Page 5 | Why do so many people dislike Centre Parcs so much?

coulditbeme2323 · 2026-06-11T08:50:30+00:00

Following on from the thread about over rated things, CP came up again and again. I feel I am in the minority on MN, but in real life it runs anywhere between 95-100% capacity. Of course people are entitled to their opinion and if you dislike it you dislike it, but honestly what do people find so awful about it?

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · Today 11:29

RockyBirdy · Today 09:55

It has its place, but it's an over priced, over sanitised "nature" based break.

I've been a couple of times, and whilst we enjoyed it, especially the pool it's nothing spectacular.

It's poor value for money.

This. I went with family a few times when it first opened in UK and it was a novelty, think it was cheaper then? Now you can get similar experiences cheaper or glamping with spa. I’m not rushing back now.

aperolspritzbasicbitch · Today 11:30

Lordofmyflies · Today 11:28

I was always interested in centre parcs and we bit the bullet this January and rented a lodge at longleat CP for one weekend. It cost £1200 for 5 people and a dog.

It was awful. The lodge was tired and dirty. The dog exercise area was a mud slurry. It took 45 minutes walk in the rain to get to pool or restaurants each way.
The pool was cold. One morning the rapids were late opening as a rat had been found in the rapids! Just grim with old plasters on changing room floors.
we ate out once- £180 for a very average pub meal. We left early on the Sunday as everyone was so fed up with the place! Live and learn…but never again

The distance from your lodge to everything will be because you had a dog friendly lodge. They tend to be way out.

the dog area being muddy can’t have been much of a suprise? In January, in the UK?

LeedsLoiner · Today 11:30

Heardy · Today 11:07

Not knocking Butlins, but I’m sure Butlins isn’t charging a four figure number for a weekend in Butlins. You expect something more for your money at CP and don’t get it.

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What you are paying the extra for at Center Parcs is not being with the "sort of people who go to Butlins"... 😁

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · Today 11:31

Lordofmyflies · Today 11:28

I was always interested in centre parcs and we bit the bullet this January and rented a lodge at longleat CP for one weekend. It cost £1200 for 5 people and a dog.

It was awful. The lodge was tired and dirty. The dog exercise area was a mud slurry. It took 45 minutes walk in the rain to get to pool or restaurants each way.
The pool was cold. One morning the rapids were late opening as a rat had been found in the rapids! Just grim with old plasters on changing room floors.
we ate out once- £180 for a very average pub meal. We left early on the Sunday as everyone was so fed up with the place! Live and learn…but never again

Yikes on all counts but especially the rat in the rapids! Guess that’s the last time you’re going? The cost is horrendous.

ArabellaWeird · Today 11:31

It's naff. Entirely depressing experience. I haven't been for years and wouldn't repeat if if was free.

feemcgee · Today 11:32

I love CP! Our closest is whinfell. If you can go out of season it’s not too bad.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · Today 11:33

NoctuaAthene · Today 11:21

Like so many other people have said, in no way is it a luxury or particularly adventurous holiday, not what I'd ever choose if I was only considering myself or adult needs, but I think it is a good option for pre-school kids - particularly if you want to bring along grandparents or people with mobility needs as I do think the disabled access and facilities are as good as you'll get (not perfect of course but better than anywhere else I've experienced). We've never had issues with it being dirty or food poisoning etc.

I wouldn't pay school holiday prices and some of the more adventurous activities are expensive too, the restaurants are on the whole not worth bothering with (although my kids for some reason were obsessed with the pancake house) but if you primarily want to potter around, do (very) gentle walks and bike rides, go swimming or to soft play and will be mainly self-catering your meals it's absolutely fine - very toddler friendly, which does of course mean quite boring for adults but that's the reality of holidays with under 5s IMO. You could probably recreate the same experience for cheaper by renting a holiday cottage and doing outings to parks, swimming pool etc but it is convenient having everything in one place rather than having to drive around. Or of course as someone else says you could stay at home and spend the money on days out but when we've wanted to do a multi-generational get together with family scattered across the country I think it's a pretty convenient option to meet and stay at a CP somewhere in the middle...

It has good disabled access? That’s interesting as DB’s FIL is a paraplegic but has electric wheelchair.

DeftGoldHedgehog · Today 11:33

Just the sheer cost puts me off. I don't understand what you are paying all that for really. It seems like a racket to prise money out of people with more money than sense.

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · Today 11:34

It’s just so expensive.

Esmeraldathe3rd · Today 11:34

I love centre parcs but they need to charge a quarter what they do and I hate them for it. It's a prettier Butlins, I like Butlins enough to not waste money.

Selfseedpoppies · Today 11:34

We loved it but didn't pay for any extras apart from a family bowling session on a rainy day which cost similar to at home. The kids spent hours every day in the pool. We live at the coast and have a local (boring) pool but nowhere near us has the flumes/waves/rapids type stuff. Biking around with no cars is nice. There was also a lake where we went and we used our own paddleboard on it every day. There was also otters, goats and chickens to watch/feed. Think we only ate out once, I'd agree the restaurants are not amazing.

We've been once in the UK when kids were preschool so not in school holiday prices. Then we've been twice in Netherlands where it was much cheaper.

I've not been to Butlins since I was a kid but I do remember everything was included, we went to see all the films in the cinema just cos it was free.

GameOfJones · Today 11:35

coulditbeme2323 · Today 11:24

Is it really cheaper to go abroad as well? I don't think it is.

Our summer holiday to Spain this year has cost us £3.5k for a family of four and that includes food, drink, pools etc.

