Duinrell Holidays for Kids and Family – We were there !

What did we need to do before we got to Duinrell

I’d like to start right at the beginning. We booked this trip in January 2026 after Holland came recommended to us from a variety of friends and family. I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive at first, mainly because of the language.

We’d been to France before, including Center Parcs in France, but I don’t have any Dutch and wondered if that might be an issue. As it turned out, it wasn’t an issue at all. In fact, we found that Dutch people would almost default to English when they realised we weren’t Dutch, which was great and immediately took that concern out of the equation.

Preparing for Duinrell Before We Travelled

Booking the Flights

We were travelling as a family of five: myself and my wife, our nine-year-old boy, 13-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl.

We booked Aer Lingus ( via Booking.com , it was a better price than directly ) from Dublin and went with an early morning flight, around 6:15 a.m. That meant leaving home at midnight and travelling through the night, which isn’t exactly ideal! However, we’d done something similar before when visiting Center Parcs near Paris, and the big advantage is that you arrive with almost the entire first day ahead of you.

We parked at Dublin Airport’s Red Car Park, which I’d describe as the medium-term option. I think it cost €132 for the week, and we got the cheapest price with them directly. One tip – remember where you parked especially if you arrive at night !

Everything at Dublin Airport went very smoothly, although in hindsight we were probably there a little too early.

One thing worth watching is airport security and liquids. Travelling outbound from Ireland, we were able to bring liquids through security, but the rules weren’t the same on the way back. I’ll come back to that later, but it’s worth checking the current rules, particularly for perfumes, sprays and anything over 100ml.

Our bags were marked for search in Dublin. One of the reasons was a pencil case containing a small pair of scissors. Security were fine with them because they were small plastic scissors, although I think they did have a small metal cutting edge.

The other item that flagged was an underarm deodorant , Mithchum – aparently its getting flagged across Security everywhere – do a quick google search – it’s a taller bottle than most. Again, there was no problem once they checked it.

After security, everything was straightforward. The flight left as expected and took somewhere around an hour and 10 or 15 minutes.

What did we need to watch out for at the Airport?

Arriving at Schiphol Airport

We landed at Schiphol Airport, and that’s really where the fun started.

We still had passport control to get through, and this took considerably longer than expected. There are electronic passport gates available for some passengers, but travelling as a family with a child under 14 meant these weren’t an option for all of us.

There wasn’t an EU queue open when we first arrived, so we joined the general “All Passports” queue.

This was also when the clock started ticking on our transfer. I’d booked our transport through Booking.com, and we’d been told that we had an hour after landing to meet our driver. That’s definitely something worth keeping in mind when arranging an airport transfer – the time can apparently start from when your flight lands rather than when you actually make it through the airport.

The passport queue took a long time and there didn’t seem to be many staff working it. I was keeping a close eye on the time and, after we’d been waiting for around an hour, I noticed that an EU queue had opened to our right.

As soon as we got an opportunity, we moved out of the All Passports queue and into the EU queue. There was only one group ahead of us, although they took quite a while.

Once it was our turn, the border officer was great – a very pleasant young gentleman. We were asked a few questions about what we were doing in the Netherlands, where we were travelling to and about our return tickets. Nothing problematic at all, and once that was done, we collected our bags and made our way out.

Finding Our Transfer

We booked with Booking.com Taxi’s ( here to book yours ) , had done this before multiple times and they have always been amazing.

By the time we got through everything, it was about an hour and a half after we’d landed.

I tried to get hold of our driver but couldn’t reach him. I’d been sending updates through WhatsApp along the way, so he did know what was happening. I’d say another 45 minutes or so passed before he eventually appeared.

There was a little bit of frustration here. He said he’d been waiting for three hours and seemed to blame us for the delay. I explained the issues we’d had with the passport queues, and he could see that I’d been sending him updates throughout.

That wasn’t the best start, but in fairness, once we got going the car was lovely and the journey itself was very pleasant.

