Holidays in the Netherlands and/or Belgium with young children

[Summergarden]

If you have stayed in any parts of the Netherlands with young children, I would love to hear your experiences and recommendations.

Next year we are thinking about taking the ferry and staying a fortnight broken into 2 separate locations, perhaps a week in The Netherlands and a week in Belgium, or 2x weeks in different parts of the Netherlands.

I have heard Efteling recommended in several threads. Is that realistically accessible from most parts of the Netherlands? it looks quite a small country on the map but I could be being very ignorant to think that. We love visiting theme parks and family attractions, there is apparently a dolphinarum which sounds good. Any other recommendations in either country very welcome!

We went to Toverland a few weeks ago near Venlo and stayed in the Centre Parcs - there are two just down the road.

It was great, and a large part of it is under cover if the weather is bad. It's a fairy and magic themed theme park. Youngest is 3 and there was lots for her to do, plus bigger roller coasters for older kids.

Efteling is a great place to go and easily accessible. The roads and trains in the Netherlands are very good. I would also recommend Bokrijk in Belgian Limburg.

Efteling is good. Another place for young children is Madurodam which is in The Hague. . There's a Sealife Centre in Schveningen which is not far from Madurodam. The beaches are fabulous.

Check out de Lilse Bergen campsite in Belgium - great if you have young kids! East of Antwerp, near Netherlands border

We like Oostduinkerke in Belgium - on the coast, great bike paths, not too far from Calais.

Definitely spend some time at Duinrell - if you do a search on here you'll find loads about it. It's near Den Haag and easy to get to loads of places from there, including Amsterdam. There's a theme park, water park and beach, all in a really lovely little town.