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Which Center Parcs is best in the Netherlands and Holland?
There are nine Center Parcs across the Netherlands and Holland – that’s more than any other European country. But which is best?
We’ve attempted to narrow it down by comparing price, location, customer reviews, facilities and travel time from the UK to come up with some suggestions.
If you don’t fancy reading all this waffle, the headline is that we think Center Parcs Het Meerdal should be the first you look at, closely followed by De Kempervennen and De Huttenheugte.
We’ve attempted to narrow it down by comparing price, location, customer reviews, facilities and travel time from the UK to come up with some suggestions.
If you don’t fancy reading all this waffle, the headline is that we think Center Parcs Het Meerdal should be the first you look at, closely followed by De Kempervennen and De Huttenheugte.
If you want to see our working (and you've got time on your hands), read on...
Which Center Parcs in the Netherlands and Holland is nearest to the UK?
The Netherlands is about half the size of Scotland, so it’s not a huge country and the differences in driving distances is not as significant as it would be in Germany or France.
However, some parks are more convenient for travelling from the UK. There are various ferries and flights to the Netherlands available, but for simplicity we’ve just looked at the travel time from Calais. You can take the car on the Eurotunnel at Folkestone which takes 35 minutes to get to Calais.
Stena Line offer bundled deals which give a discount if you book Center Parcs Netherlands and a ferry from Harwich in Essex.
We’ve ranked the parks in order, based on approximate driving times from Calais:
It’s interesting to note that several of the Center Parcs in the Netherlands are actually closer to the UK than many of the French Center Parcs. In my head, France is nearer than the Netherlands to the UK, but it turns out that it isn’t that simple…
However, some parks are more convenient for travelling from the UK. There are various ferries and flights to the Netherlands available, but for simplicity we’ve just looked at the travel time from Calais. You can take the car on the Eurotunnel at Folkestone which takes 35 minutes to get to Calais.
Stena Line offer bundled deals which give a discount if you book Center Parcs Netherlands and a ferry from Harwich in Essex.
We’ve ranked the parks in order, based on approximate driving times from Calais:
- Center Parcs De Kempervennen - 3 hours drive from Calais
- Center Parcs Het Meerdal - 3 hours 15 minutes
- Center Parcs Port Zelande - 3 hours 15 minutes
- Center Parcs Limburgse Peel – 3 hours 15 minutes
- Center Parcs Het Heijderbos – 3 hours 30 minutes
- Center Parcs De Eemhof – 3 hours 30 minutes
- Center Parcs Park Zandvoort – 4 hours
- Center Parcs De Huttenheugte - 4 hours 30 minutes
- Center Parcs Parc Sandur - 4 hours 30 minutes
It’s interesting to note that several of the Center Parcs in the Netherlands are actually closer to the UK than many of the French Center Parcs. In my head, France is nearer than the Netherlands to the UK, but it turns out that it isn’t that simple…
Which Center Parcs in the Netherlands and Holland gets the best reviews?
There’s quite a big variation in customer reviews of the nine Center Parcs in Netherlands - unlike in the UK where they all get pretty much identical average scores from customers.
When we checked, two Center Parcs in the Netherlands were scoring 4/5 on TripAdvisor - De Kempervennen and Center Parcs Het Meerdal.
Park Zandvoort was scoring 3/5 on TripAdvisor, whilst the remaining six parks were scoring 3.5/5.
So, based on TripAdvisor we have two clear winners - De Kempervennen and Center Parcs Het Meerdal.
However, reviews on Google (which also include thousands of customer opinions) were much closer.
Park Zandvoort remained in last place with 3.5/5 but most of the remaining parks were all bunched together, with these holiday parks on either 4/5 or 4.1/5:
So, I think it’s worth looking at all the other factors before coming to a conclusion on which is the best CenterParcs in the Netherlands/Holland.
You may have noticed that the two Dutch CenterParcs with the best reviews on TripAdvisor are also the two which are closest to the UK. This may be because a shorter drive is putting parents in a better mood - or it might just be a coincidence.