Eventually, we arrived at Duinrell.

Monday – Our First Day at Duinrell

Arriving and Checking In

We knew we wouldn’t be able to get into our accommodation straight away, so our first job was to get rid of the luggage.

Luggage Lockers at Duinrell

Near reception there were luggage storage lockers large enough to take our big cases, which was brilliant. I need to confirm exactly what we paid for these, but having somewhere secure to leave everything made a big difference.

We paid €7.50 at 1049am and would open at midnight that night unless removed – so dont leave overnight!

Our booking information said we could check in after around 10:30 a.m., which was roughly when we arrived.

Check-in itself was very straightforward. The reception area was bright and welcoming, and everything was explained clearly. We were given some useful guides, our vouchers and our passes, which was where those passport photographs we’d prepared in advance came in handy.

We were told that our accommodation wouldn’t be available until after 3 p.m. Interestingly, the original documentation we’d received had said 3:30 p.m. In the end, we tried our card at around 2:30 p.m. and discovered that the accommodation was already ready, so we were able to get in earlier than expected.

Our First Look Around

After checking in, we went to get some food and had lunch at La Place. We went for pizza slices, which were very nice.

The kids headed for the playgrounds – all three of them, which was fantastic considering their ages. There are two huge playgrounds, so they had plenty to explore.

We also went on the Ferris wheel, which was very nice and gave us a chance to get our bearings and have our first proper look around the park.

Once our accommodation became available, we headed in, got ourselves settled and, after travelling through the night, inevitably fell asleep for a while!

Our First Visit to the Swimming Pool

We’d booked swimming for later that afternoon, somewhere around 3:30 or 4 p.m.

One useful thing to know about the pool booking system is how the time slots actually work. You book a two-hour swimming slot, but effectively you’re given two and a half hours from the moment you scan your voucher and enter. The additional time allows roughly 15 minutes on either side for getting changed.

On later days, we learned to arrive with our swimming gear already on underneath our clothes. That meant we could get through the gates and pretty much go straight into the water, making much better use of our time.

Our first swimming experience was great.

There were occasions when groups of teenagers would suddenly gather at the bottom of a slide, sometimes four or more at a time. When a lifeguard spotted it, or was called over, they did speak to them. I’m not sure how long the warnings lasted, though, because similar things happened again.

I also noticed that some lifeguards appeared to have multiple areas to keep an eye on at the same time but they were all great and very helpful.

Overall, we didn’t have any major issues and really enjoyed the pool. It’s simply something I’d recommend parents keep an eye on themselves, particularly if travelling with younger children.

Dinner at La Place

By that evening, we were absolutely wrecked. We’d travelled through the night and packed a lot into the day, but in fairness, that was exactly why we’d chosen the early flight – we really did get a full first day out of it.

That night, we went for dinner at the La Place restaurant near the Superstore.

When we first walked in, we weren’t entirely sure how it worked. There were different chefs standing at different stations, and it took us a little while to figure out that it was basically a case of choosing what you wanted and having it cooked in front of you.

It actually worked really well for us as a family because everyone could get something different. One of my sons wanted a burger, another wanted something like a pizza, while myself, my daughter and my wife went for the Chinese or Thai-style station with noodles.

The food was lovely.

One thing I would point out, particularly for anyone with allergies or specific dietary requirements, is that the same cooking pan appeared to be used between dishes. For example, I think I had chicken while my wife had prawns, and the same pan was used. That was absolutely fine for us, but it may not suit everybody, so it’s something worth being aware of.

We also had a few drinks in the restaurant, and overall it was a really enjoyable way to finish our first day.

Getting Around the Park by Bike

We’d hired bicycles for the week and collected them on the Monday evening.

Initially, two of us went down and collected all five bikes. We parked them outside the accommodation and the rest of the family picked theirs up when they got back.

We weren’t entirely sure at first whether everybody would be comfortable with the bikes we’d chosen, and as it turned out, they weren’t. On Tuesday morning we ended up changing three of them, but that wasn’t a problem.

