Our Holiday at Center Parcs Erperheide in Belgium - Best Activities, Travel Advice and Cost31/8/2024  We spent five days at Center Parcs Erperheide in Belgium - which scores 4.2/5 from reviewers We recently headed for one of the best Center Parcs in Europe - Center Parcs Erperheide in Belgium. It is one of about half a dozen Center Parcs in Europe which are on a par with Center Parcs UK - but are considerably cheaper. As much discussed on this website, Center Parcs Europe and Center Parcs UK are separate companies and you can sometimes find similar holidays in Europe for about 50% of the price of a UK holiday. You usually get the best price if you book through the French version of the Center Parcs website (centerparcs.fr) rather than the EU version (centerparcs.eu). The cautionary note is that the quality of Center Parcs Europe varies significantly, whereas Center Parcs UK is admirably consistent. Read our guides to Center Parcs France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands (or the European roundup) to avoid a calamitous visit. Anyway, here are our experiences of Center Parcs Erperheide. Getting to Center Parcs Erperheide in Belgium from the UKWe decided to go for the Eurotunnel, which is now known as Le Shuttle. I am sure there was a good reason for this rebrand, but I plan to stubbornly call it Eurotunnel for at least another 10 years before they rebrand it again to something else (my mum still refers to Disneyland Paris as 'Eurodisney' even though it changed in 1994). Child two is not keen on flying or ferries due to a wobbly tummy so the Eurotunnel was ideal. It leaves from Folkestone and involves driving your car onto a giant train that takes about 35 minutes. The train has a slight wobble to it, but no more than any other train that I've been on in the UK. We found the check-in process and travel through the Channel Tunnel to be very easy. Of course, you do get delays sometimes, as you do with ferries and planes, but it seemed to be quick and well organised. The advice is to arrive 60 minutes before your departure time. We arrived 90 minutes before we were due to leave and ended up being put onto a slightly earlier train. We got rather confused at the shopping area that you reach after the first check-in and thought we had to wait here until it was nearer to our crossing time. A man in an orange jacket told us we didn't need to wait, so we ploughed on and ended up ahead of schedule. We paid about £250 for our return crossing on Eurotunnel, which obviously needs to be factored in when you are are deciding whether to visit Center Parcs UK or Center Parcs Europe.  We caught the Eurotunnel/Le Shuttle from Folkestone to Calais, which takes 35 minutes Driving in France and BelgiumI'd never driven in France or Belgium before, although I had driven on the 'wrong' side of the ride in the USA and found it a bit frantic. The roads to Center Parcs Erperheide were nearly all dual carriageways and were pretty easy with Google Maps. They weren't particularly busy, apart from one section around Antwerp. The last 10 miles or so involved driving through a Belgian town, which was immaculate compared to most English towns. Every road seemed to have a separate cycle lane running parallel so people of all ages and sizes happily peddled without even bothering to wear helmets. I find cycling in the UK to be a stressful experience where you have to pedal furiously along busy roads to get to the next section of cycle path. Other than the towns near Center Parcs Erperheide, we found the scenery to be rather flat and reminiscent of driving through the Midlands. The highlight was driving past the Lotus Biscoff factory but that was about it. We also attempted a number plate game but that wore thin with the children after 10 minutes I personally am not a big fan of driving abroad, as I don't really settle into it like I do with a long drive in the UK. I'm always too aware that I might forget where I am and end up on the wrong side of the road. I found it much easier on the way back, as my brain was more prepared for driving on the right. Extra costs for travelling to Center Parcs EuropeThere are quite a few extra costs and requirements that you have to consider, particularly as you are driving in two countries. If you are a regular driver in Europe then this will be familiar territory for you. Again, these are worth considering if your main reason for going to Center Parcs Europe is to save some money. I had to cough up for:
