The Île du Levant – ninety percent military reserve – is almost always humid and sunny. Cultivated plant life goes wild, with the result that giant geraniums and nasturtiums climb three-metre hedges, overhung by gigantic eucalyptus trees and yucca plants. The tiny bit of the island spared by the military is a nudist colony, set up in the village of HELIOPOLIS in the early 1930s. About sixty people live here all the year round, joined by thousands who come just for the summer, and by tens of thousands of day-trippers.Visitors who come to the colony for just a couple of hours tend to be treated as voyeurs, but if you stay, even for one night, you'll generally receive a much friendlier reception. The most reasonable hotels on the island are La Source (tel 04.94.05.91.36, fax 04.94.05.93.47; €55–70; closed mid-Oct to March) and the more chi-chi La Brise Marine (tel 04.94.05.91.15, www.labrisemarine.fr; €100–125; closed Nov–March). There are two campsites: Le Colombero (tel 04.94.05.90.29; closed Oct–Easter) and La Pinède (tel 04.94.05.90.47, [email protected]; closed Nov–March). Levant has a better choice of restaurants than the other islands, though price and quality still don't match, even taking into account the cost of transporting supplies. The restaurant of La Source is reasonable, with a good €20 menu. Alternate spellings:: France, Īle du Levant, Île du Levant, Ile du Levant
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