Center Parcs Erperheide — Hotel in Peer

My husband, 2 children (aged 4 and 8) and I went to Centre Parcs Erperheide during the Easter holidays for 4 nights. Overall, we really enjoyed our stay here. I think it's ideal if you have kids under 10 years old with a lot of activities aimed at that age group. It was a great option for us and much cheaper than the UK Centre Parcs and gave us a bit of an adventure driving through France and Belgium. ||We stayed in lodge 234 and found the chalet to be clean and comfortable. It had 2 double rooms (with single beds), 1 bathroom, and an open plan kitchen, dining and lounge area. There was also a small terrace at the back. |We opted for the bedding package (we forgot we hadn't opted for the towel package and didn’t bring any!) Please note you are given single duvets and 1 pillow each and you need to make the beds yourself. |The Kitchen was well stocked and had a toaster, coffee machine, combi oven/microwave, hob, dishwasher and fridge (With very small freezer compartment). You also get a welcome pack with a couple of cloths, sponge and a few dishwasher tablets. You are only given 1 toilet roll so worth bringing some more!|The position of the chalet was in a culdesac so no one was walking past and it was very quiet. ||The pool as expected was the highlight with rapids, a lazy river, varies slides for all ages, hot tubs (indoor and out) and a large pool in the centre with a wave machine. There are plenty of tables and chairs in the area to set up for the day if you wish. The atmosphere is lovely with lots of trees, and rocks to give a natural feel. We found the temperature of the water absolutely fine - I hate cold water and had no problem getting in the pools. ||The soft play was also a big hit. It is a large area with plenty things to climb, crawl through and slide down, balls you can fire at each other, a ball pit, a bouncy castle and some trampolines. There is also a restaurant here with a stage where they run the kids shows and some bookable activities. ||Overall the site was quiet and surrounded by trees as you would expect with a centre parcs. There are lots of playgrounds dotted around the site and there is also a nature trail and barefoot trail. At the centre of the parc is the farm. It's open all day for kids to go and meet and stroke the goats, chickens, ponies and horses. A couple of hours a day they have a session where you can stroke and cuddle rabbits and guinea pigs. There is also a nature lodge which offers free nature workshops throughout the day (you do need to sign up to some of these). We did a session where the kids learnt to make a fire and then cooked popcorn.||Some of the activities we tried:|Pony rides: 5 minute ride around in a loop led by parents. Our kids really enjoyed this. |Kids club – Wanna be a chef: This was an unaccompanied activity. The kids made some cookies in a 1 hour and 45 mins session. The kids loved the character Orry who joined in and was very funny apparently! |Kids club – Wanna be a farmer: This was another unaccompanied activity. The kids spent 1 hour and 45 mins in the farm, cleaning out the animal pens and spending time with the animals. My son was excited to tell me he had a chicken on his head!|Kids Harbour: We hired 2 boats and the kids navigated the boats around a small lake. Adults have to ride with the children. The kids enjoyed it although I ended up doing most of the steering - my 4 year old found it a bit hard.|Jeeps: We hired 2 jeeps. There is a trail they drive around with parents walking alongside. The activity takes about 20 minutes.|Table Tennis: This was located in the indoor sports hall along with tennis and badminton. You can book a session on the app or at reception.||We also hired bikes during our stay. The site isn't massive and you don't need bikes but we enjoyed the novelty of riding around and it is very flat so easy for my 4 year old. We also did the bike trail to Peer which is clearly marked with red signs. With our 4 year old this took about an hour one way, but it was mainly off road or on very quiet country lanes and it was a lovely flat route through the countryside and past the enormous indoor ski slope. We stopped for some delicious waffles in Peer and then cycled back. ||Food:|We opted to have most meals at the chalet to save money. We took some items from home and stopped at Lidl on the way (5 mins from the parc) to stock up on fresh produce. There is a supermarket on site with a bakery as well.|At the main centre there are a few food options. An all you can eat buffet, fast food chip place, a cafe /bar and a grill restaurant. We stopped for a few drinks in the cafe/ bar which had a lovely atmosphere with a small slide for the kids to play on and a good beer selection! We also ate at the grill – we were greeted by the lovely waitress who gave the kids a lantern and a map and sent us on our way to find our table. The kids then had to do a treasure hunt to find all the numbers around the restaurant and claim their prize! The food was ok and the make your own cocktail was a novelty. It came to €140 for the 4 of us. In hindsight I think the all you can eat restaurant would've been a better value with more options and unlimited drinks!||Cons:|We didn't have any large bowls for cereal|There were mosquitoes in the chalet |The football pitch was terrible - the surface needs looking at as it was very worn, slippery and dangerous. |There are no kids club sports sessions like tennis or football. My son enjoyed these sessions at the UK centre parks but, despite having the indoor sports hall the sports facilities weren't as good here and the outdoor sports areas looked very tired. |||The journey there and back (in case this also helps you with travel planning):|We live in Essex and it was easy for us to get the shuttle. We got the 6.50am shuttle to Calais and stopped in Ghent - we were there by 11am. We parked at the P&R loop car park and got a tram into the centre which took 20 mins and was really easy. We went for a quick lunch, had a walk around, saw the castle and ate some incredible waffles. It really helped to break up the journey. We arrived at centre parcs by 5pm (we did do a stop at a supermarket on the way and there was a bit of traffic as well). ||On the way back to Calais we stopped in Bruges. We parked at T-Zand carpark which has plenty of parking – it is quick and easy to access from the motorway. You park up undrground, walk up some stairs and emerge in the middle of the city. We went on 30 min canal tour, had lunch, walked around the city, and had the most amazing hot chocolate in The House of Chocolate. A lovely way to finish...