The 28-inch bikes weren’t comfortable for some of us, so we went down to, I think, 26-inch bikes and simply raised the saddles. That made them much more comfortable. And make sure you get one with gears.

Order your bikes here

Seating arrangement

The 28inch bikes seats were not comfortable ( left picture ) so we downgraded to 26inch ( right picture ) and we were thankful.

Image gallerySwipe or scroll

We also discovered fairly quickly that you aren’t allowed to cycle your bikes through the main amusement park itself.

The first time a staff member asked us to get off the bikes, we actually thought we’d misunderstood. We got off them anyway, but when it happened a second time, we realised cycling simply wasn’t allowed in that part of the park.

Some staff were a little more abrupt about telling us than others, but the rule itself makes sense. There are lots of small children walking around.

There are plenty of places where you can cycle, though. We found a very handy route through the campsite using the roads. That allowed us to cycle around the site rather than through the amusement park and brought us directly towards our Duingalow.

Our Duingalow – Number 908

We were staying in Duingalow number 908, which was our base for the five of us.

I found it on a big Duinrell Ad image

Before travelling, I’d booked the linen and towel pack for each person. I have to say, for the price, I thought this was a little bit ridiculous.

The beds were described as being pre-made. Technically, the covers were on them, but we still had to finish making the beds ourselves when we arrived.

Each person also got two towels – a hand towel and a bath towel – and those were the towels we used for the duration of the stay.

Thankfully, we’d brought our own quick-drying towels specifically for the swimming pool, which I’d definitely recommend. It meant we could keep the towels supplied with the accommodation for showers and use our own towels for swimming.

The Duingalow also had air conditioning in the kitchen and main living area, which we found very useful. During the day, we generally left the blinds closed and kept the air conditioning running so that the accommodation would stay nice and cool.

One thing worth knowing is that the children’s bedrooms didn’t have their own air conditioning. We found that keeping the blinds closed and leaving the internal doors open helped the cooler air from the main living area circulate into the bedrooms.

A Surprisingly Good Shower

One of the more unusual things we discovered in the Duingalow was the “Sun” shower.

It had a heat and light function using infrared and UV. There was a warning not to look directly at the UV light, so when switching it on you’d look away or close your eyes.

Find out more over here – amazing units !

I suffer from a little bit of back pain from time to time, and I actually found the heat and infrared function really nice on my back and muscles. It wasn’t something I’d expected from the accommodation at all, but it turned out to be a very nice little feature.

By the end of Monday, though, we were ready for bed.

We were exhausted, but we’d achieved exactly what we’d hoped by taking that early flight: we’d managed to turn our travel day into a full first day of the holiday.

Tuesday – Settling Into Our Routine

By Tuesday, we were beginning to settle into what became our normal morning routine.

Myself and one of the kids would head down to the Duinrell supermarket to pick up breakfast and anything else we needed.

Rather than cycling through the amusement park, we’d cycle through the campsite, where you’re on the roads, and make our way around the site to approach the supermarket from the left-hand side.

The supermarket itself was very good and had plenty of fresh bread and pastries.

Our normal choice was fairly simple: croissants, pain au chocolat, bread, ham and cheese, along with milk if we needed it.

One thing I’d suggest is paying attention when choosing things such as milk and butter, as the full-fat milk or salted butter may not necessarily be immediately obvious if you’re unfamiliar with the packaging.

Milk and Butter in Holland

Full Fat Milk ( Normal !)

Normal Butter ( not “spreadable” from the Fridge , but salted – think Kerrygold )

Unsalted Butter – Yuck.

I’ll add some pictures to this because it’ll hopefully make it easier for anyone going over after us to recognise what they’re looking for.

Shopping at Jumbo in Wassenaar

On Tuesday we also headed into Wassenaar and went to Jumbo supermarket.

