I have to say Holland has never been on my 'to do' list - am not sure why, I suppose I have always been looking for somewhere that I thought would be more exotic, very different to the UK and of course warmer. However for our first holiday abroad as a family of 3 without a car I wanted to go somewhere not too far from home for our first adventure and above all, I wanted to go somewhere I have never seen before. Holland turned out to be the perfect option.
Holiday Begins
We arrived at Stratford International by train for 5pm and found our way to the food court. It was busy of course in the middle of a London mall at that time but I left hubby and little man Jack to find some seats with our man sized suitcase and backpacks while I popped to multiple food outlets to pick up the numerous food choices that everyone had picked. Westfield Stratford offers so many food choices, perfect for those passing through. I arrived back to the table laden down with popcorn chicken, chips, chow mein and spring rolls. We were famished and excited so we wolfed down the food and took a slow potter to Stratford station (Stratford International and Stratford are different stations but literally one is at one side of the mall and the other is at the opposite end), we purchased all our train tickets online beforehand via www.trainline.com (the total was about £50 for all our trains but a good tip is to book the moment they become available - the longer you wait, generally the more expensive they become) which made life a lot easier, we went through the barriers and used the lift to get us to the lower train level.
All of a sudden we were on the platform waiting for the train to Harwich International (Harwich Town is the terminus), the sun was shining and I really felt like I was in the holiday spirit :) The train was JAM PACKED with commuters when it pulled up but Jack had a seat and his Beano comic so I was satisfied to hang onto the pole next to him, by the time we got to the 2nd stop the train had emptied and we were able to all sit together. Harwich International is a small little station that national rail seems to have forgotten about but you head up the lift from the platform and you are there, in the ferry terminal which looks like a little airport waiting lounge. There were next to no foot passengers like us, lots of space and there was a cute little cafe that does the yummiest chocolate muffins. The lady at the desk informed us that the ship was a little late - bother! It was about an hour late and I started to wonder if the night crossing was the right thing to do after all, Jack was getting tired but instead of sitting quietly he was going into atmospheric hyper mode. Luckily it wasn't too long and we were passing our luggage through the machine that checks bags, and heading onto the ship. I eyed potential noisy people up suspiciously and hoped that they would be quiet, yup, am a stick in the mud when it comes to sleep - I don't care if people want to have a good time - post 10pm, I want QUIET! However I have to say that we had no problem with other passengers at all.
Onto the ship!
I have never been on a cruise ship and although this isn't a cruise ship I felt like it was! The cabin was much bigger than expected and slept 5, had a little tv and en suite toilet and shower. The bunk beds had metal sides for safety and the window was Jack sized! The ship had 2 restaurants, a bar, a shop, kids areas and a cinema! I was pleased! We had a zoom around the ship and took everything in. Watching the water as the sun went down was a beautiful moment and then we snuggled quickly into bed. Jack fell asleep instantly and didnt wake up until the captains announcement at 6.30am to give us a ship wake up call. I slept okay, hubby didn't sleep much but turns out he was too excited to sleep! (Typical - 7 year old sleeps beautifully while I considered throwing hubby overboard at one point!). A very smooth crossing - we didn't even know we were moving and as we got out of bed we saw the sun shining and before we knew it we could see land - hello Holland!
Cost of ship (4 berth cabin) with window booked direct with Stenaline: £300 return
Getting to the park
The next bit was the part I had a little apprehension about, actually using public transport in Holland to get to the park. We passed border control and walked out of the main entrance, the bus stop (looking for bus number 35) was literally right outside the terminal main entrance. You couldn't miss it. We however, did miss the bus, by 3 minutes, we only had to wait another 25 minutes though and another one was there. Right on time. The buses were reliable, clean and the bus drivers were super friendly and spoke excellent English (much better than my horrible version of Dutch!). What we hadn't banked on was that the buses in Holland don't accept cash! So we tentatively used our UK bank card with our fingers and toes crossed - it worked. No problem. The single journey cost the equivelant of about £10 and our destination was Leyenburg which according to my map was the south side of The Hague.
