Efteling

[itaintgoingdowneasyifitaintcheesy]

Anyone been to Efteling? Only heard of it today but it looks great.
Wondering about best ways to get there?
Any accommodation tips?

We went for a day when we were staying elsewhere in Holland. It was interesting but I wouldn't want nore than a day there.

We have had several trips to efteling with my children and their cousins everyone loves it . Better than Disney in our opinion. Several Centre parcs within reach or the NH hotel in waalwijk, or their own holiday village. My kids are even going back as young adults with their friend to relive the memories.

Have been a few times, we absolutely loved it .Fantastic theming and great rides !!!

Efteling is great. 1-2 days there would be sufficient so you can combine it with other things in the Netherlands.
taking your car via the ferry would give you most flexibility. If taking your car isn’t an option then either fly or take the train and use the train/bus to get around.
the Efteling has its own hotels but there are lots of others in the area and also holiday parks etc.

Love it there! We stayed at the GuestHouse Hotel Kaatshuven last year and had a fab family room and it’s a really vibey and funky hotel. I think our park tickets were included.

Kaatsheuvel, even

I went for a day trip last summer with a 5 year old and 2 year old. We saw the show with the knights and went round the fairytale forest part, but didn’t go on any rides. If DC had been older we’d have tried some rides, but might have wanted 2 days to cover the whole park.

We were staying at Beekse Bergen Safari resort, which I highly recommend and Efteling wasn’t a huge drive from there. We took the overnight ferry across so we had our own car, kids loved the ferry.

I’ve only recently heard about this place. A friend of a friend has been and said it was good for all ages

I absolutely love Efteling! We stayed in the hotel and had three days in the park. Great rides, food and people. Reasonable prices for everything and the show Caro was absolutely amazing. We are planning to go back when the new hotel is built.

We flew into Eindhoven and took public transport. Really easy and straightforward.

We flew to Eindhoven and took a taxi (less than an hour) to Efteling in feb 2020, we stayed on site for 3 nights and really enjoyed it and weren't bored. Definitely preferred it to euro Disney. The rooms were themed, characters at breakfast in the hotel and food was nice too.

If you like Eftling, you’ll love Puy du Fou!!

We have been going for over a decade every few years and I can truly say it will fill at least 2 days, if not 3. Incredible night show on the worlds largest stage with over 1,600 participants.

Every show is stunning with magic, animals and great story lines.

We’ve stayed over night in the Roman Villa which was fab too, with great dining across the park, medieval crafts and fun play areas too.

https://www.puydufou.com/france/en

We went for the first time last year, Monday to Friday, drove using Eurotunnel, easier than driving to Cornwall tbh. Efteling was amazing, we stayed on site in one of the luxury woodland houses so had a sauna to use too and could access the park early. It wasn't rammed like the theme parks here or Disney, it's also felt spacious and a bit green, rather than boiling hot concrete bleakness. The riders were great, the queues were short or non existent. DS absolutely loved it. The show Caro in the evening was definitely worth it too.
We're going again next year, doing the same but adding on three nights elsewhere afterwards.

We want to do Puydufou when DS is a little older, he's only 4 at the moment

We've just returned! Third time we've been, kids are 8, 6 and 3.

We went by train and came back by ferry from the Hook of Holland overnight. Makes the travel part of the adventure!

Best place to stay: would really recommend Efteling Village Bosrijk. There's hotel rooms and self-catering, natural playgrounds in the woods, swimming pool and shop/restaurant. You can also get breakfast bread/pastries delivered which is the dream as far as my kids are concerned 😁 Mr Sandman lives in a castle in the middle of the lake and does bedtime stories for the children and a "slipper parade" to take everyone home to bed and it really is magical

There's another place near by just called Guest House Kaatsheuvel which is also nice - more like a youth hostel with double bunk beds and a bar/cafe that does decent pizza.

We did 4 nights and definitely found enough to fill the time with!

We did a day trip a few years back while staying at Duinrell. Loved it so much we did two nights tacked on to a week of camping last Summer half term. It’s so much cheaper for accommodation and food than Disney and very charming. We booked a 6 person hotel room for 4 of us as we like space. It meant me and DH had a little annexe room of the main bedroom. Landscaping around the accommodation is lovely. My DC were 14 and 11 and absolutely loved it. Planning another Netherlands holiday next year with a night or two at Efteling. We drove via Harwich ferry. Very easy.

Just a warning- one of my children was utterly terrified by Efteling. It was a long time ago but he still says that it was the scaredest he's ever been! So maybe show them some videos first?

We were in the Loonsche Land hotel as that was the cheapest option for the two nights we were staying. Huge room but quite basic. Very nice evening meal and decent breakfast. Restaurant was big so didn’t feel too crazy at breakfast.

Can anyone recommend we've to have dinner? The hotel 3 course all inclusive looks more than I wanted to pay but I will if its amazing!!

Inside the park the pancake restaurant is fun or there is a pizza restaurant that’s good near the entrance. Very child friendly fun restaurants rather than fancy.

It's amazing. We did 3 full days and stayed in the onsite accommodation. It's so beautiful, the rides are fantastic and if you go mid week during term time there are not hordes of people. It's a very special place! My kids were 8 and 5 when we went. Perfect ages I think!

I have been wondering this as I get a lot of targeted ads for Efteling and read a lot of good things about it. But it gives^ me^ the creeps 😂. So it's on the list but I'm not sure if it's the place for us!

What bit do you find creepy?

I love the fairytale concept of it, but find the models and characters quite unsettling in an early 80s kids TV sort of way!