Duinrell

[ArthriticAardvark]

I have seen Duinrell recommended on here a few times and am thinking about it for a family holiday next year. My oldest will have finished GCSEs so we could take my youngest out of school for a week in July. I’m hoping that will make it slightly cheaper and less busy than August.
So is it a nice place both onsite and off for a holiday for younger teens? As a family we love swimming and the dc like rides. We also like eating out in independent restaurants and seeing a bit of local history. Would obviously also enjoy a bit of time on the beach.
I am a bit puzzled as the website only seems to allow booking up to late this year, so don’t know if there is anyway to book further in advance.
I am also wondering whether to stop along the way as we live in the north of England.

My family love duinrell, we're also in the North East so we've got the ferry over a few times, it's a very easy journey. My kids are 7&4 and really enjoy it, there's still a few bits for them to grow into over the next few years, though not sure if it will stretch until they're 16. There's only really a couple of big rides, most of it is tame enough for my 4yo, so might not appeal to teens. There's also lots of playgrounds, soft play & a fairytale area, which I imagine yours will be past (obviously you don't have to do those things, but your paying for access to the whole sight, and will probably use less the half)

The pool is good and probably would appeal to teens. If you book directly you get a number of visits included, depending on how long you're there (we got 3 visits over a Monday-Friday stay). I'm afraid we didn't really do much off site, so can't give much info there. We did detour to beach on the way home, it was nice but nothing spectacular, though we may have been in the wrong place.

Also, it's popular with locals, so better to look at Dutch school holidays rather then ours. It was very quiet when we went in the Easter holidays, as the Dutch kids were all in school. Their summer holidays are offset for different regions, so you'd have to go end june/early July to miss everyone.

North: July 20 - September 1
Central: July 13 - August 25
South: July 6 - August 18

Thank you, yes we would probably use it mainly as a base apart from the swimming pool. We still enjoy centre parcs but it doesn’t have the pull of being in a new country.
Do you mind me asking which ferry crossing you use, it looks like there is one from hull?

We do the overnight one from Newcastle. Drive on around 4pm, we normally take a picnic for tea & watch a film in the room, but there is a restaurant & bar on board. You get a small cabin with bunkbeds, then arrive around 9.30am. It can be a bit noisy if anyone is a light sleeper, but mostly it's OK.

It’s fantastic. We used to get the overnight ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland and the day crossing back. You can use Tesco vouchers. Last week of August is cheaper as their kids are back at school. Eurocamp etc have vans there or you can stay in their own duinglows.

The local beach is lovely, wide and sandy, and although it’s nudist, there weren’t many naked there😀 You can hire bikes and cycle there if you want to. Also bike lanes to other places. It’s worth taking your own as the kids love riding on camp and there are go karts to hire too on a daily or weekly basis. A five minute walk outside the camp takes you into the village with nice restaurants. The Aldi on the outskirts is better value than the supermarket in the centre.

The funfair has a few large rides as well as many smaller ones and there is a huge play area with all sizes of equipment. Some big exciting rides in the pool. It used to be the biggest indoor pool in Europe but I imagine that’s been overtaken now. Loads of places nearby to visit. The best model village I’ve ever seen is definitely worth a visit, Delft is nearby and Amsterdam is doable for a day trip too.

We don’t like going back to places, but we have been there several times with the kids at different ages. European center parcs are good too. Much cheaper than the uk, especially in the last week of august.

Another Duinrell fan here. We've visited off and on over the past twenty five years taking babies, older kids and teens at various times. I think there is a lot to do onsite. As well as the pool and the theme park they can rent bikes and go-karts. The beaches are great and I also really like the small town of Wassenaar. Nearby recommended trips include Leiden and the seaside town of Gatwyck. And the whole of the Netherlands beyond of course.

In terms of ferries, my favourite crossing is from Newcastle (longer trip, more facilities on board). That goes to Ijmuiden, which is a 40 minute drive to Duinrell. The Hull ferry goes to Rotterdam, 50 minutes to Duinrell, but you go more or less straight from the ferry onto a busy section of the A15 - a bit stressful if you haven't slept well on the boat. IMO the easiest ferry on the Dutch side is from Harwich, which lands at the Hook of Holland, 40 minutes from Duinrell but on quiet roads, a nicer way to acclimatise to driving on the right.

We went in may half term and the kids loved it. It's the kind of place the kids (teens) can go off and explore alone. Water park is ace. Town is a 10 mins stroll and has great places to eat. We did find that although it wasn't Dutch school holidays there were hoards of school trips everyday meaning more queues but max 20 mins. These left at about 3pm leaving 3-6pm very quiet to get your ride fix. We often left the park or did the waterpark during the day and aimed for the rides at 4pm. We travelled via Hull. And did a few days near Amsterdam but you can do most places as a day trip e.g. Leiden, Amsterdam, Delft, The Hauge is 20 mins away on the bus.

It was well priced as we went in the motorhome and the ferry actually cost more than the bloody holiday. We loved the overnight ferry in terms of ease and timing.

We also once went to a living history museum type place which was a bit of a drive, but was a really good day out.

https://www.dezaanseschans.nl/en/

This is really interesting, thanks for all the replies. To be honest having looked at the overnight ferries I think I’d need a second mortgage 🤣. Perhaps it would be cheaper to drive down to Calais and get a ferry or tunnel crossing there. It would be a lot of driving though so I am wondering whether to just do 4 nights at Duinrell and break the journey with one or two nights in France or Belgium at each end of the trip. It looks like there are plenty of interesting places along that route though I haven’t visited the area before.

I love it too! The nearby town (walking distance) of waasenaar is lovely. It has a supermarket and a fantastic ice cream
Place.

It's so easy to get around once you're there too. On bike or by the public transport.

OP is the cost of ferries from Harwich any better?

We've been to a few Centre Parcs/Sun Parks/De Efteling/Duinrell over the years and do tend to bookend it with a couple of night's exploring somewhere else.

Sometimes we stay in YHA's (there is one in a castle near Haarlem), other times we pick quirky rural Airbnb's (our stay on a huge converted commercial barge was a big hit with DD).

We love Duinrell.. been several times with teenagers. Look at Harwich to Hook of Holland.. but booking not available for next year yet. The drive is fine from Calais.. about 3.5 hours.

I would do at least a week as loads to do. Pool is fab, cycle hire; nearby beach, local town a few mins walk with restaurants. It's in a lovely town in Holland called Wassenaar.

Try and go very early on in July to avoid Holland school holidays.

😊

Thank you @Madcats and @No1HolidayPlanner the ferry to hook of Holland looks like a good compromise. Not too far to drive on foreign roads but not as expensive as the longer crossings.
Looks like ferries are able to be booked 9 months in advance but Duinrell only 7 months ahead. Will need to look into it all properly over Christmas.
I’m guessing like our Center parcs you get the best price booking as early as possible.

Assuming it hasn't changed hands in the past few years, The Alma Inn is a great pub if you like seafood. We'd eat there before boarding the ferry. I don't think you get the big queues you see towards Dover because the port is a lot smaller.

Duinrell has (to my mind) an odd set up. It takes bookings itself (how we booked), but some parts of the accommodation are owned(?)/marketed by Eurocamp etc. the variety of accommodation differs too.

It might be worth following them on social media to see if they run any promos for early bookers (or look/ask on Tripadvisor).