(This is the view when you leave the main entrance - if you see the little green sign - thats roughly where we waited for the number 35 bus.)
30 peaceful minutes later we were in Leyenburg. This next part was the only stressful bit of the trip and only because I got a little bit cocky and thought it would be 'nice' to walk through the Hague to the next bus rather than get the tram (the tram by the way is right next to the bus stop at Leyenburg) and is the option you should choose! We walked around in a big circle for over an hour with a little boy who needed a wee, a hungry husband who was getting tired of lugging a big suitcase and me wondering what we were doing. We did stumble across an amazing bakey though and that was the highlight of this part of the trip. We ended up right back where we started from and started looking for where to get a ticket for the tram. The trams were very frequent (when you are getting to the park get on the tram side that is closes to the bus stop) but we stood on the platform looking at them in desperation for over half an hour as we wondered how to buy a ticket! In the end hubby marched on and announced that when someone tried to throw us off for not having a ticket we could explain and get one from them. This however didn't happen and you use your bank card again to buy a ticket (adults you are looking for a 2 hour ticket, kids get an all day ticket). For all three of us it was about £6. So this whole escapade could have been avoided with 2 bits of knowledge: 1. Don't bother walking with kids and luggage, get the efficient tram and 2. Use your card to get your ticket on the tram! So at this point we were at Den Haag Central Station, super clean, super modern, very easy to navigate. Head down the lift, find the sign to the bus station (few steps to the right when you leave the lift) and go up a floor. The bus you are looking for is a number 44 to Duinrell. Well signposted so no need to panic here. We waited maybe 15 minutes before one came along. The lady driver was just as nice as the first and said to Jack 'you look really little, lets get you on for free' and with a smile and a wink let us through. Again the bus was clean, modern and plenty of space for our luggage. Another 30 minutes and we arrived in Duinrel! You can't miss this stop - there are green frogs and banners everywhere! We had arrived!
Checking In
By this time it was 1pm and we wondered the few metres from the bus stop into the reception, the main reception is for direct bookings only and we were booked with Eurocamp so the friendly lady explained and let us straight through. The Eurocamp reception was just through the gate and the staff, although young were polite, smiley and friendly. Even better our check in time was brought forward and we were able to go straight in! We had a 3 bed espirit caravan with decking, I would say that it was a low silver/bronze level as it was a bit tired but it was in a great location and clean. We didn't intend to spend a long time in the caravan so that was perfect. We had packed our own bedlinen (they wanted to charge us an extra 40 EUROS for bed linen so I bought 2 sets from Primark for £10 and took those - we left them there rather than carry them home). I had read about an ant problem at Duinrell and it was true that there were a few ants in the main room of the caravan but I found that a quick daily sweep and keeping all food in the fridge did the trick. The place certainly wasn't crawling but we had the door open most of the time to the deck when we were there so they wondered in. We paid for an 'essentials pack' - this wasn't very expensive under 10 EUROS and had washing up liquid, a toilet roll, a dishcloth etc. All those little bits that I didn't want to buy initially so I thought that was a good price.
The Amusement Park
The great thing about this park is that all the amusements are included (extra cost £0!) and they seem to offer something for everyone. I found the park really charming and for those of you who have been to and liked Blackgang Chine in the Isle of Wight will feel at home here! There is so much to do, we rarely had to wait to get on rides and our little boy had a lot of fun! Check out www.Duinrell.com to see the whole range of rides, please bear in mind that they are super strict on height, Jack is about 130cm and was disappointed he couldn't go on the taboggan ride as a lot of the 'older rides' have a minimum of 150cm but he was content to find something else he could do until he could visit again.
There is also a massive bike hire shop on site next to the Eurocamp reception, they have lots of different bike options. Jack got a go kart hire for the day this cost 13.50 EUROS for the entire day and he just adored it.
I had to laugh as there were a few weird peeing babies around!