I've just checked and for a week in a self catering lodge I was quoted almost £3k in the summer holidays. So once we add food costs and the fact that it's all self catered and we'll still have to do all the washing up etc, and factoring in the weather then going abroad instead is a total no brainer.

My friend goes every year to centre parcs and last year we took DDs on a four night cruise to Bruges. She asked if it was expensive and when I told her the price she'd spent the same on a long weekend at Woburn CP!

EmeraldShamrock000 · Today 11:37

I have never been, it’s out of my budget and you can’t trust the weather to be good.

MrsMoastyToasty · Today 11:37

You get a similar experience at a Haven site for a fraction of the price.

BlackRowan · Today 11:38

I prefer holidays abroad with new experiences and nice weather, for me it’s terrible value

It’d rather be in the Cabin In French holiday park

or if uk holiday I’d rather be in an airbnb

Jamesblonde2 · Today 11:38

The cost is excessive when I can book a lodge with a hot tub for far less, and then go to local activities. I think it’s a good idea, but a con. Also I don’t want to be surrounded by other people’s kids.

Helpwithdivorce · Today 11:39

MrsOni · Today 10:59

Genuinely, where else in the UK is there that offers an alternative to CP that offers an equivalent range of facilities onsite?

Yes, you can do it yourself with an air bnb but then you don't have the facilities. You have to drive and plan and not doing that is half the appeal of CP.

Yes, there are other holiday parks but which ones offer as much as a typical center parcs does?

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Bluestone wales and Ribby hall village are 2 that spring to mind. Even some of the haven sites have rivalled pools and many of the activities offered by Center Parcs for a fraction of the cost and some have lodges rather than caravans also. There are others like away resorts. I’m sure there are more if you look hard enough. It’s just center parcs has branded itself very well. But it’s just overpriced and not that good

iniati · Today 11:40

I think it's a bit of a misunderstanding of what it is. You see it on this thread with people saying that you can get a cabin in the woods for less. Of course you can! It's not about being in the countryside, for that we would go to the actual countryside.

It's a place to go to spend time swimming in a pool with slides, rapids, lazy river, I don't think anywhere else in the UK has comparable pools. And we enjoy the odd activity as well. It's about spending time together as a family basically and we always come away feeling refreshed.

It is expensive and won't suit if you are on a tight budget but we enjoy it for a long weekend a year. We wouldn't do it instead of going abroad, it's in addition

ConverselyAttired · Today 11:40

It cost about half the price to fly 3 of us to Barcelona, get transfers to Port Aventura, and stay in the excellent Wild West themed on-site hotel with breakfast, evening meals and 4 day park tickets. You could walk to the beach in Salou and there was a waterpark. This was May HT 2024. DS5 had the time of his life and we spent nothing else apart from buying light lunches.

CraftyGin · Today 11:40

We've been to CP in the Netherlands and France, and love it. It's a great place for a family of seven, with energetic boys.

Original poster

coulditbeme2323 · Today 11:41

iniati · Today 11:40

I think it's a bit of a misunderstanding of what it is. You see it on this thread with people saying that you can get a cabin in the woods for less. Of course you can! It's not about being in the countryside, for that we would go to the actual countryside.

It's a place to go to spend time swimming in a pool with slides, rapids, lazy river, I don't think anywhere else in the UK has comparable pools. And we enjoy the odd activity as well. It's about spending time together as a family basically and we always come away feeling refreshed.

It is expensive and won't suit if you are on a tight budget but we enjoy it for a long weekend a year. We wouldn't do it instead of going abroad, it's in addition

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Well said.

OP posts:

Sunshineismyfavourite · Today 11:41

Two reasons for me!

it is wildly expensive
mostly outdoor activities and British weather do not mix well

I'd rather spend my holiday money on something that didn't mean dodging rain, being cold and spending a fortune!

NoctuaAthene · Today 11:42

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · Today 11:33

It has good disabled access? That’s interesting as DB’s FIL is a paraplegic but has electric wheelchair.

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I would say yes 'good', which is not to say perfect. The last time we went we stayed in one of the larger adapted lodges which was perfect for FIL (who is a wheelchair user) needs (expensive yes even out of school holidays but divided amongst all the family it was OK). They provided a hoist so he coul gets into the hot tub which was lovely, and we were also able to take him swimming using their pool chairs (may not be possible for your FIL depending on how transfers are for him). He could very happily wheel around all the main site areas, I don't think we found anywhere he couldn't go in his chair (maybe some of the bike tracks but we didn't use those). Our only disappointment was the spa wouldn't accommodate a seated head/neck massage for him in his chair, which we'd hoped they would so he could join in when everyone else was getting spa treatments - they said they can only do massages if you can get onto the table which obviously wasn't possible...

LeedsLoiner · Today 11:42

coulditbeme2323 · Today 11:24

Is it really cheaper to go abroad as well? I don't think it is.

CP Longleat 5 days/4 nights Monday to Friday start 3 August: 2 Adults + 2 Children 2 bed basic lodge £1749.
7 nights self catering in Turkey including flights - £1776.

JohnnyFedora · Today 11:42

the sheer cost of it..

in May half term 2027, 2 adults, 2 kids.

Center Parcs - Elveden Forest - I'd get...
2 bed lodge £2600
Now I need to pay for petrol, food, activities etc - so what another £500? and the rest?

Eurocamp - la Valee
2 bed holiday home - £660 _ they have water park, tennis courts, football pitches, kids club all inc.
so even if I drove there, got the train under the sea, paid tolls bought food/eating out, paid extra travel insurance, and got something like theme park tickets / activities - it would still be cheaper than CP accommodation alone!