We already had passports, so I'm not going to factor that into the cost. You also need a UK sticker on the car, but I borrowed one so I didn't need to buy one. That's a total of about £125 which we wouldn't have had to pay for a trip to Center Parcs UK. Of course, there's also the cost of petrol. This will obviously vary depending on how close you are to Folkestone, but we drove for 185 miles from Calais to Center Parcs or 370 miles including the return leg. Our nearest UK Center Parcs is 35 miles away so the total extra mileage we did was 670 miles, which costs about £130 in fuel for my car. I'm not going to add on another £25 for wear and tear to my ageing car. Our accommodation at Erperheide We paid about £1100 for a three bedroom Pony Cottage at Erperheide The choice of accommodation at Center Parcs Europe is wide and varies between different parks. You can see our blow-by-blow account of the different Center Parcs Europe grades in this guide. I assume this massive range and inconsistency is partly because some Center Parcs in Europe were not purpose built as Center Parcs. Some were built for other brands, such as Sunparks, and have had upgrades and changes over the years. The Center Parcs in the UK have a simpler range of accommodation. The accommodation we went for at Center Parcs Erperheide was clean and well equipped. We self catered, as one of the children has an allergy and I didn't fancy translating menus or putting her life in the hands of a foreign teenager. Our kitchen had a dishwasher (essential), four gas hobs, a good sized fridge with a small freezer section and a small oven. The oven in question was the size of a microwave but was capable of also operating as a small standard oven if you could cope with the confusing manual. It was a little over designed but I conquered it after a couple of days of complaining.  Our cottage was modern and clean, and similar in design to Center Parcs UK lodges  The kitchen had a dishwasher, hobs, small oven/microwave and fridge/freezer  This is a typical microwave/oven at Center Parcs Europe. It was a little slow, but it did the job.  Child two was thrilled to have a bunk bed at a jaunty angle  The bathroom was modern (and I enjoyed the mirror with a light switch button)  We had a picnic table and two loungers overlooking the stables We went for something called a Pony Cottage, which is only available at a couple of Center Parcs in Europe (Center Parcs Het Meerdal in the Netherlands and Center Parcs Erperheide in Belgium). The accommodation design is quite standard, with a few pictures of horses on the wall and horseshoes on the curtains. However, the notable difference is that you overlook a stable an spend each morning grooming and feeding your horse, as well as taking it for a ride in the stables and around the site. We are not horsey people but I thought the children would like it, with the clear directive that we would certainly not be getting a horse at home. I really don't fancy a lifetime of driving a horsebox to gymkhanas in Northamptonshire or mucking out at 6am because the children have gone to university or lost interest.  We signed up for a pony holiday, even though we don't really like horses (oops)  Our horse was the handsome fella at the front and was called Snowy How much did our stay at Center Parcs Erperheide cost?We paid about £1100 for four nights and five days in the August school holidays. The cheapest accommodation available was about £850 but we wanted three bedrooms and we wanted to do the pony activities. The equivalent of the £850 holiday at Center Parcs UK costs about £1300 - or £450 extra. There isn't a direct equivalent of the holiday we booked, but I would estimate we saved about £500 on the accommodation by travelling to Center Parcs Europe. As mentioned several times on this site, you are usually best to book through the French version of the Center Parcs website as it is nearly always cheaper than the .eu, .de and .nl versions of the same website. You are still booking the same holiday and you have to pay in Euros regardless of which site you book through. A couple of people at Center Parcs Erperheide did think we were French. I am not sure if this is because we booked through the French site or if I just exuded Frenchness. Free activities and entertainment at ErperheideCenter Parcs Erperheide exceeded my expectations on activities and entertainment. In hindsight, we probably booked too much stuff as there was quite a lot of free stuff that we didn't really squeeze the juice out of. We were concerned that activities would fill up, so didn't want to miss out. Swimming in the Aqua Mundo at ErperheideThe Aqua Mundo swimming pool at Center Parcs Erperheide is outstanding. We managed four visits in three days but we could have spent longer there. It is similar to the pools at UK Center Parcs with an abundance of things to do including:
At the Aqua Mundo ('water world') we mostly split into two parties with Mrs Guru taking our younger daughter round and me sticking with the older daughter. We spent much of our time repeatedly going down the rapids head first. These were very similar in design to rapids that I had been on at a Center Parcs in the UK. In fact, the whole thing was very similar with lots of nice little features and tropical plants and trees throughout. At one point, I broke child one's goggles and set about finding some new ones. I was impressed to find that they were available from the pool for about £4-£8. I was convinced that I was going to have to pay through the nose for such convenience but was pleasantly surprised when I saw the price.  