Netherlands - Efteling

whodini

Hi.
Wondering if anyone has any experience/advice/tips about a trip to Park Efteling in the Netherlands? Have booked return flights for five days to Amsterdam, two kids (7,11) and am now considering Maastricht also for a few days. Anyone who's had a brilliant holiday round those parts with kids willing to share their experiences?
Thanks.

wexie

whodini wrote: »

Hi.
Wondering if anyone has any experience/advice/tips about a trip to Park Efteling in the Netherlands? Have booked return flights for five days to Amsterdam, two kids (7,11) and am now considering Maastricht also for a few days. Anyone who's had a brilliant holiday round those parts with kids willing to share their experiences?
Thanks.

Ideally I suppose you'd fly to Eindhoven for the Efteling as it's much closer and it's a much smaller airport, if you're renting a car it'd be much easier to get in and out of as well. But if the flights are booked then Amsterdam will do.

My kids absolutely adored the Efteling, it's really a park for all ages between the rides and the fairy tales.

We had a cottage in the park which was brilliant as it allows you in an hour earlier to cut waiting times and there's quite a few activities and things where the cottages are as well.

I'm not sure if Maastricht would be great for kids, it's a fabulous city to see, lots of brilliant old architecture and shopping but not big on attractions for kids.

Something I would definitely recommend near the Efteling is Beekse Bergen.
About 30/40 minutes or so from the Efteling. They have a Safari Park and what they call Play Land

Maastricht would probably be about an hour and a half or so drive to get to and with that kinda travel there would be many other attractions in reach as well.

Can't think of any other specific recommendations but if you have an idea of where you'll be staying and how you'll get around (public transport or car) and what you're looking for let me know and I'll happily have a look.

*(am Dutch, speak the language, will help looking up train tables etc. etc. however you'll be fine getting along in English)

Oh and by the way we were in the Efteling for 4 days and the kids weren't even remotely bored for a minute of it.

whodini

That is so helpful, thanks a million. Yes, I've booked Amsterdam flights already - building the trip as I go and spreading the cost. I would like to spend at least a day exploring in Amsterdam. The kids will love Efteling so I'll book that for a couple of days. The other places sound brilliant too. We will be public transporting all the way! We love trains!
Thansk for the info!

PS Was the holiday cottage in Bosrijk?

fdevine

If you have time on the trip south of Amsterdam the European Space Agency/Space Expo in Noordwijk is worth visiting IMO.

https://www.space-expo.nl/en?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz6qcwciA3QIVFYbVCh1zEwRoEAAYASAAEgKeCPD_BwE

The Hague, if you've any interest in art, is also worth looking into. Scheveningen is close to The Hague & is home to the Madurodam

https://www.madurodam.nl/en

Holland is amazing. Enjoy

wexie

whodini wrote: »

I would like to spend at least a day exploring in Amsterdam.

Lots of stuff to see and do there, even for the kids. Train from Amsterdam airport takes about 15/20 minutes to get to Central station. Train departs from the arrivals hall in the airport. Last time I did it I think it was about 7 euro per person for a one way ticket.

whodini wrote: »

We will be public transporting all the way! We love trains!

Public transport information is here : https://9292.nl/en (in English). To get from Amsterdam to the Efteling you will need to go to either Den Bosch or Tilburg (I think the bus trip at the end is a bit shorter from Tilburg).

More public transport info here https://www.ns.nl/en

You can buy a return ticket to get to the Efteling here https://www.ns.nl/producten/en/losse-kaartjes/p/efteling-retour which includes train and bus. (but it's a return so may not suit you)

whodini wrote: »

PS Was the holiday cottage in Bosrijk?

Yes, Bosrijk is their own accommodation park, the other option would be the Efteling hotel but we preferred to go self catering (even though we ended up doing no cooking at all, there's a pizza delivery service there as well, and breakfast if I recall)

To get from the Efteling to de Beekse Bergen I think will probably involve 2 buses, one to get into Tilburg and another one out. Both should be about 30 minutes or so.

To get from Tilburg to Maastricht would be train, if you get the right one you won't have to change trains at all.

In case you didn't find it the Efteling's website is available in english here :

https://www.efteling.com/en and has all information with regards transport etc. etc.

murpho999

"Papier hier"


Efteling is a great theme park and make sure to bring the kids to "Het Sprookjesbos" or "Fairytale Forest" which has numerous displays all connected to the classic fairy tales and was how the park started.


As outlined above, the public transport is great in Holland but it might be worth your while getting the OV Chipkaart which is the same idea as the Leap card here but it gets you cheaper fares but you do need to keep a minimum balance to travel on the trains.

Information is here.

Carawaystick

Eftelling is brilliant, ours were 9/7/5 last year and spent 3 days there, staying in the Loonsche Land Hotel, a 20 min walk from the park


It seems a long trip by Public transport from Amsterdam >3hr though