When we checked, two Center Parcs in the Netherlands were scoring 4/5 on TripAdvisor - De Kempervennen and Center Parcs Het Meerdal.
Park Zandvoort was scoring 3/5 on TripAdvisor, whilst the remaining six parks were scoring 3.5/5.
So, based on TripAdvisor we have two clear winners - De Kempervennen and Center Parcs Het Meerdal.
However, reviews on Google (which also include thousands of customer opinions) were much closer.
Park Zandvoort remained in last place with 3.5/5 but most of the remaining parks were all bunched together, with these holiday parks on either 4/5 or 4.1/5:
- Center Parcs De Huttenheugte
- Center Parcs De Kempervennen
- Center Parcs Het Meerdal
- Center Parcs Port Zelande
- Center Parcs Parc Sandur
So, I think it’s worth looking at all the other factors before coming to a conclusion on which is the best CenterParcs in the Netherlands/Holland.
You may have noticed that the two Dutch CenterParcs with the best reviews on TripAdvisor are also the two which are closest to the UK. This may be because a shorter drive is putting parents in a better mood - or it might just be a coincidence.
Which CenterParcs in the Netherlands and Holland is cheapest?
To get an idea of which Dutch Center Parcs offers the best value, we looked at three sets of dates for a family holiday at all nine parks. We looked at the cheapest available holiday (excluding activities and upgrades) for two adults and two children for:
Prices for a week in August 2019 for four people from cheapest to most expensive:
Prices for a week in early October 2019 for four people from cheapest to most expensive:
Searches carried out in June 2019
- a week in August 2019
- a week in early October 2019
- a week over Easter 2020
Prices for a week in August 2019 for four people from cheapest to most expensive:
- De Huttenheugte – £873
- Het Meerdal - £1051
- Limburgse Peel – £1158
- Parc Sandur – £1167
- Het Heijderbos – £1292
- De Kempervennen - £1391
- De Eemhof – £1452
- Port Zelande - £1818
- Park Zandvoort – £2023
- Limburgse Peel – £749
- Het Meerdal - £756
- Parc Sandur – £784
- De Huttenheugte - £791
- Park Zandvoort – £820
- Port Zelande - £870
- De Kempervennen - £884
- Het Heijderbos – £920
- De Eemhof – £991
Prices for a week in early October 2019 for four people from cheapest to most expensive:
- Het Meerdal - £385
- Limburgse Peel – £417
- De Huttenheugte - £449
- Parc Sandur – £489
- Het Heijderbos – £536
- Park Zandvoort – £537
- De Kempervennen - £545
- De Eemhof – £585
- Port Zelande – £585
Searches carried out in June 2019
Which Center Parcs in the Netherlands and Holland has the most facilities?
There’s a pretty big variation in the number of activities on offer at the nine Center Parcs in the Netherlands/Holland.
Of course, this doesn’t give you much idea as to the quality of the activities but it gives an idea of whether you’ll have plenty to do. Bear in mind that you pay extra for most things at Center Parcs.
Here they are, ranked from the park with the highest number of activities to the least:
So, six of the parks have about 100 activities whilst three of the CenterParcs are bit behind.
Of course, this doesn’t give you much idea as to the quality of the activities but it gives an idea of whether you’ll have plenty to do. Bear in mind that you pay extra for most things at Center Parcs.
Here they are, ranked from the park with the highest number of activities to the least:
- De Kempervennen -108 activities
- De Eemhof – 104
- Het Meerdal - 104
- Port Zelande - 103
- Het Heijderbos – 95
- De Huttenheugte - 95
- Parc Sandur - 79
- Park Zandvoort – 63
- Limburgse Peel – 60
So, six of the parks have about 100 activities whilst three of the CenterParcs are bit behind.
Which Center Parcs in the Netherlands and Holland has the best swimming pool?
At Center Parcs Europe, the waterparks/swimming pools are usually called 'Aqua Mundo' (meaning water world) rather than ‘Subtropical Paradise’ which is the name used in the UK.
