The Ultimate Guide to doing Center Parcs in Belgium
If you have avoided a Centre Parcs holiday in the past because you thought it wasn’t an affordable option, then hopefully this blog will change your mind! We got this holiday at the De Haan Center Parcs on a Black Friday Deal which cost just over £500 for eight people, taking £300 off the usual price.
Tempted? Well here is everything you need to know about the resort.
What is Center Parcs?
The pool at Centre Parcs De Haan
Center Parcs is a family-friendly, European network of holiday villages. Each location has gorgeous surroundings and the parks are located in beautiful natural areas, with cottages in the heart of the forest or at the water's edge. There are activities for everyone from bikes to rent and rock climbing to playgrounds and trampolines. There are pools, waterparks and slides galore too, making it a perfect choice for a family getaway, no matter what ages make up your group.
About Center Parcs De Haan
Center Parcs De Haan is a small child-friendly holiday park with a great pool complex and activities for all the family. It’s situated on the Belgium coast, near to Belgium’s most attractive beach and the location makes a great base for exploring.
If city sights are more your thing, historic Bruges is only 30 minutes away.
How we got there?
We chose to travel by ferry then drove to the park from there which was about an hour’s drive which, believe it or not, was actually quicker door-to-door (and cheaper!) than flying. Travelling this way is perfect for us as a young family as it meant the kids had more freedom, could explore on the ferry and we had no luggage restrictions. We definitely overpacked and even took the kid’s bikes and scooters!
Accommodation
Our accommodation was a Premium Cottage
There are three types of accommodation at this site; VIP Cottage, Premium Cottage and Comfort Cottage, and they vary in size, sleeping two to 12 guests.
We stayed in the Premium Cottage that slept eight as we travelled with our friends. It had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, one separate toilet, outside seating and table, lots of handy things for kids like a toilet seat/step, cot, stair gate and highchair. It also included lots of essentials like hand towels, dishcloths and tea towels, dishwasher tablets, bin bags and bed linen.
The accommodation exceeded my expectations - it was really modern, well-decorated and had everything we needed.
I would say that the only downsides were that the kitchen was a bit snug for the eight of us when preparing dinner. And I would say that we could have benefitted from more storage space and the outside space could have done with being more enclosed for the kids.
Food and drink
One great thing about Center Parcs is that you really don’t have to leave the site to feel like you’re on holiday, and that includes eating.
At De Haan, there are four restaurants and whilst they can be pricey, they offer great convenience if you want to eat out. The restaurants provided a great selection of food to suit all tastes:
Tasty is a buffet restaurant which serves a wide range of foods including meat, fish, salad, veg, and drinks were all included in this too. This is open for breakfast and dinner
Frituur is a fast-food style restaurant open for lunch and dinner which serves burgers, chips, nuggets etc. There are two sides to this restaurant so you can eat inside the restaurant or inside the swimming pool dome.
3. Tasty is a buffet restaurant which serves a wide range of foods including meat, fish, salad, veg, and drinks were all included in this too. This is open for breakfast and dinner
4. Frituur is a fast-food style restaurant open for lunch and dinner which serves burgers, chips, nuggets etc. There are two sides to this restaurant so you can eat inside the restaurant or inside the swimming pool dome.
5. Il Giardino is an Italian restaurant which, as you can imagine, serves lots of pasta, pizza and antipasti dishes along with toasties, too. This restaurant was open for lunch and dinner.
6. Grand Café is a fab all-rounder restaurant that serves a wide range of food from paninis, salads, steak and burgers. This restaurant was open for lunch and dinner.
Our favourite was the buffet restaurant as it had a great variety and all the food was really warm and fresh for a buffet. But don’t forget you’ve got a full kitchen in the accommodation so you can save loads by eating in instead!
Shops
There is a shop on-site which has everything you may need and then some! From food and drink to cleaning products, toys and homeware. Perfect for convenience if you run out of something and don’t have time to go off-site.
We went to three different beaches while we were here
Fun things to do
What I noticed during our stay at Center Parcs De Haan is that it’s truly family friendly. Despite this being a smaller site, there was so much to do, we were really spoiled for choice.
