going to Holland early August any tips or tops spots?

[Veggiemummy]

Helloooo we are going to Holland for a 2 week holiday. DH and have always wanted to cycle over there so on a few days will bung the DS's in the cycle trailer and do some exploring under pedal power, but otherwise we will have the car (going over on the ferry) so would appreciate any experiences of Holland and any must sees (as well as any def don't sees).

Depends on where you are staying (its small but not that small)

Eftling - theme park aimed at primary school age and under children and far superior to Gullivers Land or anything similar in UK, it is the size of Alton Towers with the same range of rides but there were only three rides that DS2 (5) couldn't go on.

Apenheul - monkey and ape zoo where you can walk amongst the most of the animals, some are free running and others have huge enclsoures you can walk through, all three DCs loved it.

We haven't really pinned down an itinerary yet DH has a conference at the end of the 2 weeks which has camping accomodation (it's a kind of IT summer festival?!?) but otherwise we at quite open to where we go I was going to kind of tailor it to the responses I got on here. We are both Australian so driving distances isn't a problem but we thought we might base ourselves in a few different campsites over the 2 weeks and travel our from those bases. That theme park sounds brilliant. Thanks for that. I also love animal parks so might put that one on the list. Thanks DIM

...on a similar issue anyone know any good toddler-friendly hotels/appartments in Amsterdam

The Nemo museum (science museum where the kids can do/touch absolutely everything) in Amsterdam is a must! And a trip on the canals in Amsterdam where you can jump off at the museums/galleries etc (we never got off as had youngish dcs not interested in looking at paintings etc but who loved the canal boat) We lived in Holland for a short while but didn't really do anything too touristy! The beach in The Hague (Scheveningen) is worth a visit - miles and miles of sand, and the Madurodam (mini replicas of buildings etc) also in The Hague is quite good too. Also Delft is quite pretty and you can do a canal trip there too - lots of the lovely blue and white pottery. Will have a think and see if I can remember anything else ...

Arent there some world cup matches being played in Holland in August? Just might want to alter your itinerary to suit.

Oh those things in the Hague & Amsterdam sound great we were going to give Amsterdam a miss (DH and I have both been there in very different lives) but Nemo museum sounds good.

Hadn't thought of world cup games would love to go to one but tricky with kids so will investigate and avoid those areas for those days. Thanks for that info.

We camped in Delft last year and can recommend it as a base. Nice to walk / cycle around and easy to get to other places, really nice park with a farm and playground with a sort of canal you can paddle in and lots of sand.

England were playing a friendly against the Netherlands on 12 Aug, this seems to have been cancelled.

One thing I would say is have an age-appropriate answer lined up for when your DC ask "What does that shop sell?/What shop is that?/Can we go in there?" when you go past a sex-shop.

It threw me when we were there a couple of years ago. We were actually staying in Belgium but the nearest town was in Holland and, for a small town, it had a lot of sex shops.

Oh thanks Geo that's brilliant. We were going to just turn up and find camp sites as we go along but have recently realized that as it's school holidays this may be tricky if sites are full so might look into that and book it sounds perfect. The IT festival thing camping is sorted but might think about booking at least some of the time.

LOL at the sex shop thing, good thinking, could be quite funny trying to come up with different child friendly alternate meanings to the 'devices' in the shop windows.

De Efteling is great my children love it.( so much better than disney)
Burgers ? Bergers zoo has been highly rec by a friend she said it was superb.

Burgers Zoo is very good - again lots of being open areas you can walk through or above.

If you are in Delft and its hot - there is a big lake somewhere that has a sandy beach area - no idea where but the Tourist Information Centre should know! The zoo in Rotterdam is also v good (20 mins from The Hague/15 from Delft)

De Efteling is unusual and does have rides for all ages.
We took our two boys when they were 9 and 11 to the National Resistance Museum ,Liberty Park near Overloon.Next door is the Marshall museum of military vehicles, and there is a war cemetary nearby.
I gave them a WWII history lesson before we went , in particular about the Dutch resistance .
They were both facinated by the whole place and they are normally allergic to museums.

we really enjoyed Zaanse Schans (here)

It's very pretty, lots of photo oppurtunities, the kids loved climbing up a paint windmill and learning about the whole process. They also had a clogs musuem and shop, a mustard mill, a bakery that sold the most delicious pasties and a diamond jewellers. It's a bit touristy, but def worth a visit.

By the way, we told dd that the ladies in the windows were selling underwear! Backfired a bit when she thought it'd be fun to copy them dancing!

We loved Holland and are goign back again next Easter.

try again!

The Holland v England game hasn't been cancelled. I'm going for 4 days with my son and taking in the game.