The Tiki Pool
I have never been to a waterpark before but the Tiki pool is part of the amusement complex. Sadly this is NOT included in your price but is heavily discounted. The cost of this for 2 hours for 3 people was 15 EUROS. You have the option to spend all day here for an extra cost and for those who are waterbabies you absolutely could. We walked in and quite literally our jaws dropped! Water slides galore, a wave pool, several jacuzzis, a lazy river (I wanted to stay on there all day!) a safe slide area for around Jacks age and an adorable kids pool. Jack wanted to go on the larger slides but again there is a 150cm height restriction and you are asked if your child has a swimming diploma. Cameras are generally not allowed in the pool area and I wouldn't want to take one as it is impossible to stay dry with secret water spouts and buckets of water falling sneakily on heads! I took this one from their own site. Tiki pool is a must!
There are family changing rooms but I felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland here, you go in one door to get changed in your cubicle then you open the other door in the cubicle and it takes you to a locker room. No money is needed for lockers, you enter a code (you can choose English language) and the screen tells you your locker number. NOTE - remember your locker number and the time you entered the Tiki pool! I saw a lot of people who forgot both!
Food
Generally we found the food to be good quality on site in The Plaza area. There is a well stocked supermarket, people have said it is expensive but I didn't think it was that much more expensive than in Wassenaar itself. There is also a yummy pizzeria (pizzas to take out start at 7.50 EUROS for a medium margherita), the pizzeria was only open 4 evenings a week while we were there. There is also a takeout that serve nice food, they do burgers etc, kipcorn (like a deep fried chicken sausage - chicken nugget lover Jack was quite happy with that) and I tried the rotisserie chicken, oh my goodness, so lovely - not dry at all and full of flavour - they only offered my a whole one which was 8.50 EUROS.
The restaurant there is called La Place and I was very impressed with it.
For breakfast they had a buffet breakfast, it cost 30 EUROS for all of us and included meats, pots of tuna mayo, fresh smoothies, bacon, eggs, sausages etc as well as a whole bundle of pastries. By far this was Jack's best thing to eat! At dinner time the boys were not as enamoured as I was but there was plenty of choice, steak cooked in front of you, fresh salmon, sausages, lasagne, pizzas and stir fries, all cooked to order. There was one kids option which was a fresh burger with crudities and a smoothie with a Rik the Frog goodie bag. Dinner with drinks cost us about 40 EUROS. For breakfast and dinner we all agreed that the quality, freshness and taste were amazing.
Off site in the town (walkable in 5 minutes from reception) there are lots of choices for food. We sadly didn't make it to any of them as we were content on the park but next time its a must! Jumbo supermarket is in town and there is so much choice from this supermarket. For little ones there are trolleys to push around and puzzles around the shop to keep them occupied - Holland is very much geared up to children. Opposite is Kellys Expat shopping if you are desperate for some odd home bits!
Other things to do
Wassnaar is the Kings Town apparently so is small, clean, tidy and pretty. There is a beach nearby and The Hague, Leiden and Amsterdam are all do-able :)
Towards the end of the holiday Jack was getting quite tired, Duinrell wore out our 7 year old! The park also has a massive forest attached to it, we spent half a day wondering round here, it was lovely. We were able to breathe, connect with one another and feel the peace. Really was very beautiful.
Getting Home
Getting back to the Hook of Holland from the holiday park was much easier as we knew the drill. We got on a number 44 from the same bus stop we arrived at Duinrell on. Back to Den Haag Central and back on the tram to Leyenburg. On the number 35 bus to the Hook of Holland - simple this time! It cost the same as the first journeys :)
We travelled on the day crossing from the Hook of Holland to Harwich this time, it was about 6 hours but in all honesty it didn't feel like that amount of time however we all agreed we preferred the evening crossing. We left Holland at around 2pm and arrived back in the UK at about 8pm. A lot of people didn't book a cabin on the day crossing but we felt it was a neccessity, we were able to relax and rest in our room for a good few hours without feeling we were on display.
Holland we absolutely fell in love with you, Duinrell we will be back! Travelling with kid and no car - one adventure completed!
*Travelling June 2019
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