Duinrell or holiday in France by train

chocolatepennyfarthing

Thinking of going to Duinrell early July ideally by train as not very keen on flying or ferry. Would be going from London. Has anyone any experience of doing this and can advise re cost and length of journey etc and Can we easily get around once there by public transport? What are best stations to go to? Also, is it cheapest to book accommodation direct with Duinrell? Does resort/area have enough to keep Older teenagers entertained? Sorry re all the questions.
would also be interested in any French sites worth considering.

Voyager2002

For any question related to rail travel, your starting point is The Man in Seat (website).

John259

chocolatepennyfarthing wrote: »

Does resort/area have enough to keep Older teenagers entertained?

Have you seen this video of the park on YouTube, it seems to give a good idea of what's on offer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQVVgmLDOk4
BTW there are quite a few other videos about the park on YouTube but I haven't explored them.

shoppingnoodles

Hi there.


Sorry I can't answer your questions about getting there by train, as we took our car / ferry, but I can tell you lots about Duinrell with teenagers. We took our 3 then aged 10, 13 and 14 there 18 months ago and honestly, they has a ball.


The theme park is great and if you are staying on the camp, its free all day. In the evening it is closed to non residents, but campers can still use it for an hour or so. There are lots of teenagers staying there and our lot made friends quickly. There are swing parks and seating areas around the park that can be accessed all evening, so they would go off and meet up. We were glad of this, as perhaps our only grumble about the park is that despite booking the largest possible static, it was very small and it would have been difficult for 5 of us to be cooped up every evening.


The water park is fun and opens at certain times to residents only. Outside of these times it gets very busy. There is a terrific Pancake restaurant 3 minutes walk down the street from Duinrell and we had some good nights out there too.


Wasinaar itself is just a 5 minute stroll away and its a really lovely town. There is a massive, amazing ice cream parlour that serves an almost unimaginable range of flavours at very low prices. It also has free wi fi, which made it a big hit.


The supermarkets are good and the locals are incredibly friendly. The shops are excellent and the teens can walk into town safely, as there is a traffic free path from the park. We needed directions on our first day and stopped a passing gentleman, who turned out to be the Mayor! Everyone we met was very friendly and helpful. I would have thought it was pretty easy to get around by public transport, as Holland is set up very well for this. I would really recommend a trip to Delft, as its easy to get round by foot.


The very best bit was the Ghost Walk put on by the kids club. In my opinion it isn't for young kids at all (the 10 year old had to be taken home as it was a bit too scary), but the adults and teens LOVED it. They still talk about it now. I won't give too much away, but honestly it's totally brilliant and VERY well thought out.


Have a great holiday. I am quite envious we aren't going this year!

Nebulous2

Very little advice to offer as we are driving and taking the ferry, but we are having a week there this year. It gets some very positive comments on UK campsite (UKCS)

icklejulez

I went to Duinrell last September and I have to say my 3 loved it and said it was their best holiday ever. And we have been to Disneyland 3 times. We went the last week of August and the park was dead as most Europeans were back at school, however there were plenty of English children and ours made friends immediately. When your there everything is cheap onsite and in the village. I am currently working on the OH to allow me another trip this year. Every parent I spoke to said that they loved the park and were shocked by it.

chocolatepennyfarthing

That interesting re lady week in Aug. Have that week off work but was going to book another week early July as thought Aug week would be heaving.

martindow

Voyager in post 2 mentioned the best site to look at for rail travel. Here's a link to the French page

http://www.seat61.com/France.htm

I can thoroughly recommend train travel in Europe and seat61's advice.

*smurfy*

Not sure where you are in the UK but have you looked at http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry-to-holland/rail-and-sail to get to Duinrell. I have always been there by car but theres a bus stop right outside camp. I love Duinrell and the area,going back this year with the sun holidays,but as you want school hols take a look at eurocamp,or site direct.

zagfles

As above Duinrell is superb - there've been lots of threads about here so have a search. We went by car but the public transport in Holland is good so I wouldn't think it'd be too hard to get there by train/bus. There's probably info on the website.

We booked direct, IIRC I gave card details over the phone rather than online, they speak good English!