hotel guests. It’s cramped, there’s not enough space, the tables for eating are right next to the buffet. On top of that, around 9 o’clock, there are no tables, the staff can’t keep up with adding food and tableware. Medium choice… we hope that this is only a temporary solution, because even more so in the era of coronavirus such a squeeze should not take place, and even before the pandemic it would simply be too tight for us there.
The camping area is done out of the blue…. We had the impression that the owners came up with the idea that you can additionally make money on the campground at an easy cost…. numbered placards were put up, points with water and electricity where not, here one toi toi, here another. It looks quite chaotic and wild…. we know that some people like this kind of atmosphere, but we, however, prefer how the fields are orderly.
No kitchen – there is only a dishwasher. For us it was not a problem, but surely a place with a countertop, electricity and a refrigerator would take care of the subject.

Fairy Bay – our opinion

We’re glad we were here during the week and not just on the weekend. The place changes beyond recognition on Monday and Tuesday, after noisy and crowded weekends. Only then can you take full advantage of all the on-site amenities and relax.

Despite a few downsides, we think the place has great potential, especially when it comes to the campground. A few minor improvements that certainly don’t cost much would take care of the problem.

If you are looking for a campground by the water, with great playgrounds, this may be the perfect place for you. Even if you are not interested in staying overnight, but are looking for an interesting place with clean beach and water near Opole, this will also be a great choice :)

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