FAMILY FUN IN HOLLAND

Holland has numerous theme parks, zoos, nature parks and museums that will guarantee a great time for kids of every size, this is a fun and interesting place for the whole family.

The best way to see this country is by car because everywhere you want to visit is within a 3 hour drive, so I would recommend either travelling there by ferry or hiring a car from the airport. Travelling by car will give you the opportunity to stop and explore interesting cities full of beautiful parks, museums and attractions, plus many attractive towns where you can relax in the square and enjoy coffee and delicious Dutch pastries whilst listening the magical sound of the town clocks chiming out there distinctive themes. En-route you will also travel through breathtaking countryside, often alongside a river or canal.

On this trip we explored the cities of Eindhoven and Arnhem in the southern and eastern regions of the country:

EINDHOVEN (www.vvveindhoven.nl)
This is a hidden gem located in the southern heart of Holland. Its wide diversity of modern art and architecture go hand-in-hand with monumental buildings and the city has developed itself into a modern town and centre of fashion, design and technology. Eindhoven is most famous for its association with Philips, Holland's first multinational, and it’s attractions include a spectacular indoor karting track and a beautiful park with wonderful attractions and facilities for families.

Philips Light Bulb Factory
Here you can see how light bulbs where made in the 19th century. This is where the Philips brothers first produced their now world-famous light bulbs and visitors can experience the atmosphere of the 19th century during a tour of the first and oldest Philips factory building located right in the city centre. Housed in the same building is the Artificial Light in Art Museum which shows collections of paintings and sculptures related to the use and effects of artificial light. This fascinating collection includes over 600 objects including light sculptures, paintings, pastels, gouaches, antique and modern graphic works (lithos, etchings, silkscreen prints) and posters.
Brochures and tours are available in English.
www.kunstlichtkunst.nl

Genneper Parks
Fun and nature combine for all the family in Genneper Parks, an area of natural beauty with many recreational opportunities and situated close to the centre of Eindhoven. Cycling and walking routes take you past the most beautiful spots and hidden amongst the greenery you will find fascinating attractions for young and old, such as swimming paradise De Tongelreep, the Historic Open Air Museum, the Ice Sports Centre, the Environment Educational Centre, and various indoor and outdoor sports facilities including a golf and miniature golf course.

Historic Open Air Museum
Here you will discover what life was like in the Iron Age and Middle Ages. The museum includes a typical prehistoric village from the Iron Age called “Eversham”, and a small medieval city called “Endehoven”, where you will see animals rummaging around and people in prehistoric and mediaeval clothing working in and around their houses. On Sundays and during school holidays children can obtain a ‘Children-Action-Card’ which enables them to participate in all types of activities such as felting bracelets, cutting wood, cooking on a log fire, baking bread and even throwing lances! This is a very family friendly place to spend a day.
There is a loose sheet guide available in English.
www.historisch-openluchtmuseum-eindhoven.nl

Ecological Farm
Visitors can roam freely around the Genneper Farm and enjoy areas full of wild flowers, fields full of grain, chickens, cows and pigs. A visit here introduces you to the atmosphere in the Brabant farming community and provides a realistic picture of the daily work involved with maintaining the environment and running an animal- friendly farm and a cheese dairy.
www.genneperparken.nl

Swimming paradise De Tongelreep
Located in the heart of the Genneper Park, this is one of the largest swimming complex’s in Holland. It has a sub-tropical swimming pool with wave generator, slides and rapids, whirlpools, herb and steam baths, large outside pools with exciting slides, bridges, terraces and a separate pool for young children. This is a children’s paradise, there are so many things to do and the outside lawns are a great place for families to relax on a hot summers day.
www.tongelreep.nl

Ice Sports Centre
There is plenty of skating fun to be had for the whole family in this splendid indoor ice sports centre with a massive 8400sq/mt’s of ice. The centre houses three individual rinks: an ice hockey rink, a training rink and a 400-metre rink, and organises countless activities. On Friday evenings they have a disco dance on ice, and Sunday mornings are dedicated to family sessions.
www.genneperparken.nl

