Those of you who follow me on social media will know that I recently took the kids on an 8 day trip to the Netherlands. We stayed at Beekse Bergen in Hilvarenbeek (near Tilburg) which was recommend to us by Little Clogs Holidays. This is not an ad for them but if you are looking for holidays in The Netherlands or Belgium they have an absolute wealth of knowledge so I highly recommend them!
Beekse Bergen is a great place for families to stay. There are 3 different options to choose from:- Lake Resort, Safari Resort or Safari Hotel. The Safari Hotel opened earlier this year and from what I’ve seen it is beautiful! There are different size rooms and suites to choose from, all with views overlooking the safari park. They even have connecting rooms for groups of 8-10 and wheelchair accessible rooms too. Safari hotel bookings include buffet breakfast each morning of your stay.
The Safari Resort has a choice of safari tents, lodges or tree-houses to choose from. I’m gutted I didn’t know about the tree-houses until AFTER our trip! That definitely would have been a fun option for us. All of the Safari Resort options are self catering. They can house up to 14 people depending on which size you choose. The resort centre, Karibu Town, has a restaurant, indoor pool, plus indoor and outdoor playgrounds. Ranger Basecamp offers various children’s activities throughout the day and evening. These include crafts, workshops, sports and more.
The Lake Resort is similar with Safari tents, log cabins and chalets known as jungalows. Many of these have views over the lake and they are all located in the woodlands. We opted for the Lake Resort for our stay as I love being near the water. Having the view of the lake felt so peaceful after busy fun-filled days. There are lots of wild birds around the Lake Resort which we really enjoyed too. We had daily visits from geese, ducks, water fowl and more.
Our jungalow had 3 bedrooms, a bathroom with shower, a living area with TV, Kitchen with dishwasher, fridge and microwave over, plus a dining area. We also had a little patio with a picnic bench outside which was lovely to sit and eat at while watching the lake.
At the centre of the resort is Ganvie Village which has the indoor pool, supermarket, take away, restaurant, launderette, plus indoor and outdoor adventure playgrounds. We also loved hanging out on the beach in the evenings and watching the sunset. There is regular entertainment for the whole family including crafts, sports, marshmallows on the campfire, workshops, shows and more. We watched The Lion King Musical on the beach one evening and it was fantastic! Admittedly we couldn’t understand the words as it was all in Dutch but the show was captivating nonetheless.
On the Lake Resort you can pay to hire kayaks, paddleboards and also bikes, trailers,etc. So many different options! We unfortunately ran out of time to make use of these but the bikes in particular were very popular.
The swimming pool complex at the Lake Resort has 3 areas. One aimed at younger kids with very shallow water, play frame, water jets and little slides (see pic below). The middle pool is a standard rectangle ideal for playing in or swimming. The third is an infinity pool with views over the lake (dreamy!) and relaxing jacuzzi seats. The big water slide for all ages was a huge hit with my kids. They spent hours going up and down on it, even Baby Bear! The pools were all lovely and warm. There are plenty of floats, armbands and life vests to borrow too should you need them.
All of the resorts have free transport on the Ostrich Express to get you from one resort to the other or to the safari park. Anyone staying at Beekse Bergen has unlimited free access to the Safari Park next door which is absolutely amazing! I’ll write a full separate review on that as its such a huge place. You will definitely need at least 2 days to do it properly! Speelland (Playland) is also included free as well and well worth a visit. You can get a boat ferry across the lake to it from the Lake Resort (which we loved!). Speelland has water slides, pedal cars, mini golf, bumper boats, pedalos, playgrounds and more to enjoy. You can easily spend at least a day there.
As well as Speelland and the Safari Park, guests at Beekse Bergen also get free entry to 4 other attractions, plus various discounts at other attractions too. It’s a great way of filling your holiday with things to do without paying out any extra on entry fees! If you don’t mind paying a bit extra then I highly recommend you visit Efteling theme park which is about a 20 minute drive away. IT IS AMAZING! Again, I will write a separate review for that as its such a big place. The rides and the shows are just brilliant and well worth the price in my opinion.
All in all, if you are looking for a family holiday in The Netherlands then Beekse Bergen literally has everything you could possibly need. It’s well priced, easy to get to, the facilities are great and the staff are really friendly. I highly recommend it and would go back again in a heartbeat!
hi there,
great review, we are heading there this summer and also plan to visit Efteling. Was this included in one of the places you said you got additional discount for?
Thank you
Hi Jas, I’m afraid its not included in the discounts we got at Beekse Bergen so we paid full price. It was worth every penny though!
Do you think you can do it in one day or would you miss lots? Also will it be chilly in May ?
No we barely managed to cover the safari park in 2 days so I don’t think you could do all of it in just 1 day but you could certainly do a reasonable amount. The weather is similar to the UK so can vary!