Mumsnet Talk

Off to Holland in August.
It will be dh, 4 year old ds and nearly 2 year old dd and myself of course.
We are staying at Duinrell via Thomson Al Fresco.
We are planning on beach days, Anne Frank's house, NEMO space centre and the zoo/aquarium in Rotterdam.
Is there any other must does whilst we are there? We are not into art galleries but would like a good history museum which would also interest the dc.
Oh and dh is afraid of heights so the big tower in Rotterdam is a no, no
Any suggestions would be very welcome

Never been here but always wanted to.

www.efteling.co.uk/EN/attractions.

meant to be good

Eftling is lovely but don't go last weekend in august as it is teeming. The theme park at duinrell is charming as well and free if you are staying there as well as the water park.
Beware the beach is very windy even in august, not really the place for sunbathing, but okay for a walk and watching the parasailers and kites.
There is a seaworld not far from duinrell at a seaside town I can't remember the name of but it begins with S.

The town of delft isnt far and famous for pottery, looks interesting but havn't been there.

Thank you so much, I will look at the link and google the town
I am not much of a sunbather anyway, 15 mins for the dc to do sandcastles will be enough

Eftling looks fun, will definately talk to dh about that one and I like the look of Delft. Would have to buy some pottery whilst there!

www.naturalis.nl/en/ and www.corpusexperience.nl/en/ are both in Leiden, very close to where you're staying. Not sure if it's what you're after though...

Naturalis

Corpus

Nemo is fantastic you'll LOVE it!

Bruffin means seaworld Scheveningen I think, it's pretty crap compared to the aquarium bit of Rotterdam zoo IMHO. Damned expensive for what it is too. I wouldn't do both.

Yes shafts right, we had bogof tickets. Haven't been to Rottenham zoo but have been to the Norden zoo and the Burger zoo which are both excellent but a bit of a way to go from Wassenaar.

Madurodam Not far from Duinrell and good for all ages.

Corpus maybe not for a 2 yo though but an excellent visit.

Space Expo again not really for a 2yo but good.

I loved Holland when we went and we are going back again in May.

Duinrell was lovely, the Tiki pool is fab! theme park quite good, weather was awful

Duinrell is bloomin' fab and kept us amused for 5 days a few years ago with a 4 & 1 year old.

We hired bikes on site and cycled to Madurodam, a wee miniature village, which was excellent. DP had the bike with the trailer so the cycle was a bit tougher going for him .

Other than that we wandered across the road to the wee 'high street' for a mooch around but really the swimming and theme park on site kept us busy. Unfortunately the buses were on strike at the time so our options were slightly more limited!

<jealous> by the way, as this was one of our best family breaks over the last few years. You'll have a great time.

The pancake house next to duinrell is good as well.

/www.zaanseschans.nl/EN.html is a must. This is a museum village just outside Amsterdam. It has about 20 windmills, as well as various artisan shops - cheesemaker, clogmaker etc, as well as a general museum.

The last time we were in Amsterdam (2 day stop on the way to Centerparcs), we did a canal trip (hop-on hop-off all-day ticket), Ann Frank's House, the Dungeon, Riksmuseum, and just general walking around. There are loads of things to do with families.

Other times, we have been to Delft (blue pottery), Alkmaar (cheese), The Hague (can't remember what we did apart from sitting in a bar, but I think it is close to Madurodam model village - a must for little ones).

Duinrell? you will hardly need to find anything else, there's so much on site to do.

We love Madurodam. we visit every year! If you go to Delft visit the Royal delft factory and you can watch them hand painting vases etc all very interesting. and there is a shop with some eye watering prices! NEMO is fab. and Eftling is lovely. It might be worth getting the train to Amsterdam or Rotterdam. Rotterdam is awful for parking (learnt from experience), once you arrive in either city there a plenty of trams to use. The beaches are fab, it would be a good idea to take waterproof type footwear to beach as it can be quite painful as some of the beaches have alot of razor type shells on them.

We once had a whole day to pass in Delft (waiting for a ferry from Hoek) with the kids when they were about 6 and 2. We wandered round the town, admired the pottery and the architecture etc, had a yummy pancake, but then the kids wanted something a bit more kid friendly and we ended up at this farm park and the water park next door. it's at Delftse Hout. It's not a spectacular day out by any means, but it's completely free and if you're visiting Delft it's a good way of giving the kids something to remember as well (they're less than impressed by blue pottery). And the water park thing is great in hot weather, of course.

Thank you for all of these replies! I never knew there was so much to do there. We are going to need 2 weeks
Dh has already got excited about the pancake house, he is obsessed with them.