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 children, but not much for...

We booked Center Parks for a week, and left after four nights, as we simply couldn't bear it any more. It is beyond me how this place has five stars.

First, the good thing: the swimming pool 'Aqua Mundo' is really great.

Beyond that, not so much.

The cottage we stayed in was depressing, and that is being kind. It's a cinder block box in the woods with poor ventilation. The beds are super small and very uncomfortable. When I checked at the reception for a different type of mattress, the lady was trying to be helpful and suggested getting an air mattress.

We had a little accident in a play area of a restaurant, where one of our boys hurt is foot. It seemed pretty bad, so I called the emergency number from the app. I had to interrupt the lady a few times because she kept explaining that this number was for emergencies. After finally getting her attention that this was indeed an emergency, she tried to explain where the first aid station was located. After explaining again that he couldn't walk, she sent the first aid guy from the pool. Nobody from the restaurant either noticed the accident or felt compelled to check in. The first aid guy was marvellous, and really helped calm down our boy. The next day the swelling hadn't subsided and brought him to the hospital and a quick x-ray confirmed a fractured bone in his foot.

Regarding the restaurants - We gave Fuego a 3 star (out of 5), and Evergreenz a 2 star rating (food on par with Ikea). The Grand Cafe, was particularly disappointing...

The Grand Cafe is an authentic Amsterdam cafe, and not in a good way. It was hard to get the attention of the server, and when we got his attention the order was full of errors.

Being American, we ordered ketchup with the fries, which did not come with the food. We asked again, and still it didn't arrive. I finally walked up to the bar to ask, and after some debate (they wanted me to ask the waiter), I finally got a tiny dish of ketchup.

Later, when receiving the bill, we noticed that this ketchup has been added to the bill for €.50. I looked, and nowhere on the menu did it say that ketchup cost extra.

When we ordered fresh mint tea, we asked the waiter for honey, and again it didn't arrive with the order.

When we ordered desert, it took so long I am convinced they forgot to order it. After reminding, someone came over quickly with the ice cream.

While paying the bill, the drinks from a nearby table were included on our bill.

Did I mention the food? I tried the focaccia with Thai chicken, which turned out to be two toasted crackers with curry sauce on the chicken.

One of the things which motivated us to get out of that park was when we observed so many other parents having a horrible time. Yelling at kids and generally being grumpy.

It is simply not a...