The Aqua Mundo was the highlight and was very similar to the Center Parcs UK Subtropical Paradise Swimming pools  The pool was busy (unlike this photo) but we enjoyed exploring the different areas  Part of the pool includes a splash park with smaller slides (no, that's not my family, this is a stock photo)  Child one and I went down the rapids at least 20 times over three days (again, that's not me in the photo) Indoor play at Center Parcs ErperheideThere is also a large indoor play area called Baluba at Center Parcs Erperheide. It is larger than the sort of things you pay £10 to visit on a wet Saturday morning with a toddler, with multiple slides, a ball pool and bouncy castles. Around the site there are also a few playgrounds, a barefoot trail and some animals you can pet if you felt inclined.  The BALUBA soft play area was one of the biggest indoor play areas I've seen Activities we paid for at ErperheideOne of the joys of parenting is being able to behave like a child under the pretence of helping your children. Mrs Guru gives me brownie points for joining in and encouraging the children, whilst I get to shout "weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" whilst sliding a zip wire or a flume. It's fair to say that activities and hiring things is considerably cheaper at Center Parcs Europe than they are Center Parcs UK. This is another area where you save a bit of money. The first thing we paid for was bikes. They were much more reasonably priced than hiring bikes at Center Parcs UK, and I thought we would use them a lot. We paid about £100 for three days for four bikes. You can expect to pay about twice that for bike hire at Center Parcs in the UK. However, when we arrived we realised that the site is a manageable size and only really a 10 minute walk to most things. We also felt we didn't have time for a lot of bike rides by the time we had groomed the pony, gone for a swim and done all the other activities we had booked. I negotiated with the man at the cycle centre who said that we could have our money back - but only as credit to spend at the site. I decided this was better than nothing and figured out that I could spend it on several bottles of wine at the on-site shop instead (hiccup). There is a neat system at Center Parcs in Europe with green wristbands that do everything, including letting you into your lodge, recording any credit you've got to spend and telling staff what you have booked. We also paid for low ropes and high ropes, zip wires, hiring segways, hiring a five seat e-pedal kart called a Rosalie, hair braiding and stuffing a bear. All the activities were good fun and the staff were helpful and spoke good English. People in Belgium speak a mix of different languages as it borders Netherlands, France, Germany and Luxembourg. As a result, our horse riding instructor spoke four languages whilst I fumbled along with a little bit of GCSE French. You don't need to speak a second language to visit Center Parcs in Belgium.  We didn't get round to boating, but it's a popular activity at Center Parcs Erperheide Low ropes and high ropes (aerial adventures)We did both low ropes and high ropes at Center Parcs Erperheide in Belgium. The low ropes at Center Parcs Belgium cost us £13.50 whilst the high ropes cost us £15-£16. An 'aerial adventure' at Center Parcs Sherwood in the UK is similar to the high ropes and costs £40-£47 whilst 'aerial tree trekking' is similar to the low ropes and costs £30-£38. So, for two people we paid about £58 at Center Parcs Europe in total compared to about £147 for a similar thing at Center Parcs UK (a saving of £89). The 'low ropes' were not as low as I expected. I had signed up our seven and 11 year olds to do it together and decided to sit this one out as I assumed it would just be a metre off the ground. It was actually more like four metres off the ground and was quite daunting for the seven year old. Luckily, she rose to the challenge and went round three times. A couple of the other children that weren't with us were a bit wobbly. On the third way round, our older daughter was ready for a break so I kindly offered to take over and helped our younger daughter. Cynics would say that she didn't need my help and I just fancied a go but I will deny such talk. Our older daughter and I did the high ropes together, which were about 10-15m off the ground. I am not bad with heights but I found this rather more challenging than I expected. Whilst child one rattled round at great speed, I inched my way round. I found myself saying things like "fear is a choice", as if I was a contestant on an ITV2 programme with cast members from Corrie. After one lap round I was done, and casually told child one that I would leave her to it. She continued round three times, including the final time when I put a blindfold on her. The instructor reassured me that I wasn't alone and that adults often overthink it whilst children just get on with it. I was grateful for these kind words, even if it isn't true.  