European center parcs

[madamefraser]

I know this topic has been done to death , but am more confused the more I read..we are looking for a CP holiday 4-5 hours ( at a push ) from Calais in August , we are planning a two centre holiday..a week or 4 days in CP with a few days or more in another holiday park somewhere ( not CP) .
For those who have been , would you recommend one of the ones in Belgium / Netherlands or possibly drive a bit further to the ones in Northern France ..?
What accommodation would you recommend booking ?
They all seem very big, is it worth looking at the smaller ones, if there are any ?
I think Germany would probably be too far .

All of my family prefer this park in Belgium which takes us just 2 and a half hours from Calais. www.landal.com/parks/village-leau-dheure

We've stayed at several of the Dutch ones. Only ever have the normal budget accommodation and it's been fine.

we have done het vennebos which is a landal greenparks one.
cheap, about 3 hrs from the tunnel ( you have to factor in Antwerpen Ring). brilliant pool. rest a bit basic. we hire bikes and cycle to nearby town. also have got train from eindhoven to amsterdam for a day out.

Landal dont have the facilities of CP and most of them are old CP parks anyway.
I have been to all Het Meerdal, Erperheide, De Hettenheugte, Kempervennen , De Eemhoff and Het Heijebos.
One year we did Erperheide and Duinrell. Erperheide is better for younger children. It all depends what you want to do and the age of the children.
Het Heijebos has a tropical dome and stables for riding.
Eemhoff has flowrider which is a surfing machine
Kempervennen was brilliant for my 2 when they were 15 and 17 as they did waterskiing, their is also a snow dome for skiing.
Erperheide had a huge ball pit/room.

We have done both of the Belgian Centre Parcs, De Vossemeren and Erperheide.

De Vossemeren is the bigger of the two and was my personal favourite. It has a huge lake where you can do all kinds of water sports. There is also an amazing indoor pirate themed play area which is included in the price of your holiday. The swimming pool is almost identical to the one at Eleveden CP.

Erperheide is quite a bit smaller and ideal for families with young children as it has an amazing soft play. You can visit De Vossemeren for the day and use all their facilities if you stay at Erperheide and vice versa. I think De Kempervennen is quite close too so you could also try that out. I haven't been to De Kempervennen but I have a few friends who have been and loved it. That is the one with the ski dome.

Bruffin and Pinkchampagne1 at Kempervennen and De Vossermeren , can you also use the lake for swimming , beach etc. My DDs are 13 & 17 .

At Kempervennen they were in the water ski lake a lot, not cheap but they had a great time, but not for swimming. I dont think I have seen anyone swimming in the lakes at any of the CP we have been to. The Aqua Mundo are huge in all of them with lots to do for all ages and they usually link to an out door pool. Some of the pools have a snorkelling area with tanks of fish all around, they are all types of slides and wild water rapids.

There is a nice beach area around the lake but you can't use the actual lake for swimming - it is just used for water sports. The pools are amazing though and like bruin says, they also feature a great snorkelling area. I believe De Vossemeren, Erperheide and De Kempervennen all have the snorkelling pool.

Sorry, blimmin spell check. It should say "like bruffin says"

There is also a swimming lake/beach at Kempervennen. And I presume there is also a ski slope at Erperheide as we have booked to ski there in a couple of weeks. I believe it might be off site though.

The ski dome is at De Kempervennen, BrownTurkey. It is around a 30 min drive from Erperheide but you can spend the day there and use all their facilities once you are staying at Erperheide. There is no ski dome at Erperheide itself.

The erperheide site says the snow dome is snow valley and is 2km away from Erperheide 🙂

Oh I hadn't realised there was a snow dome near Erperheide. Maybe it is a new feature as it wasn't advertised when we visited Erperheide last year. My boys would have loved that!

Bit if a daft question, do the European CPs have a little train, bus etc to get round the site ? My DD has a heart condition so can't walk or cycle for hours...

I think i remember one at kempervennen. You may be able to hire something from the cycle shop. You can also pay extra to choose your villa

You can choose the location of your lodge for free if you book a few months in advance. We chose to be close to the centre so very little walking needed.
I can't remember there being a train or bus but you can hire golf buggies to get around the site in the European parks.

Just looked at Erperheide site, looks amazing!

They do have a healthy disregard for H&S, my dc did things like berry picking in the wood dressed at witches to make potion, baking bread rolls on a stick over a bath full of hot coals dressed as pirates or doing the high adventure blindfolded.

You can choose a villa near the centre or hire a big golf caddy type thing.

Thanks All..update , have booked a weekend at De Vossermeren , am booking a week at a Landal park which is cheaper than a CP whole week but the parks look lovely , plus I've managed to negotiate two nights in Amsterdam . We will take the car on the Chunnel. So just got to pick a Landal now , but there's one fairly close to the CP .

I would look at Duinrell rather than Landal with dc your age.

Duinrell

Oh my god that looks amazing !

Glad you booked something OP. I am currently watching the dc ski at snow valley 2km from Erperheide and can confirm it looks really fun. You just hand in a voucher, get kitted up, then there is a nursery slope, medium slope and huge slope. Some people here are having 1:1 lessons but Centerparcs just sells 2hour or 4hour slots. DH and dc seem to have figured out how not to hurtle down at high speed (they have had a few lessons before). The locals are not on holiday and its changeover day at Centerparcs so its really quiet. They had the two smaller slopes to themselves for half an hour.

Oh and the Erperheide site is compact, neat, well kept and the Premium lodge is very clean and comfortable. Pool is very similar to Longleat but slightly smaller I think. There are red squirrels here. Worth bringing some of your own food, washing up liquid, sponges etc as it was easy to spend a lot at the supermarket. We picked up lovely Dutch style bikes this am (mountain bikes only for smaller kids/under 11 size kids). We booked early and got 15% off I believe.