Centre Parcs, with a twist

The brief

A family with young children. Energy to burn. Days that need filling.

The idea was simple: a holiday park, plenty to do, and a great swimming pool. Reasonable food. Comfortable accommodation. Nothing complicated.

The problem

Centre Parcs is the go-to, but the UK version has a ceiling — and most families hit it by day two. The pool is good, the setting is fine, but you're still in England, paying a lot, left wondering if this is it.

It works — but only just. There aren't many alternatives, so it's what everyone chooses.

The decision

De Kempervennen in Holland answers the same brief — differently.

The plots are more generous. The woodland feels less managed. And Aqua Mundo — the water park at the heart of it — is a genuine step up. Larger, more considered, the kind of place children disappear into for hours without needing to be entertained.

And crucially: you're somewhere else. Not dramatically elsewhere — a short crossing, an easy drive west — but elsewhere enough that it feels like a proper trip rather than a domestic retreat with trees.

Better where it counts. And, unexpectedly, cheaper.

Five nights here gives the family room to settle into a rhythm, rather than orbit around a schedule.

But after a few days, something shifts. The park has been explored. The pool mastered. The edges found.

And what's missing isn't more to do — it's something that lifts it again. Something they'll boast about to their friends.

The answer lies a short drive north. Just under an hour. Something entirely different.

Not a theme park in the usual sense. Something older. Stranger. More imaginative.

Thrilling rides. Mystery. A world that feels grown, not manufactured.

Efteling.

The experience

Two days inside a world built on folklore and storytelling. Walk-through forests. Quiet moments between attractions. Details that reward slowing down.

And then the release.

Proper rides. Adrenaline. The sound of kids screaming, then immediately wanting to go again. Rollercoasters threaded through trees. Sudden drops. Moments that land somewhere between fear and delight.

It feels like Disney — but with the magic still intact.

The outcome

The brief held, the result surpassed it.

A different country. More space. More variety. And a final two days that stayed with them long after the rest faded.

All of it for less than the five nights in the UK version.