Centerparcs Kempervennen -Netherlands

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

Any tips? Looking at a premium Eden cottage in the summer holidays with ski lessons and bikes. Never been to any Centerparcs resorts so advice would be welcome!

How old are your children?

Have a look at cottage 136 on the map. It's lovely and secluded.

Kids are 8 and 5. Thanks for cottage tip!

The water skiing lake is fun, but quite tricky. There is a cafe bar there so a nice place to hang out in the sun and watch people fall off their skis. Lovely park similar to longleat. The restaurants are fairly average as I remember, there was a buffet style one.

136 is right on the lake too and not far from the ski place. The bar at the ski place is nice.
Book bikes in advance and collect them as soon as you arrive. It gets busy.
Don't bother with the boats - you only get a small bit of lake for them.
Turn up early for the pool and you can do peaceful lane swimming for an hour. After that it's all balls - very odd why people want to stand in a pool and throw balls to each other.
There is a relatively cheap supermarket in the local town - Valkenswaard. We shop there first before going to CP, because cars are only allowed on site at very limited times so the rest of the week you would have to carry stuff from the car park.
Shop on the site is OK, the bread is good, but more expensive.
I like swimming in the lake, my dc take inflatables for that.

Oh and try the website in other languages before you book. I find the French site the cheapest most of the time. Last week of the summer holidays is usually the cheapest too.

I didn't realise you could swim in the lake- so are there specific areas for swimming?

Yes, there's a beach. Next to the playground. Handy!

Yup looking at last half of August as a friend mentioned it was cheaper. Planning to book bikes and skiing when we reserve our cottage. I can't seem to book more than 7 nights online though?

Weve been there 3 times now (but at a different time of year) and really recommend it. The staff are really friendly in CP and the Ski centre.

The one downside is the food. Expensive and shit! Just don’t eat out. Apparently there are some nice restaurants in the local town.

We do 2 CP if it's more than a week. They are helpful if you phone up.

Ski centre really good- take your own kit (salopettes & jacket) or they provide all in one (skis etc also provided).

Local town has good facilities & Eindhoven only 20 mins drive away.

We have had individual or group lessons both good but different prices 😉

They also do snowboarding 🏂

Personally two weeks would be too long for me what about two different CP in Netherlands? One week at each?

Yes we've been there. Definitely prebook bikes and skiing lessons as they ran out of bikes when we were waiting to collect. Also we'd booked 2 ski lessons, wanted to add another but they were fully booked.

I also think 2 weeks is too long - the site is quite compact so I think a week is plenty before you get bored - why not combine with a stay at Efteling? Only approx 50 min drive from there.

Had a great week there in Oct.
Local restaurant Bij de Nuit is brilliant for families and you can bike there from the park.
You can call the Montana Snow Center and make bookings directly for particular skiing or sledging times. Best tip we got was that there are no lessons on Mondays (changeover day) so as we were there a full week we had a really quiet day on the slopes and the kids progressed so much.
We'd definitely go back but trying a different site next time. Loads to do and reasonably priced activities compared to the UK CP.

Efteling hotel is fun. Breakfast is huge.
The CP in Belgium are fairly close to Kempervennen. I wouldn't stay on one site for 2 weeks either.

I was thinking more like 9-10 days...with a stopover night each side maybe in Bruges. We would have a day at Efteling (DH won't stay in the hotel as it's not his thing) but prefer to be based in one place for the majority of the time. We would explore the local towns and have lunch out a couple of times.
I wondered about the food when I saw the buffet and restaurant packages on the booking, but if local supermarkeys are good we'll do a big shop (will have the car).

Ghent is a nice for a stopover too.

Bruges is definitely a great stopover

Any recommendations for family friendly hotels in Bruges?

I quite liked the buffet!

We had a premium kids cottage and it was a bit disappointing. Very dated and absolutely tiny despite being a three bed. The kitchen was essentially unusable it was so small.

We really enjoyed the park though and would go again but would only stay in the fancier cabins. It’s one of the older parks and it shows in the cabins.

Yes I thought from the photos online the kids cottages were a bit dated- the Eden looks smarter.
Not ruling out eating on site but would rather have a nose around first hence not pre booking ☺

We stayed at De Vossemeren last year which is about 20 minutes away, just over the border in Belgium. We didn't try it but apparently you can use the facilities at other CPs for free if you fancy a change of scenery. They have a free play centre called Discovery Bay which the DCs loved.

We also had a lovely day in Bruges - treat ourselves to a horse / carriage ride, wandered around the old squares and visited the chocolate museum. Bruges is also close to the Belgian coast which is great for families.

Thanks for the tip about going to other parcs for the day- great idea!

We went in 2016 and loved it. We went exploring the surrounding area on the bikes. Holland is so kid friendly and beautiful. We went vossemeren last year, again fab. Better pool there and adventure bay. We are going back to kempervennen this year. Just for change and want to try ski place didn't get time last time. Plus the area surrounding is nicer. Enjoy