Center Parcs Erperheide

Wonderful holiday at Erperheide, we booked and paid for everything in advance all activities ( low climbing, pony experience, scuba diving lesson, little ones swimming lesson, a couple of nights at the buffet restaurant and two free activities a nature work shop and shelter building in the forest), which I would advise, as the activities get booked up quickly. We had a premium cottage, perfectly clean and well equipped, take dishwasher salt and rinse aid and dishwasher tablets ( we do every time to all Center parcs, as the dishwasher always needs them). Our cottage was n°437 very near to the market dome, with a play park just in front, the park is very flat so easy to ride your bike all over. The staff are all very friendly and helpful, in English or French for us. There are loads of play parks all over with swings and slides, and Baluba indoor soft playground with two massive areas, a big ball pit, trampolines etc. One of the best we had been to.

We're currently staying at Erperheide as a family of four (two adults and two four year olds). Erperheide was recommended to us by the Facebook group Center Parcs Europe Just for Brits as the best European Center Parcs to come to with young children. Overall I don't think I'd recommend it myself and wouldn't revisit. The cons: - our VIP cottage was small, dirty (generally floors were unclean, kids room was covered in small beads from a previous guest, shower room smelled damp, kids room smells damp, rusty radiators, lots of mosquitos squashed on the walls and ceilings) - lodges are in need of major renovation, e.g. our door didn't lock properly and we'd come back to the door randomly having opened. - VIP 'extras' are not worth the money e.g. a single washing up sponge and no washing up liquid, two dishwasher tablets, a few bread rolls. - there is little to no storage in the lodges for your luggage so much of the trip we loved chaotically as there was nowhere to put things away - swimming pools are freezing - the roof was open on all but one visit and the air temperature was very cold and the water temperature wasn't much higher. We cut one visit to 30 minutes as we were all too cold and on another occasion my daughter's lips were turning blue. It was one of the big draws to the site but we couldn't use it as much as we'd have liked due to the temperature - the changing rooms of the pool are dirty and we found a showerhead with faeces on it. Nobody seems to clean the area. - there are a LOT of mosquitos, even in October and my husband was bitten 20+ times - the site is very small so you don't get much of a forest feel and there's therefore not much nature to explore - you also don't get much of a relaxing 'car free' experience as the roads are quite busy with cars, vans and electric vehicles as well as bikes, scooters, rickshaws, golf buggies, electric bikes, hoverboards etc. As the site is small there's a lot of traffic. You have to keep your eyes peeled so your children don't get run over as you have to share these roads as pedestrians. - smoking shelters are everywhere and in prominent positions where you're forced to walk past them. - the site seems to be under a flight path and on several nights military aircraft were circling the site from 9pm onwards. On another night there were tractors harvesting all night long. Pros - activities are (mostly) reasonably priced - the Baluba soft play was loved by my children. - the children's farm is good, but parts are quite restrictive e.g. small animal handling only happens maybe three days a week for 1.5 hours at a time (and I'm not sure it's that kind to the animals as it's pretty much unsupervised). - the market dome has been done nicely and has three shops, the pool and some restaurants. There are fish, birds, flamingos and terrapins to look at. - My kids enjoyed some of the evening entertainment (like a disco) but it was very cheesy for me. - There are some good playgrounds for younger

We had a great time at Center Parcs. The location is easy to find and is not too far from the local shops/supermarkets like Lidl where we did our big shop for the four days. The bedrooms in the cottage are a bit smaller than expected but the cottage has everything you need, functional rather than luxury. We enjoyed the Sauna in the VIP cottage, as well as the daily bread rolls. The starter pack is a little small - so it's a good idea to bring additional toiletries and washing liquid etc. Onsite activities were great - the swimming pool is brilliant, as well as the soft play, play areas and petting zoo. We also hired bikes, did a kids safari, pony ride, bowling and hired a pedalo - all activities were great and reasonably priced - everything is booked via the app/website and then logged via your wrist band. We didn't use the on-site restaurants much but there was plenty of choice. All in all, a really memorable family holiday and I'm sure we will be back.

If you have (young) kids who love water, this is the place to be. Book your cottage in advance and get a discount. You can always book extra options to your stay after. I would advise to take the dinner option if you don’t like cooking on vacation. The swimming place is fantastic, the giant indoor playground is great for colder, rainy days.

The temperature of the swimming pool was cold, the environment temperature was also chill. It certainly didn’t feel like a subtropical swimming pool. The slides and wild water river was also cold water. Only the spa outside was hot, so most families were spending time over there to get their children warm again.

We stayed here for a long weekend and enjoyed it. There is lots to do in this park. The aqua mundo is one of the better ones i have seen in centerparcs, lots to do, also for kids. Temperature of the pools wasn’t too bad. There is a horse area, which our daughter loved. There is a big indoor play area with also scheduled entertainment. Cottage (vip) was nice, reasonably clean. Only one negative, we had lots of ants in the cottage.

there is a ROOSTER, yes that’s right a rooster!!!! I don’t think I’ve seen this in any other reviews which surprised me!! We are in zone 5 and it starts to crow at 3am. I’m on HOLIDAY. I really don’t need this s**** in my life rn. Everything else really really lovely, park is really nice and renewed. Smaller than we expected but ideal for us with a 7 year old daughter!

I regret that Center Parcs has such a typical Dutch/cheap mentality With my wife we just stayed for 1 week = 700 euros. Our bathroom had 1 roll of toilet paper. One! Towels of course are not included: For 1 towel you must pay 8 euros extra. No soap, just a basic empty cottage For the price, I think it's outrageous to treat people like this... And the Aquamundo water is cold We're good customers, been several times to CP. But after this time, not sure we'll be back

We've just returned from a brilliant 7 day trip with a 3yo and 5yo. After reading reviews prior to booking, I was trying not to have super high expectations but what we got was excellent value - we paid £845 for the final week of the UK summer holidays. We stayed in cottage 131 which was just 10 minutes walk from the centre. I would describe the accommodation as simple rather than basic. It was very clean - just a bit of dust under the bed! I'd probably pay a little extra for beds to be made up on arrival as we were quite tired on arrival. Our cottage was only 1 minute from our car which made it easy when we wanted to get off the park. We didn't need bikes in this location and I don't think this park is spread across such a wide area as others. Do bring insect repellent for summer trips as we got a few mozzie bites! Everything was great - fab swimming pool, large softplay, a nice large playground at the centre, lots of suitable activities for little kids. We only booked activities a couple of days before arrival but would probably do this earlier next time. The site was very clean and there were a lot of staff on site keeping it tidy. All staff members were very nice and helpful. On the final afternoon we took a drive over to another park - Kempervennen - it was clear that this was much more geared up to older kids so when we visit another Centreparcs (and we will) I will definitely look carefully to get a sense of what is on offer and the distance from one end of the park to another. If you've been considering visiting a European Centreparcs do it!