Hof van Saksen — Local services in Aa en Hunze

We had a great time here, but I was puzzled by many things and probably would not return. ||Our stand-alone bungalow cost a little bit more than a three-bed lodge at Elveden Center Parcs, and was MUCH nastier. It was very basic indeed, a bit grubby, and very small. There was used clothing from the last guests lying around, making me think no cleaners had even been in. All the doors in the corridor meet in the middle if more than one is open at one time. There is no counter space or mirrors in the bedrooms, and one bed was broken. ||I tried on many occasions to make spa bookings before I went, and was told I had to call up. This is not too handy for international customers, and when I got there the spa was completely booked up. Oh, ok. It would be great to either make this bookable on the app, or reserve some slots for those that could not easily book ahead. ||We wanted to do some lake water sports on our last weekend, and water sports were off all weekend, because of 'sickness'. This was disappointing and showed a lack of forethought and commitment to delivering promised services. It was ok to use your own paddleboard, apparently, so it wasn't a matter of health and safety; it was just no one was there to check them in and out. ||The map on my app didn't work at any point (whatever I clicked on, it told me that was my house – and actually, not every building on site was my house!), and as a poor navigator, I had a lot of trouble finding my way around at first without a working map. You can get a paper one from reception that does the job. ||Other things you need to know for a smooth time, but that they don't tell you, is that you need a 20 cent piece (!) for the swim lockers, and to take one of your two small towels from your accommodation, as no towels are available at the pool. Having gone to the pool with my two kids I had a really fun time sorting these two things out... ||The food, however, was uniformly fantastic, and the countryside surrounding the resort is replete with cycle lanes and interesting destinations such as the Hunebedden and Westerbork, which really made...

Very nice holiday park, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves despite the somewhat dreary weather.

House (824), 8 person luxury house: Good sized for the 5 adults and 2 kids (6 and 8) in our group. 3 toilets, 2 bathrooms with bath/shower. Decent size kitchen which was well equipped, the only thing missing was a pizza-slicer which is unfortunate since the park has the option to get pizza delivery to your accomodation!

Swimmingpool: Good sized for the amount of people on the park when we went these (on a switch-day), 3 pools indoor, including kiddy and "proper" swimming pool. Wild-water slide was the only one of the 4 slides that our youngest was allowed to go in which clearly was a big disappointment, they could do with at least one more slide that is accessible for under 7 years old.

Restaurants: Grand Cafe (Dinner): Staff was friendly and helpful, small play area/TV for the kids to entertain themselves while we were waiting for the food (which was not long). Good quality food, decent size portions. Can definitely recommend the smooker menu! There was a slight problem with the dessert order for our youngest one which was very quickly noted and resolved with a smile and a joke make the overall experience a pleasant one. Gastro bar (Dinner): Staff again very friendly, good quality food. This is a "Drentsche tapas" style arrangement, BUT... the time between ordering and the food actually getting out to the table was waaaaaay to long. Seems the kitchen isn't equipped/adjusted to delivering the requested "tapas" quickly enough for this to actually work. The concept is nice, but needs a little tweaking in execution.

Other activities on-site: We went bowling and the kids went onto the trampolines which was all well organised.

Activities in the area: Camp Westerbork is definitely worth a visit and obviously when in Drenthe, one needs to visit at least one hunebed. Can definitely recommend the hunebedcentrum a 10 or 15 minute drive...

Best Landal/Center Park I ever visited.

We visited Hof van Saksen with Family and Friends for 10 Days in Summer 2018. We frequently book these Kind of Accomodation for our respective Vacations, because we got 3 little Children (Age 1,4,5).

But the Hof von Saksen shifted our Experience to a whole new Level! I'll Bullet-Point my Experience:

The House was big, clean, new, well equipped and mantained. All Furniture and Inventory was of high Quality (Stainless Steel, massive Wood, known Quality Brands).

The Staff was friendly, always helpful and perfectly organized. When we asked for anything, we got it almost immediately. We where never referred to somewhere else, they always did everything just right on the spot.

Good & Stable WiFi everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE! On the Lake, in the Restrooms, somewhere on the Lawn... EVERYWHERE!

The Edutainment Program was just great. Children and Parents loved it, this is way, way better than those old-school Children-Entertainement Programs I encountered elsewhere. And again everything was well staffed, well stocked and of Quality.

The lake and the playground is fantastic. It's also very safe, so Parents can relax while the Children play.

The Indoor Pool is well organized, clean, well staffed and overall: LOADS OF FUN! Our Children rode the Wild-Water-Slide nearly 50 times, I suppose.

One Thing that surprised me: Most Things where included, and you didn't have to pay extra. But even if we had to, most prices were very moderate. I.e. One could buy swimming Eqipment in the Indoor-pool, and the pricing was as low as if we had bought online.

Overall, I strongly recommend this Park, and we're already planning on visiting again.

Update April 2023 - visited again and everything said above...