Van Abbemuseum
The Van Abbemuseum is one of the leading museums of modern and contemporary art. The exhibition space houses a revolutionary exhibition programme that highlights all the latest developments in contemporary art, its own internationally renowned collection, with famous masterpieces from Picasso, Chagall, Lissitzky, Beuys, and many more. If the sun shines it's just delightful to be on the museum terrace overlooking the river Dommel, or on rainy days you can lose yourself among the many exhibitions and treat yourself to a delicious lunch or high tea in the museum restaurant.
www.vanabbemuseum.nl

DAF Museum
The DAF Museum houses over 120 historic vehicles and automobiles, varying from a single seat ‘Riding Raincoat’ to the Royal Beach Car, which has to be seen to be believed. Technology and the romance of times gone by go hand in hand here, all the family will enjoy this.
Brochures and tours are available in English
www.dafmuseum.com

OTHER ATTRACTIONS NEAR EINDHOVEN:

Efteling (Kaatsheuvel)
Eindhoven is an ideal base from where to visit this amazing wonderland of fairytales. All the family will enjoy this dazzling theme park with its fairytale characters, stories, magic and attractions. The imposing Efteling Theatre is located near the entrance to the park, a building designed in the lavish style traditional for Efteling and is one of the five largest theatre facilities in the Netherlands. The new Efteling Fairy Tale Show is performed three times a day (five times a day in the peak season), with fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Besides this, the theatre stages the most enchanting musicals in the autumn and winter months, such as Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid and the new musical TiTaTovenaar. (note that despite all the performances being in Dutch they are still spectacular)The park is divided into realms and in the Fairy Realm visitors will meet many familiar characters from 24 well-known fairy tales, including Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel and the People of Laaf who live in their very own village called Lavelaar. Villa Volta is an exceptional place, a haunted villa full of mysteries and secrets. In the Adventure Realm excitement and sensation are the order of the day - the largest swinging ship in the world is located here, as is the Python, a roller-coaster with two loops and a corkscrew twist. In the Alternative Realm you can enjoy a hair-raising descent on a Swiss toboggan run, go on an exciting boat trip through the Forbidden City or visit the Haunted Castle. The Travel Realm boasts a flying temple that goes up 45 meters from where you have great views of the Efteling complex. Also here is the Vogel Rok, a roller-coaster ride on the Rok bird that flies through the dark at thundering speed. This amazing theme park has everything for children of all ages.
www.efteling.nl

Dippie Doe Family Park (Best)
The indoor play park has soft play areas for younger children and a giant maze with big slides and climbing walls for the older ones. Outdoors there’s an adventure trail for the children to explore and a small golf course.
www.dippiedoe.nl

Klompenmuseum de Platijn (Best)
Here you can see how clogs are made and the many different types of clogs used by Dutch people for working and for going to church and weddings. There’s also a small workshop where the children can enjoy painting their own clogs as a souvenir.
www.klomp-en-kunst.nl

Beiaard-en Natuurmuseum (Asten)
In this small rural museum children can learn everything they need to know about clocks and even get to assemble them. There’s also a nature museum where children can do searches and learn about nature in the area.
www.museumasten.nl

Cheese Farm de Ruurhoeve (Hoogeloon)
All the family will enjoy seeing and hearing about the process of making cheese, from milking the cows to maturing the finished product.
www.deruurhoeve.com

Parrot Park (Veldhoven)
More than 3500 parrots and cockatoos, many kinds of fish, reptiles, turtles, squirrels, emus and kangaroos can be seen in this animal refuge shelter. It has one of the largest aviaries in the world, an educational centre, a playground and several picnic places in the surrounding forest area which make it an ideal location to spend a family day out.
www.papegaai.org

