Netherlands for 2023 - any advice?

[JoanThursday]

We are thinking of going to the Netherlands for our family holiday next year - we have two kids aged 13yo and 11yo. We don't really do searing heat (we're all cowering inside today!), not really ones for lying on beaches, but like cycling, walking, exploring, museums, eating out etc. We're looking at going at the end of July 2023.

I've already read several threads on here with advice on where to go / what to do, which is great and I have a couple of questions of my own, if anyone can help?

First, to anyone who has been this year, any more recent recommendations about where to stay / what to do if you've been this summer?

We're looking at sailing from Hull to Rotterdam (which nearly autocorrected to Rotherham ....). Does anyone know when summer 2023 sailings become available to book? A good Google isn't helping much there. And roughly how much are the ferries? I guess costs go up as you get nearer to the dep date, so looking at Sept for this year, for eg, isn't really working . I'm just looking for a ballpark figure so we can fix a budget.

And if anyone has any other advice/recommendations then that would be wonderful! Thanks so much 🙏

Friends go to Landal Hof van Saksen and rave about it.

I would recommend the Efteling. There are also lots of holiday activities around there, nature reserves etc. The Efteling is lovely and great for older kids. Like a classier Alton Towers.

The Frisian Islands are interesting, you can take a ferry for a day or longer. You can go on boat tours to see seals.

In Groningen you can go Wadlopen; walking on mudflats to the islands when it’s low tide.

I've been looking at this online! It does look lovely.

Great recommendations - thank you!

We are spending a week at the moment split between Amersfoort and Delft. In Amersfoort we hired bikes and cycled through the forest, wandered round the city, generally explored. We're also going on the train for a day trip to Amsterdam.

In between the two we went to Kinderdijk to explore the windmills.

Texel is a really nice island, which you can get to easily on a 15 minute ferry.
hoge veluwe national part and Netherlands open air museum are great