Activities like climbing, zip wires and high ropes are cheaper at Center Parcs Europe than Center Parcs UK  Child two conquered the low ropes despite it being higher than I expected Zip wire activity at Center Parcs ErperheideWe also did a zip wire activity at Center Parcs Erperheide, which cost us about £14 each. To complicate our comparison slightly, the zip wire is the finale of the aerial adventure at Center Parcs UK rather than a separate thing. At Center Parcs Erperheide, it involves two loops of a set of three different zip wires. At Center Parcs UK, you do the zip at the end of the aerial adventure. This was another opportunity for me to do something I've wanted to do for a long time, whilst also appearing to be doing some excellent parenting. Child two was too young for this one, but child one zipped down whilst hanging upside down. I took a more conventional approach of zipping along whilst screeching. Rosalie e-kart hire at ErperheideThere are various vehicles you can hire at Center Parcs Erperheide. We went for an 'electric Rosalie', which looks like one of those pedal vehicles driven by the Chuckle Brothers. It had the addition of an electric motor to make peddling much easier. We turned up a little late for our hour session, but still had about 45 minutes circling the site. This was great fun and was a nice way to see the outer reaches of the resort. Erperheide is not a vast site, but it's well laid out with most of the activities in the middle so you don't have too far to travel. There are some lakes if you want a lakeside view and aren't worried that your children will behave like idiots near to water. We paid £16 for the Rosalie electric car hire for an hour. It seated three adults and two children, so it was only about £4 each. Unfortunately, it ended up costing a whole lot more than that as my phone slid out my pocket during the ride and smashed on the floor. I don't believe there is an equivalent of this activity at Center Parcs UK to compare prices. A pedalo will cost you about £20 for half an hour. That's not really the same thing, but you get the idea. Segway hire at Center Parcs ErperheideI had fancied trying out a Segway ever since seeing Gob Bluth riding one on Arrested Development. The ones we hired from Erpherheide had a different design so you controlled them with your knees and didn't hold on to anything. This made balancing a little tricky but we soon got the idea and whizzed around Erperheide. At Center Parcs Erperheide we paid £15 each to hire the segways for an hour. We didn't have a track to follow but were just sent off to whoosh around the site. At Center Parcs UK, the 45 minute 'Segway Experience' costs £39-£43, which involves going round a specially designed track. So, we spend £30 instead of £82 but were unsupervised. Honestly, I was delighted with this and had much more fun just racing around the site rather than listening to an instructor.  Child one and I enjoyed our hour on the segways at Center Parcs Erperheide Teddy bear stuffing at Center Parcs ErperheideIt's not really a holiday unless child two comes home with some stuffed toy that immediately becomes her most treasured possession. She forgets about it a week later and then I eventually give it to a charity shop without her noticing. This may sound heartless but our house would be full if I didn't take action. We signed up for a build a bear type experience, which cost us £21. She could choose an animal she liked (a frog) and then filled it with fluff before choosing a costume that was included in the price (a firefighter's outfit, obviously). A similar activity at Center Parcs UK costs about £30. Conclusion - is it worth travelling to Center Parcs Europe?Overall, I estimate that we saved ourselves about £500 on accommodation and about £250 on activities by travelling to Center Parcs Belgium. However, we cost ourselves about £155 extra in petrol and wear to the car, £250 for the Eurotunnel and about £125 in other costs such as European breakdown cover. That gives us a net gain of about £220. The saving would be larger if we had stayed for a week or longer. We often see accommodation savings of about £1000 that are available if you stay for a week and go for the cheapest Center Parcs in Europe (see our main guide to Center Parcs Europe for some examples). For us, the main motivation for travelling the extra distance was to give the children the experience of their first foreign holiday. The £220 saving alone wouldn't be worth it for me once you factor in the time and effort spend travelling. We could have had more time onsite if we hadn't spent so long in the car. The journey home also took ages, as traffic around Dartford was horrendous. However, Center Parcs Europe is a great option if you want a bit more of an adventure than a trip down the road to your nearest Center Parcs UK. You'll probably save yourself a little bit of money as well, so you are sort of getting a foreign holiday for a lower price than a UK holiday. If we visit again, we probably won't book as many activities and won't book the accommodation with a pony attached. They were all great fun and the staff were excellent, but we didn't really get value for money out of the free things onsite because we were too busy looking after Snowy. In case you are wondering - no, this was not a press trip or a paid trip or a freebie. This was just a family holiday that we paid for ourselves.  We loved our time at Center Parcs Erperheide
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