Dierenrijk Europe (Mierlo)
This small zoo keeps almost all the animals that live in Europe. This is an ideal place to spend a day because it’s compact and not too tiring. There’s a forest, swamp, mountains, playground and a cinema showing films about nature.
www.dierenrijkeuropa.nl

Gemeentemuseum Helmond (Helmond)
Children can search to discover how residents used to live in the castle in former times and have great fun exploring in the basements to collect answers to all their questions.
www.gemeentemuseumhelmond.nl

s-Hertogenbosch
This charming town whose rather bewildering name literally means ‘The Duke’s Forest‘, (a reference to the medieval castle and woodland that dominated the area when the town was founded in 1185), is located north-west of Eindhoven and well worth visiting. Known to locals as Den Bosch (pronounced Den Boss), the preserved buildings, old canals, maze of narrow streets and alleys that follow the line of fortifications dating back to the Eighty Years’ War, enhance the old-worlde charm of this town dubbed European Historic Fortress Town 2005. An excellent way to experience the city is by taking to the water on a canal boat tour.

ARNHEM (www.vvvarnhem.nl)
Situated on the banks of the Rhine, Arnhem is the capital city of the province of Gelderland, known as the ‘Green Heart’ of Holland. This vibrant city is a perfect base to explore the region and its many family-friendly attractions include the magnificent Hoge Veluwe National Park; Burgers’ Zoo, which has a tropical rainforest, jungle, desert and safari park; the Netherlands Open Air Museum; a toy museum; numerous petting farms and excellent play areas.

The Hoge Veluwe National Park and the Kröller Müller Museum
One of our most favourite places in Holland is the National Park De Hoge Veluwe, which covers around 5,500 hectares making it one of the largest National Parks in the country. The park is home to red deer, roe deer and wild boar and was founded by a wealthy philanthropic Dutch-German couple called Helene and Anton Kröller Müller. Anton Müller bought the estate as a hunting ground and Helene used it for her incredible art collection, which is now undoubtedly one of the best in Holland. With 42 kilometres of well signposted cycle and walking paths the park offers excellent opportunities for safe family cycling and walking. Maps indicating all the routes within the park are available at the entrance, although everywhere is well signposted. Here the children can safely run free and you can endlessly ramble or cycle and enjoy the space and peacefulness. The best way to see the park is to use the free white bicycles, which are available at various pick-up points throughout the park. (including smaller bikes for children).
www.hogeveluwe.nl

The Kröller Müller Museum is located in the middle of the park and is a must place to visit. Cars are banned from most of the park so to get to the museum, either walk, take the park bus or one of the free white bikes. The highlight of the museum is a great collection of 278 paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and there’s also masterpieces from Seurat, Picasso, Mondriaan and Renoir. Children will love the unique underground museum which explains hidden life beneath the earth’s surface and includes the exposed roots of a living beech tree. Then the artwork continues outside with an impressive 25-hectare sculpture garden filled with over 100 interesting and unusual sculptures from this century set amidst stunning landscaped gardens and woodland, an ideal and interesting place for families to explore.
www.kmm.nl

Burgers’ Zoo
Burgers’ Zoo is not an ordinary zoo, the 18 hectares park houses more than 3,000 animals in a real Safari Park, Savannah, and a spectacular Rainforest and Desert. Its referred to as “A trip around the world in one day“ and apart from all the animals you normally see in a zoo, you'll find that all of them live here in their own natural environment.