If the waterpark/swimming pool is one of the main reasons you want to visit Center Parcs you’ll be interested to see that customer reviews for each Aqua Mundo are also available.
According to customers on Google reviews, the best Center Parcs waterparks/swimming pools in the Netherlands/Holland are those at Center Parcs De Huttenheugte and Het Meerdal which were both scoring 4.3/5.
Three other resorts were very close behind, with scores of either 4.1 or 4.2/5 (Center Parcs De Kempervennen, Center Parcs Het Heijderbos and Center Parcs De Eemhof).
Finally, there are four Dutch Center Parcs swimming pools which score less than 4/5 – Center Parcs Limburgse Peel (3.9/5), Center Parcs Park Zelande (3.9/5), Center Parcs Parc Sandur (3.6/5) and Center Parcs Park Zandvoort (3.4/5).
If the waterpark/swimming pool is one of the main reasons you want to visit Center Parcs you’ll be interested to see that customer reviews for each Aqua Mundo are also available.
According to customers on Google reviews, the best Center Parcs waterparks/swimming pools in the Netherlands/Holland are those at Center Parcs De Huttenheugte and Het Meerdal which were both scoring 4.3/5.
Three other resorts were very close behind, with scores of either 4.1 or 4.2/5 (Center Parcs De Kempervennen, Center Parcs Het Heijderbos and Center Parcs De Eemhof).
Finally, there are four Dutch Center Parcs swimming pools which score less than 4/5 – Center Parcs Limburgse Peel (3.9/5), Center Parcs Park Zelande (3.9/5), Center Parcs Parc Sandur (3.6/5) and Center Parcs Park Zandvoort (3.4/5).
Other notable differences between the nine Center Parcs in the Netherlands and Holland
- Three of the Dutch Center Parcs were previously known as Sunparks, but were rebranded (Limburgse Peel, Parc Sandur and Park Zandvoort)
- Het Meerdal and De Huttenheugte were built in the early 1970s and are the oldest Center Parcs in the Netherlands.
- The newest park was built in 1999, although that is Parc Sandur which was previously a Sunpark.
Conclusion – which is the best Center Parcs in the Netherlands and Holland?
Center Parcs Het Meerdal ticks a lot of boxes for me.
It came joint top in our ranking based on customer reviews and was the cheapest or second cheapest in all our price comparisons. It also has plenty of activities and is one of the closest Center Parcs to the UK, assuming you are coming from Calais via Folkestone in the South East of England. It was also joint first in our comparison of the waterparks/swimming pools at the nine Center Parcs.
In second place, I’d choose either Center Parcs De Huttenheugte or Center Parcs De Kempervennen.
De Kempervennen is marginally ahead on customer reviews, has a few more activities and is the closest if you’re driving from Calais.
However, De Huttenheugte was cheaper in all of our price comparisons and wasn’t far behind on the number of activities. It’s about 90 minutes further in the car, so you might decide that you’d rather pay a little bit extra to save yourself the drive. De Huttenheugte gets slightly better customer reviews for its waterpark, but there isn't much in it.
Limburgse Peel is one of the cheapest Center Parcs in the Netherlands but it is marginally behind on customer reviews.
It came joint top in our ranking based on customer reviews and was the cheapest or second cheapest in all our price comparisons. It also has plenty of activities and is one of the closest Center Parcs to the UK, assuming you are coming from Calais via Folkestone in the South East of England. It was also joint first in our comparison of the waterparks/swimming pools at the nine Center Parcs.
In second place, I’d choose either Center Parcs De Huttenheugte or Center Parcs De Kempervennen.
De Kempervennen is marginally ahead on customer reviews, has a few more activities and is the closest if you’re driving from Calais.
However, De Huttenheugte was cheaper in all of our price comparisons and wasn’t far behind on the number of activities. It’s about 90 minutes further in the car, so you might decide that you’d rather pay a little bit extra to save yourself the drive. De Huttenheugte gets slightly better customer reviews for its waterpark, but there isn't much in it.
Limburgse Peel is one of the cheapest Center Parcs in the Netherlands but it is marginally behind on customer reviews.