It’s only a short distance from Duinrell – roughly five minutes or so by bike – and we were able to get everything we needed there.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/gV7Frc8WjPzzsRjw9

We weren’t looking for anything particularly Irish. We’d brought our own tea bags with us, for example, so we didn’t need to go searching for those sorts of things.

But Jumbo was great and had everything else we needed.

That became our general approach for the week. We’d pick up the fresh breakfast things – croissants, bread, ham, cheese and so on – from the Duinrell supermarket and use Jumbo for the bigger shop.

In fact, I think we only needed to go back to Jumbo once more before the end of the holiday.

The Sand Dune

We also spent some time just enjoying Duinrell itself on Tuesday.

One of the highlights for the kids was the huge sand dune hill towards the back of the park.

They had great fun running up it and coming back down again. It’s very simple, but they absolutely loved it.

I joined in as well ( me on the right struggling ) , and I can confirm that running up a massive sand dune is considerably more tiring than it looks!

Dinner at Pops

We’d looked at a few restaurants and had originally planned to eat at Toro.

When we arrived, however, we were told that they didn’t have any stock left of what we were looking for available – I think it was pizzas or steaks – so we changed our plans and went across the road to Pops instead.That turned out to be a great choice.

Pops is basically an American-style diner and was absolutely fantastic for the kids.

There was a play area inside, which I’d say is probably aimed at children up to around seven or eight, although our youngest still had great fun in there.

They also had some free toys for the younger kids to choose from. What impressed me was that they weren’t just complete rubbish – there was actually a nice little selection for them to pick from.

Overall, Pops was a really enjoyable family restaurant and worked very well for us. See https://pops.nl/en/

Wednesday – Bus and Train to Amsterdam

Wednesday was our Amsterdam day.

Our plan was to travel into Amsterdam using public transport rather than trying to drive.

There is a bus stop close to Duinrell reception, and we took the number 44 bus to Den Haag Centraal – The Hague Central Station.

From Den Haag Centraal, we continued by train to Amsterdam.

It was fairly expensive for the five of us – approx €120– and one thing I’d suggest looking at is travelling via Leiden instead.

You can get a bus towards Leiden and then take the train from Leiden to Amsterdam. It’s closer and may work out better depending on the times.

For us, though, when we checked the schedules, the number 44 bus to Den Haag was the easiest option, so that’s what we went with.

NEMO Science Museum

Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we grabbed a sandwich and something to eat before heading for the NEMO Science Museum.

NEMO was absolutely fantastic. Book here today.

There was something for everybody and around five or six floors to explore. It’s incredibly interactive, and we could very easily have spent the entire day there.

The only reason we didn’t was because we had another fairly important visit planned for later that evening: the Anne Frank House.

Or at least, we thought we did.

Walking Through Amsterdam

We decided to walk from NEMO towards the Anne Frank House, which took us around 45 minutes.

Before going to Amsterdam, one thing I had been conscious of was the Red Light District. It’s obviously something you hear a lot about when Amsterdam is mentioned, and travelling with children I wasn’t entirely sure what we might encounter.

In reality, we saw practically nothing.

We passed two windows where there were chairs but nobody sitting in them. We were conscious of where we were walking and basically kept moving through the streets.

At no point did we feel unsafe.

How to cross the road safely in Holland.

One thing you do need to be extremely conscious of in Amsterdam, however, is bicycles. There are bikes everywhere and they can approach from directions you might not instinctively expect when crossing a road.

The main lesson I’d give anyone travelling with children is simply to treat the cycle lanes almost like another road. Look carefully before stepping across them and don’t assume that because you can’t hear a car coming, nothing is coming.

The Anne Frank House – On the Wrong Day!

When we finally arrived at the Anne Frank House, we discovered something fairly important.

We’d booked it for Thursday. We were there on Wednesday. You can book here , on the right day.

That was entirely our own confusion, but thankfully the staff were extremely understanding. We explained what had happened and, despite having tickets for the following day, they allowed us to enter on the Wednesday.