The Safari Park was established in 1968 and is the oldest in continental Europe. Giraffes, zebras, antelopes, rhinos, lions, cheetahs and a number of African bird species can be studied and admired from a 250-metre-long walking bridge that leads you all the way through this section of the park. It gives you the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful panorama in peace and quiet and from a beautiful vantage point. The Rainforest is a purpose built greenhouse showing numerous plants and birds in their natural tropical surroundings. Travelling along narrow paths and over suspension bridges you make your way through this huge tropical paradise where you will see exotic plants, hear the sound of cascading waterfalls, meet turtles, Caymans, otters and other exotic animals. In the Desert section you can imagine yourself in a real desert with rock masses and canyons, six meter high cactuses and an oasis. Look out for snakes and scorpions, and large animals, such as big horn sheep and red lynxes. From the desert you can walk to the tropical ocean. Here you slowly descend deeper and deeper from the beach into the ocean where under water you can admire all kinds of colourful tropical fish. In the coral reef you have the opportunity to see morays, grunts, clown fish, sponges, sea anemones, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and corals.

There’s so much to see and do here, its both educational and enjoyable for the whole family.
www.burgerszoo.nl

The Netherlands Open Air Museum
This wonderful museum gives visitors the opportunity to discover and experience how Dutch people have lived over the last 250 years. The vast museum park has been designed to provide a hands-on image of Dutch daily life in yesteryear. You will need a full day to explore the 85 authentic buildings ranging from an historic paper mill, an old school, bakery and a 1950’s health centre as well as examples of every type of Dutch windmill ever built. Of special interest for children is the Children’s Estate where they can do chores that used to be quite normal but are now done by machines, such as drawing water, washing clothes in a tub and even milking a cow - a replica of course! Also, they will love the old-fashioned playground from the 1930’s, the Zaan Square with old-fashioned toys and the bakery. The great thing about this museum park is that children can not only see how people once lived and worked in the countryside, but also join in with so many activities. The best way to get around the park is by taking a ride on the historical vintage tram, you can get on or off wherever you wish and its also fun. There are many cafes and restaurants in the 44 hectares of grounds.
www.openluchtmuseum.nl

The Dutch Watermuseum
This museum is a unique activity museum and an entertaining learning experience for all ages. Built in, around and below the historic Begijnen watermill dating from 1404, the museum has a Watercinema, Waterworld, Waterlab, Watertheme, Watertopic, Waterplayground, Watershop and Aquarium Restaurant that has a special Super-beaver children’s menu.
www.watermuseum.nl

The Eusebius Tower
The 93 metre Eusebius Tower is the only church tower with a glass lift and a fantastic place to visit for amazing views of Arnhem. Rebuilding, recent restoration and the modern glass enclosed panorama lift make this historical tower accessible to everyone. At 73 metres is the belvedere with breathtaking views in all directions, and on foot from here visitors can visit the panorama deck at 80 metres. Then if you are feeling really fit you can make the descent via the stone spiral staircase with 385 steps to the bottom, let the children count them!
www.eusebius.nl

Recommended Places to Stay

Holiday Inn - Eindhoven
This child-friendly hotel has family rooms, children’s menus and offers free recreational facilities including an indoor swimming pool, sauna, steam room and a fully equipped fitness room. The hotel is centrally located and there are plenty of excellent restaurants nearby so the children have a wide choice of options.
www.eindhoven.holiday-inn.com

Hotel Blanc - Arnhem
This is a small family-run hotel located in the centre of Arnhem close to the railway and bus stations. The rooms are small but adequate, compensated by its ideal location, private parking and nearby restaurants.
www.hotel-blanc.nl

Recommended Places to Eat

Restaurant Falstaff - Arnhem
This pretty little child-friendly restaurant is located close to the Hotel Blanc, railway and bus stations. The wonderful menus offer a wide choice of dishes and the service is excellent, but it is very popular with local people so its advisable to book a table in advance.
www.restaurant-falstaff.nl

Balimas - Arnhem
Located close to the river, this pretty oriental restaurant with its indoor garden is ideal for families.
www.balimas.nl

Da Verdi - Eindhoven
If the kids like pizza then this is the place to go. They can chose from an amazing choice of toppings and even see the pizza’s being baked. I also recommend the pasta dishes, this is one of the best Italian restaurants I have visited.
www.daverdi.nl

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