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Best Center Parcs Europe in France, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium 2021
There are 25 Center Parcs in mainland Europe, including holiday parks in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany (you'll find they are often misspelt as Centre Parcs).
They offer an appealing alternative to the UK Center Parcs, and can be considerably cheaper, although sometimes they're more expensive. The European CenterParcs have different owners to the UK sites and tend to offer more special offers and discounts.
Reviews of the 25 Center Parcs around Europe vary considerably, whereas the UK Center Parcs are much more consistent. From what I can tell, some of the European Center Parcs have been rebranded from other parks over the years, whereas the UK Center Parcs were all built under the same brand.
They offer an appealing alternative to the UK Center Parcs, and can be considerably cheaper, although sometimes they're more expensive. The European CenterParcs have different owners to the UK sites and tend to offer more special offers and discounts.
Reviews of the 25 Center Parcs around Europe vary considerably, whereas the UK Center Parcs are much more consistent. From what I can tell, some of the European Center Parcs have been rebranded from other parks over the years, whereas the UK Center Parcs were all built under the same brand.
If you want to skip to our summary, we think the best value Center Parcs in Europe are:
If you want a more detailed answer, read on to see how we picked out the best Center Parcs in France, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium based on price, customer reviews and facilities.
- Center Parcs Le Bois Aux Daims in France
- Center Parcs Het Meerdal in the Netherlands
- Center Parcs Park Bostalsee in Germany
- Center Parcs De Vossemeren in Belgium
If you want a more detailed answer, read on to see how we picked out the best Center Parcs in France, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium based on price, customer reviews and facilities.
Which is the best Center Parcs in France?
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There are six Center Parcs in France at the time of writing but we reckon Le Bois Aux Daims is the best. Les Villages Nature Paris doesn't score as well with reviewers but it's convenient if you want to visit Disneyland Paris.
Le Bois Aux Daims is the best according to customer reviews, which were 4/5 on TripAdvisor when we checked. It's towards the West of France and is 3 hours by car from St Malo (which is a 9 hour ferry from Portsmouth) or a 5hr 30m drive from the Eurotunnel at Calais. It's not the cheapest, but it's also not the most expensive. It opened in 2015, making it a nice new park. The waterpark ('Aqua Mundo') was scoring an impressive 4.4/5 on Google reviews. Four other parks were scoring 3.5/5 (Les Trois Forêts, Les Hauts Des Bruyeres, Le Lac d'Ailette whilst Les Bois-Francs and Les Villages Nature Paris was scoring 3/5. All six are in the northern half of France, so there isn't a considerable difference in driving distance from the UK. Les Bois-Francs is the closest to the Le Havre ferry, whilst Le Lac d'Ailette and Les Villages Nature Paris are the closest to the Eurotunnel (about 2hr 30m by car from Calais). Les Villages Nature Paris is a bit unusual, because it's also one of the official accommodations for Disneyland Paris (it's a joint thing with Center Parcs). So, it's certainly worth considering if you want a couple of days with Mickey Mouse. So which is the cheapest Center Parcs in France? We did a price comparison for a week in August 2021 for a family of four and came up with the following results, in order of price:
Prices are for the cheapest accommodation without extras, at the time of writing. Expect it to vary according to the exchange rate. We searched in November 2020. |
Le Bois Aux Daims is our pick from the Center Parcs in France...
...although Les Trois Forêts isn't far behind
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Which is the best CenterParcs in the Netherlands and Holland?
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There are nine Center Parcs across the Netherlands (including Holland, which is a part of the Netherlands). None of them are particularly new, but they have been modernised over the years.
Two of the Center Parks in the Netherlands tend to get better customer reviews than the rest - De Kempervennen and Het Meerdal. Both were scoring 4/5 on TripAdvisor when I checked. Most others scored 3.5/5 on TripAdvisor. De Kempervennen and Het Meerdal also both get good reviews for their 'Aqua Mundo' waterparks, with a score of 4.3/5 on Google reviews. They are in a similar location, near Eindhoven in the South East of the Netherlands and they've both got a similar number of activities. Het Meerdal is a 3hr 30m drive from Calais, whilst De Kempervennen is 3 hours. The main difference is the price. We searched for a week in August 2021 for a family of four and found that De Kempervennen was from £1000 whilst Het Meerdal was from £845 which is £155 cheaper - and about half the price of a similar break in the UK. We also looked at dates in October and Easter and found Het Meerdal was the cheapest or joint cheapest of all nine of the Center Parcs in the Netherlands/Hollands. So, I'd start by looking at Center Parcs Het Meerdal if you want a Center Parcs in the Netherlands. |
Het Meerdal was the winner in our comparison of Dutch Center Parcs resorts...
