Center Parcs De Eemhof — Hotel in Zeewolde

I'm going to start this review by stating that I was dubious about travelling here having read very mixed reviews from others who had recently been to this Center Parcs, but given our open-minded approach and past experience of another European Center Parcs (Bispinge Heide, Germany) these doubts were ill placed and I shouldn't have been worried as we all had an excellent stay and it met and exceeded our expectations. ||We stayed in apartment 24 which is on the waterfront and shared with other, non-Center Parcs residents and holiday makers; Center Parcs call this accommodation a "Water Front Suite VIP Apartment" |This location was wonderful, peaceful yet near enough to the main part of Center Parcs and the all important Aqua Mundo and other activities. One extra bonus about the waterfront location is that you can park very close to your accommodation and not have to leave your car in the large car park like usual, this also means you got quick entry/exit to/from the parc when you needed it. From your living room or the outdoor patio (apartment 24 is on the ground floor) you can watch the boats sail by and you get a wonderful sunset in the evening).|When we arrived we found the apartment perfectly clean and tidy with fresh towels, bed linen and kitchen essentials such as dishwasher tablets, cloths towels and a few other items all ready to go. There were some small (carry on size) toiletries in the bathroom too. Both bedrooms were a good size with the usual large wardrobe for clothes and bedside tables; the 'master room' had a safe which was free to use and a dresser with hair dryer. In the kitchen, there was a large fridge (also clean) and a good sized, 5-burner hob and microwave/grill appliance. The cutlery, crockery and pots/pans looked pretty new and of good quality - easy to make meals with.||The on-site shop was reasonable with a good selection of food to buy, prices were OK with the expected slightly higher prices to pay for the convenience of being nearby (think about your local village shop). Although we didn't use this facility, you could pre-order fresh breakfast rolls for delivery or go there yourself in the morning.||The all-important Aqua Mundo was clean, had plenty of lockers and the usual in/out changing rooms with Juliet type doors. I remember seeing one review saying that the doors didn't lock - they do, you just need to lower a catch which is part of the seat to lock both doors and protect your privacy. Inside, there's a good selection of slides including a duo-racer for the competitive ones and others besides. We found it well staffed and not too crowded at all, given that we were in the back end of the holiday season.||A particular mention needs to go out to the staff on the flow rider (an indoor body boarding wave machine) who were excellent in instructing and making sure everyone who had booked got the most out of their experience. I would highly recommend this activity (15EUR for 1 hour). On one occasion we had to rebook our time on this and the staff were more than happy to help to rearrange this at short notice, no bother at all. Their English was perfectly fine and they were attentive and polite.||Away from the pool, the 5-ish a side football tournament arranged by the staff in the afternoons was well attended and great fun for us all. There's also other play areas for children and teens of all ages, all well equipped and functioning. For an added bonus, especially if you like board games, there's giant, life-size Carcassonne to be played, which is truly amazing and its free to do!||Others have mentioned mosquitos and other flying insects being a bother here at De Eemhof. We didn't experience this at all, even though the weather was warm and dry (for the most part) and if anyone is gong to get bitten, it would be me! Maybe it's other people's bad luck but I'd ask what would you expect from summer-time and spending your holiday around a parc with standing water? This isn't Center Parc's problem either, it's nature - which is surely why you go to this place after all? In fact, on the ferry home I spoke to another holiday maker who had been bitten rotten in another part of the Netherlands so you could say it is country-wide. Like with the sunshine and sun cream, make preparations before you travel and take some DEET spray or equivalent and stop moaning.||In summary, you'll be just fine; go there expecting the usual Center Parcs experience which is primarily made for children who will have a great time and for parents to relax a bit. Don't expect a manicured, sterilised environment where nothing goes wrong - if you do, you are in it for the wrong reasons. Yes, you may encounter nature at its best but that is what it is all about - you are in nature. Yes, you may be unfortunate and the previous tenants in your accommodation haven't abided by the requests of the owners to leave it clean and good for the next holiday makers but on balance, I'm more than sure you will have a good time. Like everywhere in the world and all holiday destinations, be nice to the staff and they will be nice to you.||Go there...