I’m not going to try to cover the Anne Frank House itself in huge detail because I don’t think I could really do it justice.

At times, I found it very emotional and quite shocking. It’s somewhere I think everyone should visit if they get the opportunity.

You need to know the story, but walking through the actual rooms and the annex makes it feel very different. You’re standing in the place where Anne Frank, a teenage girl, and the others hid for more than two years, before they were eventually discovered and Anne later died in a concentration camp.

It’s incredibly sad and incredibly poignant.

Seeing the actual diary under glass was probably one of the things that brought it home to me most. This wasn’t simply a story in a history book. The diary is there, the rooms are there, and you’re standing in the actual place where it happened.

It was a very humbling experience.

Getting Back to Duinrell

By the time we finished, the kids were understandably getting tired.

We walked back towards Amsterdam Centraal and got the train back to Den Haag. It wasn’t quite the last train of the night, but it certainly felt like we were getting towards the end of the day’s services.

When we arrived back at Den Haag Centraal, our train arrival time and the departure time of the number 44 bus were basically the same.We got off the train, headed upstairs and, with typical Dutch efficiency, the bus was already gone!

There was no hanging around waiting for us.

Thankfully, the next bus was about half an hour later, so it wasn’t a disaster. We waited for that one and eventually made our way back to Duinrell.

It had been a long day – especially for the kids – but between NEMO, walking through Amsterdam and visiting the Anne Frank House, it was also one of the most memorable days of the holiday.

Thursday – Taking It Easy at Duinrell

After the long day in Amsterdam, Thursday was deliberately much more relaxed.

We kept ourselves around Duinrell for most of the day and basically just took it handy.

We spent some time around the park and went swimming again. We had four swimming passes to use during the holiday, so we were trying to spread them out and get good use from them.

I think we also went for a cycle into Wassenaar and back at one stage, but there wasn’t any major plan for the day.

That was actually exactly what we needed.

We knew Friday was going to involve a fairly substantial cycle, so having a quieter day gave everyone a chance to recover after Amsterdam.

Dinner at Torro

That evening, we finally went to Torro.

We’d tried to eat there earlier in the week, but we’d been told that some of the food we were looking for wasn’t available.

Unfortunately, when we did eventually eat there, we had a horrible experience.

I’m not going to go into all the details here because I’ve already put up a separate review about it. I know the restaurant has some very good reviews online, so other people’s experiences have obviously been different, but based purely on our own experience, I couldn’t recommend it.

I’ll leave it at that for this article.

Friday – Cycling to The Hague / Den Haag

Friday was one of our bigger adventure days.

Our plan was to cycle towards The Hague, with two main destinations in mind: the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre and Madurodam.

We had two possible cycling routes. The plan was to take the more scenic route on the way out and then use the shorter, flatter route for the journey home.

One thing that’s interesting about Duinrell is its proximity to the dunes. Even though you’re still around five kilometres from the beach, the dune landscape effectively starts behind Duinrell itself.

That gave us a fantastic cycling route towards Scheveningen and The Hague.

The Scenic Route

We set off on our three-gear bikes, and this was one occasion where we definitely felt the lack of gears.

Once we reached the hills, those three gears didn’t give us a huge amount to work with!

The scenic journey was somewhere around 12 or 13 kilometres to Scheveningen. ( 12.4KM according to Google Maps )

We stopped along the way at a lovely place for coffee and ice cream. It was exactly the sort of stop we needed in the middle of the cycle, and sitting down with an ice cream after tackling some of those hills was fantastic.

Looking at the map to discover what it was called , I hadnt realised it was as close to our destinatioin – nonetheless it was fab – called “Onder de Watertoren” at https://denhaag.com/nl/onder-de-watertoren , Pompstationsweg 353, 2597 JV Den Haag, Netherlands

The route itself was very scenic, although perhaps not quite how I’d imagined “cycling through the dunes” beforehand.