We didn’t do all of these things but here are some of the things you can do on-site:
Aqua Mundo - this was incredible! It’s basically an undercover huge (heated!) pool/swimming paradise filled with palm trees and there’s a wave pool, water rapids, lazy river, hot tubs, two water slides, a children's pool and, of course, a large outdoor pool.
Soft play - this was open 10am-9pm everyday. It was free and was absolutely huge and had so many different activities to keep the kids occupied.
A favourite day! We hired bikes for a bike ride around De Haan, to the beach to get an icecream.
Bowling - this was chargeable but the cheapest time to do this was between 9am-1pm and it cost €27.50 per lane for 55 mins.
Bike hire - we hired bikes with seats on the back and had a 10km bike ride around De Haan, to the beach to get an icecream - our favourite day. Bikes can be hired for a day and up to a maximum of seven days. Adults day hire was €16 and kids hire was €12. You could also add a child’s seat for €3.50 for the day.
Animal Farm - the on-site farm was a huge hit with the kids - free to access and you could go down to feed the animals in the morning. They had lots of different animals including sheep, goats, donkeys, chickens, pigs, rabbits and ducks etc. They also did feeding times for free which the kids loved.
Mini golf - always a fun family activity and it costs €8 for a game.
Safari truck - this was a great activity and the kids get the full safari package including jeep keys and safari hats! The jeeps drive themselves at walking speed, but you stay in control with a stop button. It cost €15 for 30 minutes.
Trampolines - there huge trampolines on site which the kids enjoyed. It cost €2 for 10 minutes.
Entertainment e.g. kids disco and quiz night - free
Spa treatments - the spa offered treatments like massage, facials and body treatments for extra cost.
How to book activities
There are electronic interactive booking pods dotted around the market dome which you can use to book your activities on. There are a range of activities that are included in the price and don’t need booking and then there are a selection of activities that need to be pre booked and incur a charge.
Things to do nearby
The location of Center Parcs De Haan is a great spot if you want to explore the local area.
Beach days
We went to three different beaches while we were here:
De Haan beach is about a 10 minute bike ride away
Ostend Beach is around 30 minutes by car. It’s a nice quiet beach with free parking near the airport
Strand Wenduine Beach is 10 mins away in the car and you get an hour free parking on the road
Bruges
De Haan is about half an hour away from the gorgeous city of Bruges where there is so much to do and is a great day out. We took a boat trip which was a brilliant way to see the sights with kids who don’t want to walk for hours! This was €15 for adults and €9 for children for half an hour but it was a full guided tour so we learnt lots on the way round. Parking was around £11 for the day.
Choco Story
Choco Story chocolate factory tour was also lots of fun in Bruges. It was great for kids as they had their own handheld audio to listen to the facts around the tour. It cost €38 euros for the four of us and we were there around two hours
De Slierberg
This is a really nice woodland park which is great for all ages of children. It has a big slide, climbing ropes course and stick den building.
Things to bring with you
I always find it handy to know what is/isn't included in holiday park accommodation so hopefully this will give you an idea of what you’ll need to think about bringing with you!
Two lots of towels for swimming/showering
Kitchen essentials - surface spray, sandwich bags, hand wash, washing up liquid, kitchen roll etc
Bathroom essentials - bath mat, extra toilet paper, hand soap etc
More hangers if you like to hang your clothes up (there are roughly six hangers per room)
Kids essentials- buckets, spades, bikes, scooters, helmets, games.
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Would I go back?
Absolutely! And it has inspired us to try other European Centre Parcs too. The one near Disneyland Paris is next on my hit list!
FAQs
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Yes, absolutely! We got this holiday on a Black Friday Deal taking £300 off the normal price.
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We booked it straight through Center Parc Eu
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There are charging points on site and we found others by searching on an app called Zapmap.
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We had the Premium cottage which included beds made up on arrival and a kitchen bundle which included, tea towel and hand towel. All accommodation types come with bedding but depending on accommodation you will have to make them up on arrival.
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Yes there is a kids club however we did not use this service as our kids are too young.
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Yes WiFi is available and FREE (hurrah!) in and around the park.
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In addition to the on-site supermarket, you can also take a short 5-minute drive to a local Aldi to get all your shopping/ essentials.
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