Netherlands advice please

[Seagullslanding]

Hello,
I'm looking for advice on a trip to europe, Netherlands possibly.

We have 2 daughters, 1 is 15 and diagnosed as Autistic(Aspergers). We want to go abroad but she is refusing to go on a plane again or anywhere too hot.

We are therefore wondering about the Netherlands, ive been myself in my twenties but i was single then.

Can anybody suggest any good locations. I need activities for my 12 twelve year old, but also places where my 15 year old can retreat too.

Not too far from local towns so that we can visit places of interest. We would need to be self catering, ideally somewhere with 3 bedrooms.

Ive been looking at Duinrell - would this fit the bill?

We would be taking the car, it seems that we would need to sail from Harwich. Is this hard work? is there an easier way/route?

Any advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

We love the Netherlands. We went to Duinrell about 10 years ago and enjoyed it. There's a small town within walking distance.
We've also stayed at Center Parcs.
https://www.centerparcs.nl/nl-nl/nederland/fp_KV_vakantiepark-domaine-de-kempervennen
We drove and sailed from Dover to Dunkirk.

Kijkduin....not far from the Hague

We go once a year and stay in the relaxed theme park Efteling (my username is one of the characters there)

totally recommend it and very easy and suitable for neurodiverse folk- it’s lovely 🥰

I would avoid Amsterdam, it’s great but super busy.
Why not travel via the Eurotunnel?

We loved Duinrell with 10 and 14 yr old. Short walk/cycle to the small town or bus/train into Amsterdam in less than an hour. Beach nearby too.

Theme park and waterpark were brilliant. We went low season and virtually no queues at all.

I would say supermarkets were more expensive than the UK.

We’ve done Duinrell and travelled from Harwich to Hook of Holland a few times now and had a great time. Duinrell has the Tikibad and theme park on site and you can walk into Wassenaar where there are shops, supermarkets and restaurants. You’re within easy reach of lots of places for day trips, there’s a few Facebook groups giving hints and tips. It feels very safe, my 13 year old went to play table tennis or to the onsite shop by herself and I’d have had no issues leaving her in the van whilst we were elsewhere on site.

There’s not much on the park for evening entertainment, the rides stay open late on a couple of evenings a week and there’s not much else.

Travel wise, the worst bit was the queue for passport control on the UK side coming back.

Eurocamp at the De Schatberg campsite, which is in the Netherlands near the German border. It’s very close to Toverland theme park (walkable), which is fantastic and not overly busy. Plenty to do on and off site and very beautiful. We rented a 3 bedroom mobile home via Eurocsmp but you can book direct for a wider choice of accommodation, including houses and lodges.

We went via Eurotunnel to Calais and drove through Belgium, stopping at Ghent for lunch. It was an easy drive.

I love Utrecht with the canals. Rent a canal boat and go for a swim. Or a canoe trip to a pancake house.

The beach in The Hague and the sandcastles, the Mullen (windmill) outdoor museum, keukenhof (rows and rows of amazing daffodils). Depends on your time of year.

Center Parcs is a great base and the Netherlands is small - two hours to anywhere from the centre so it’s easy to navigate.

Avoid Amsterdam unless going to the Van Gogh museum for example.

Hi
I live in NL (Dutch/Brit family)

When we travel to the UK we usually use the Hoek van Holland to Harwich route too. It can be pricey though, so plan it well! It's a very long journey during the day and boring! So we always go for the night boat option.
Things to do:
Duinrell is nice and has accomodation there, ESA at Nordwijk close by to there with a visitors centre, been on fair amount of school trips with the kids. It's very intersting for all ages.
Leiden has the Naturalis biodiversty centre.
Rotterdam you have Markthal, Erasasmus bridge and Cube houses,(one of which you can go and look around) also miniworld close to the centraal station
Den Haag - Madurodam, Escher museum and close by is Scheveningen strand- where there is a Lego centre thing but can get very busy. Also sea life aquarium.
Come inland a bit and there is Kinderdijk, amazing windmills.
Gouda is a great market town, plus there is a Landal park close by in Reeuwjk ( but like center parks). Just a jump on the A12 to Utrecht, also a very pretty city, Dom toren and with the train musuem ( het spoorwegen musuem)
Amsterdam is okay, you have the Nemo science centre, plus Artis and the Amsterdam lookout.

Efteling is fabulous, but can get very busy and loud!

I could go on and on, I have lived here for more than 20 yrs so done. a fair amount of tourisitng with my Brit family and my oldest has Aspergers, so feel free to message me!
Enjoy your trtip.

Now, I never use the Hoek - Harwich route. We always go via Dunkirk or Calais to Dover. I suppose it depends where in the UK you're driving from but I don't want to spend that long on a boat. 🤢

Taking the car by Eurotunnel works well. We went to eurocamp sites with chalets near Middleburg and Leiden and liked both those towns a lot. I liked Rotterdam and Amsterdam too visit but the kids found them a bit too busy.

We've been to Zandvoort a couple of times - beautiful beach, nice places to eat and less than an hour from Amsterdam by train..

The Hull - Rotterdam ferry might be feasible, depending where you live.

Where are you in the UK? We have done the trip on the shuttle, Harwich to Hoek, and also Hull to Rotterdam. All fun in different ways.

We have travelled from Harwich to the Hook of Holland by ferry. I would recommend catching an overnight ferry and booking a cabin so that autistic DC have somewhere to retreat to.

We did this last year and also have a DC who is autistic, albeit ours are younger than yours. I would definitely take a serious look at Duinrell, especially if either of your DC like rides. The proximity to the small town is great and there is lots to do within half an hour to an hour of the site - we didn’t as our DC only wanted to do rides really.

They have a variety of accommodation on offer, some of which can be booked through Eurocamp (who currently have a sale on), some of which you can book directly through Duinrell. Be warned that you have to pay (albeit “reduced rates”) for pool access if you go through Eurocamp, which means a 2 hour slot in the indoor pool would be 60 euros. If you book with Duinrell, you also get a fixed number of pool slots but the swimming is free, so it’s worth looking closely and comparing prices.

We also did Harwich to Hook of Holland; we booked cabins for the day sailings which worked well in terms of having somewhere to retreat to/hang out. The cabins are cheaper on day boats.