...with Center Parcs De Kempervennen as a close second
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Which is the best Center Parcs in Germany?
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Germany has a choice of six Center Parcs, but I personally would start by looking at Park Bostalsee which scores 4/5 from most customers on review sites. It's a modern park, which opened in 2013 and it's got plenty to do.
Most of the others were scoring 3.5/5 on TripAdvisor and similar scores elsewhere. Another German park - Center Parcs Bispinger Heide - has about 20 more activities than the others, but it was scoring 3.5/5 from customers. Park Bostalsee has about 90 activities, so you are unlikely to get bored. In terms of location, Park Bostalsee is in South West Germany, about 2 hours from Frankfurt. A flight from London to Frankfurt takes about 90 minutes. It's a 5 hour drive from Calais. Park Bostalsee is quite a new park, as it opened in 2013. Center Parcs Park Allgäu is slightly newer (it opened in 2018) and its waterpark was getting slightly better customer reviews than Park Bostalsee but it was considerably more expensive in our price comparisons. For a week in August 2021, we found that a family of four would pay from £1335 at Centerparcs Park Bostalsee or £1777 at Center Parcs Park Allgäu. We also looked at some dates in Easter and October and found that Park Bostalsee was considerably cheaper (more than £400 cheaper in one instance). |
Center Parcs Park Bostalsee in Germany offers good value...
...and it has a choice of different lodges
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Which is the best Center Parcs in Belgium?
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There are four Center Parcs in Belgium. I'd go for De Vossemeren although Center Parcs Erperheide gets similar review scores so is also worth a look (4/5 on most sites).
Center Parcs De Vossemeren and Center Parcs Erperheide have considerably more activities than Center Parks Les Ardennes or Center Parks Park de Haan. They also get better customer reviews of their waterparks ('Aqua Mundo') which are a big part of a Center Parcs holiday. Les Ardennes and Park de Haan were previously 'Sunparks' sites but were rebranded as Center Parcs. In our price comparison, Center Parcs De Vossemeren and Center Parcs Erperheide didn't have much between them so I would check both parks for the dates that you want to travel. Center Parcs Erperheide has the added quirk of offering 'pony cottages' where you live alongside the riding school and look after a pony. A week's holiday for a family of four in August 2021 was available for £979 at De Vossemeren compared to £916 at Erperheide but it was the other way round for other dates. Three of the four parks in Belgium are towards the Dutch border. You can take your car through the Eurotunnel at Folkestone in 35 minutes and then it's a 3-4 hour drive from Calais to De Vossemeren or Erperheide. Center Parks Park de Haan is even easier to reach as it's just over an hour from Calais, so is perhaps one to consider for a weekend. |
Center Parcs Vossemeren is worth a look as a cheap alternative to a UK Center Parcs
...and Center Parcs Erperheide in Belgium is also popular with customers
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Conclusion - the best Center Parcs in Europe
If you fancy giving Center Parcs in Europe a go, I would personally start by looking at these four sites:
The exception is if you want to combine a Center Parcs holiday with a trip to Disneyland, in which case your best option is Center Parcs Les Villages Nature Paris which is a joint thing between the two companies.
For the sake of your own curiosity, our UK Center Parcs comparison found the cheapest for price a similar holiday was £1728, but you are likely to have lower travel costs.
- Center Parcs Het Meerdal Netherlands (£845 in our price comparison for a week in August 2021 for a family of four)
- Center Parcs De Vossemeren Belgium (£979 in our price comparison)
- Center Parcs Park Bostalsee Germany (£1335 in our price comparison)
- Center Parcs Le Bois Aux Daims France (£1499 in our price comparison)
The exception is if you want to combine a Center Parcs holiday with a trip to Disneyland, in which case your best option is Center Parcs Les Villages Nature Paris which is a joint thing between the two companies.
For the sake of your own curiosity, our UK Center Parcs comparison found the cheapest for price a similar holiday was £1728, but you are likely to have lower travel costs.
Images are from Center Parcs. Prices correct at time of writing, November 2020.
