Center Parcs Park Hochsauerland — Hotel in Medebach

I will be honest, I was a little apprehensive after reading some of the reviews but in my opinion they are completely wrong. My family had a brilliant time. I have been to many a centre parcs in Europe, including going to de vossermeran in Lommel annually. Now admittedly Park Hochsauerland isnt as good as de vossermeran but then you cant expect it to be; de vossermeran is a 5 star and park Hochsauerland is a 4 star!||||Firstly the accommodation we stayed in was fine. We stayed in the cheapest accommodation (Comfort) and we had no complaints. The cottage was actually really spacious with two very large bedrooms and was perfectly clean (like any Centre Parcs I have stayed in). What gets me is people moaning that there is no oven; none have them! You have a hob, a microwave oven and I just pack my george foreman grill from the UK. It really isnt the end of the world. Had a dishwasher and admittedly a DVD player would have been good, it didnt spoil the stay there not being one. We got the WIFI for four devices for 40 euros for a week and this never let us down with a really strong reception. ||||The Aqua dome was lovely - no complaints. The changing area was literally brand new after just being renovated and was spotlessly clean. A massive, huge play area for the kids with slides etc..... the pool was great, all clean with 3-4 slides of different speeds. Discreetly (only as I was nosey you could notice it) they are still renovating the aqua dome on one side which can only be a positive. ||||The general dome was fine with turtles in the water features etc which the kids loved. The sports/grand cafe was actually reasonably priced with less than 4 euros for a large becks and 2.30 euros for a hot chocolate. ||||outside they are buiding a nice far for the kids. There are quite a few outside parks which are good, all on site. There is one huge playpark at the top of the mountain (i think they called it the longest play park in europe) and is more for kids aged 6+ and is good, but only if you like climbing a very, very steep hill. ||||The on site Supermarket was exactly as you would expect in a CP - a little over priced but noting too drastic. There is an Aldi a few minutes drive in the main town which is just like being in one in the UK.||||Restaurants on site were fine. We went in the buffet restaurant one night and it includes all alcoholic drinks. It was I think 27 euros for an adult and 10 euros for a child over 3. Dozens and dozens of dishes - all really good quality and they did not disappoint.||||Skiing - the CP staff didn't really want to comment on the skiing even though it is heavily publicized on their website - i found this odd. I had to ask other guests who were far, far more helpful. It is literally a 10min, a slow 15min drive to Winterberg and everything you would expect a large ski resort to offer. One day i went skiing there for the morning and you can park literally seconds from the slopes and can be in the pool at CP literally 20mins later. It seemed that all the guests seem to use this resort as a base to go skiing - of a morning everyone would be in their ski gear, walking to the carpark to head off to the slopes. As i said, the staff really wouldn't help but other guests did. The CP website even has that they can hire to rent out ski equipment but they dont and this is misleading and needs to be changed. In all honestly it isnt much trouble but would be helpful if the CP offered to help. I hired my ski equipment in Winterberg for a really good price. ||||My only gripe about the stay was the staff. A few other reviews commented on this and very unusually for CP the staff could be a bit short and in general, and not just over the skiing, were not overly helpful as you would normally expect from a CP. Oddly the map they give you they have an English version but not the timetable which they give out about what is on ....what they didnt say is you can log on online and its all there in english. The app didnt download for whatever reason so I just used my laptop to log on and everything was in english. Not many staff spoke English and this did make things a little challenging but no massive issues. ||||The drive is a slog - took 8 hrs on a Friday from Calais and after we hit a lot of traffic but going back was more like 7 and was a lot smoother. ||||All in all, really good and I am looking at coming back next year as it seems the perfect mix of skiing and a centre parcs type holiday all...

We had a good week at this park and think it rates well against the British ones we have tried. It was about half the price (we were visiting outside of the german school holidays) and the range of amenities was better overall, if more appealing to younger children. The location is quite rural (rolling hills with lots of forest) so took a bit of driving. But the local town (Medebach) is an established tourist destination so there is plenty to do, even outside the park. We had the cheapest accommodation (comfort) and it was fairly basic but spacious and had everything we needed. The bathrooms appeared quite new and the beds were comfortable. You do have to pay for sheets/towels but the charge is not excessive. The swimming pool is typical for CP including waves, slides and areas for younger children. The swimming pool was bigger than parks we have visited in the UK and had a good range of slides plus an outside area (including deckchairs etc). Changing cubicles were a bit limited but, that aside, we really enjoyed it. The other major attraction for children is called the Spielberg (an enormous playground on a hill). It is advertised as part of the park but is actually just outside - literally adjacent - and free for any visitors to the area. You can walk to it from your chalet within 5-10 mins. One thing we hadn't realised about european CP was that all the parks are in fact open to non-residents (at a charge) so this probably does increase the numbers on certain days but we never felt it was overcrowded. Food-wise I have read some quite negative comments on here but we felt it was fine. There are several restaurants in the covered 'village centre' serving mostly german-style/international/italian food. There is also a pub/cafe on the Spielberg. Quality was decent and we thought the buffet (at the market restaurant) was pretty good. It is perfectly possible to cook in the houses (there was an oven and hob, sufficient crockery/knives/cutlery etc) and the prices at the supermarket were only slightly higher than at the shops in town. The staff at the park were polite and professional. There are possibly fewer staff here than we have seen at UK parks so you may have to queue a bit for reception / shops but I didn't find any to be rude and they were very responsive about any problems we had. Other positives that we noticed were free, reasonably quick, WIFI and easy access to your car (the parking is nearer and not as vast as in UK so you can easily nip into town). Would have given 4.5...

We had a good week at this park and think it rates well against the British ones we have tried. It was about half the price (we were visiting outside of the german school holidays) and the range of amenities was better overall, if more appealing to younger children. The location is quite rural (rolling hills with lots of forest) so took a bit of driving. But the local town (Medebach) is an established tourist destination so there is plenty to do, even outside the park. We had the cheapest accommodation (comfort) and it was fairly basic but spacious and had everything we needed. The bathrooms appeared quite new and the beds were comfortable. You do have to pay for sheets/towels but the charge is not excessive. The swimming pool is typical for CP including waves, slides and areas for younger children. The swimming pool was bigger than parks we have visited in the UK and had a good range of slides plus an outside area (including deckchairs etc). Changing cubicles were a bit limited but, that aside, we really enjoyed it. The other major attraction for children is called the Spielberg (an enormous playground on a hill). It is advertised as part of the park but is actually just outside - literally adjacent - and free for any visitors to the area. You can walk to it from your chalet within 5-10 mins. One thing we hadn't realised about european CP was that all the parks are in fact open to non-residents (at a charge) so this probably does increase the numbers on certain days but we never felt it was overcrowded. Food-wise I have read some quite negative comments on here but we felt it was fine. There are several restaurants in the covered 'village centre' serving mostly german-style/international/italian food. There is also a pub/cafe on the Spielberg. Quality was decent and we thought the buffet (at the market restaurant) was pretty good. It is perfectly possible to cook in the houses (there was an oven and hob, sufficient crockery/knives/cutlery etc) and the prices at the supermarket were only slightly higher than at the shops in town. The staff at the park were polite and professional. There are possibly fewer staff here than we have seen at UK parks so you may have to queue a bit for reception / shops but I didn't find any to be rude and they were very responsive about any problems we had. Other positives that we noticed were free, reasonably quick, WIFI and easy access to your car (the parking is nearer and not as vast as in UK so you can easily nip into town). Would have given 4.5...