We stayed in the marina in a VIP apartment. This was a really lovely spot - quiet, with amazing views. When we arrived though, we were later than expected and the barrier was down across the access road to the marina from the reception area. When we rang the help line they weren't very helpful due to the language barrier, which can't be helped. What we didn't know at the time, was you could access the marina directly from the main road if you left the resort and took the first left. Once we realised this we could park right next to the apartment. So only a minor inconvenience, but may help others caught in this situation. We had fresh baked goods delivered each morning to our apartment. These were sometimes pain au chocolat, rolls, croissants, or a mixture! They were always delivered still warm from the oven and were exceptionally tasty! They would leave them tied to the door handle anytime up until 8ish. The attainment itself was well equipped, but the sink was missing a plug (not sure whether this was by design our whether it was missing?) But had a dishwasher so not a problem. The sauna and jacuzzi bath were both amazing and incredibly well used during our stay! The walk to the swimming pool was no more than 10 minutes at a sedate pace, over a little stream, past the petting farm, and across a lake. It meant we were close enough to everything without the bustle! The petting farm was great - the lady in charge spoke little English, but was very helpful with what she could say. Children loved her, and it was apparent how much she loved the animals! The adventure centre was adjacent to the farm, and we only spent a short time in here because we were so busy with everything else. Of what we did see, it was well maintained and the children's play area was nice. Outside, the high types looked really fab, but unfortunately by this point pour daughter had a stinking cold, and was not up for that particular adventure! The main complex (shops, restaurants, swimming pool) had a lovely Mediterranean vibe to it. All was clean and tidy and well sign posted. The swimming pool was really great as you would expect from a center parcs. The only negative is that people hog seats by spreading all their possessions over as many as possible! This means there is no where to sit, but many empty seats just covered in towels. Think signs saying that belongings should be kept in lockers, and unattended towels/bags will be removed would quickly fix this, but once again a minor inconvenience only, and not the fault of the resort. We spent a large proportion of our time here on the outside rapids! These were immensely fun, but would advise to make sure your child can hold their own in currents before entering. It's easy to get separated, and on more than one occasion I saw a frantic patent trying to locate a child who had been swept away from them! Also, people will bump into you totally inadvertently with the nature of the rapids. If this is something that you won't like, don't go on them! It cannot be helped, but really seemed to upset some patrons. The water was a good temperature! The jacuzzi was hot, but the bubbles were not working when we visited. Overall, we had a brilliant time! The upgrade to the VIP apartment was well worth the money for the jacuzzi bath and sauna and fresh bread! Think it may have been on offer when we booked, because the difference in price was only small (about 50 euros) for the dates we chose. Think it should definitely be worth considering if your budget allows. Was a great spot for a day trip to efteling, and also a boat trip to Spakenburg. We also visited zaans schanse which was excellent. Would...

Visited as a single parent with three teenagers having spent a marvellous few days in Amsterdam. No car, used public transport to arrive and pleasantly surprised to find that the bus from Almere Central train station was free of charge. |The park was welcoming on arrival and as we walked to our accommodation, it all appeared well maintained and clean and tidy.|Despite arriving early, we were able to go straight into our accommodation - another very welcome and pleasant surprise.|However, having stayed at CP UK several times, I could not help but feel a pang of disappointment with how small the accommodation was: a 4 person ‘Premium’ cottage. Tiny kitchen, although well appointed. Bathroom ok, but the separate toilet was so small - my knees virtually touched the door when sitting on the loo and I’m under 5’5”!|The Aqua Mundo swimming pool was good. Busy, but good. Our first visit to it was pretty horrendous as everyone was chucked out of the pool 15 minutes early which meant a fight for changing rooms - we just avoided this scenario in future pool visits. The slides in general were pretty tame. Of the slides, the rapids were great, the duo racer was pretty good and the short, but fast, family slide was fun. We didn’t bother doing any of the others more than once. The waves felt better than at UK CPs, but the lazy river was very lazy and had a very weak current. |The only other CP activity we did was tenpin bowling which you can’t really go wrong with!|Unfortunately, we were not blessed with warm weather so none of the water sports that I thought we would do happened - it would’ve just been too cold.|We played a bit of football one evening on the multi sport pitch and ended up doing a 2v2 against some Dutch teenagers which was fun.|Thankfully we had hired bikes for our whole stay, so we got out and about on those exploring the local area - they saved our stay! Cycling is obviously very easy to do in the Netherlands - and fun!|However, I was really quite shocked with how expensive the park supermarket was. As we had no car, I had to do all my shopping there, which included basics like toilet roll and hand soap as this was not provided in the accommodation. Given the price I paid for the cottage, I do think this was poor. The accommodation was a little run down and tired in certain places too - I expected better. We did not eat out, I simply couldn’t afford it.|I was also disappointed with how scruffy the park was away from the main accommodation and Aqua Mundo/supermarket areas. The area around the high ropes and mini golf looked very run down and lacking in care. There was an area marked out as ‘Summer Vibes’ - I’m not sure what it was, but it looked so un-inviting considering we visited in the middle of the summer!|In my research before booking this trip, De Eemhof came out as a recommended CP for teenagers and was one of the main reasons for me booking it. I would say it was very poor for older teenagers and much more aimed at younger children under the age of 10.|I have always wanted to visit a European CP having heard good things about them from other people so I’m pleased we’ve done it. However, it’s not an experience I will ever repeat as I just didn’t really find it particularly enjoyable and wish we’d spent more time...