It was more a sandy landscape with lots of rolling sections, ups and downs and plenty of hills. It was still lovely, but our legs certainly knew about it.

LEGOLAND Discovery Centre

We’d booked the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre the previous day.

It’s in Scheveningen beside Sea Life. Sea Life itself was closed and undergoing refurbishment when we were there, but from the outside it looked like it would be another great attraction to combine with LEGOLAND when it’s open.

Our nine-year-old was particularly excited about LEGOLAND. We’re all Lego fans in our house, so there was plenty there for us.

We paid a small amount extra – I think around €2 extra for a lanyard containing recommended activities and some little games to complete as we went around.

One of the first things we did was create a pixel-style picture using Lego dots. This was placed on a bigger Lego Ninjago mosaic , very cool!

We then went on the little Lego ride, which takes you around part of the centre.

There was a guided building session where we sat down and followed along as we built a model, and another area where you could build your own Lego cars and race them.

One of my favourite parts was the huge Lego model of Amsterdam.

The detail was fantastic, and the whole display changed between day and night. Watching the lights come on across this miniature Lego city was brilliant.

There was also a LEGO NINJAGO laser challenge where you had to make your way through while avoiding the lasers. We did that multiple times because everyone enjoyed it so much.

There were Lego City displays, Lego Friends and plenty of other areas to explore.

The Lego Friends section was huge. None of ours were particularly interested initially, although my 15-year-old daughter did eventually sit down and play with it for a while, which was great.

Overall, I’d say the centre is primarily aimed at children up to around age 10.

That said, I had plenty of fun myself. If you like Lego, you’re going to find something to enjoy.

And, of course, there’s a Lego shop on the way out.

We had to buy some minifigures.

There was an offer where you could build three of your own minifigures , along with plenty of other Lego to tempt you.

Needless to say, we didn’t leave empty-handed.

On to Madurodam

After LEGOLAND, we got back on the bikes and headed towards Madurodam.

By this point, the kids were getting fairly tired. We passed a McDonald’s along the way and decided it was a perfect opportunity to stop. The McDonalds had a cinema attached and we had parked across the road. ( Google Maps ).

We don’t have many takeaways normally, but after all the cycling it was nice for the kids to get something familiar and have a chance to sit down before we continued. Then it was back onto the bikes and on towards Madurodam.

Madurodam

One tip I’d definitely give families visiting Madurodam is to look carefully at the family ticket options before paying. Check availability as it books up fast.

The gentleman there actually recommended that we buy a discounted family ticket for four people and then purchase one additional ticket for our fifth person.

They essentially told us to go off, book it that way and come back a few minutes later, so that’s exactly what we did.

It worked out better for us.

We had around two hours, and by the time the attraction was closing, we were still going around.It’s an amazing place.

There is so much to see that you could easily spend considerably longer there, particularly if you take your time with all the interactive displays.

Some of the interactive elements were already closed because we were there later in the day, but there was still loads to do.

One of the highlights for me was a little Mars factory.

You put in a small amount of money – and this little truck makes its way around the factory before coming back with a tiny Mars bar for you.

I absolutely loved that.

There was also a clog factory where you could get a little pair of clogs. I think that cost around €3, although again would need to confirm.

It’s those little interactive touches that make Madurodam so enjoyable.

You could spend hours just wandering around looking at the miniature buildings, spotting details and trying the different activities.

For us, Madurodam was definitely one of the highlights of the holiday.

Cycling Back to Duinrell

For the return journey, we took the flatter route back towards Duinrell.

That was a very good decision.

Cycling in the Netherlands was generally fantastic. For the vast majority of the journey we were on proper cycle paths. Occasionally we found ourselves on a road, but even then they tended to be quiet back roads.

I’d estimate that around 99% of the journey was on bike lanes.

It made travelling as a family on bikes feel much easier than it might have done elsewhere.

By the time we eventually made it back to Duinrell, though, we were wrecked.

We’d cycled from Duinrell through the dunes towards Scheveningen, spent time in LEGOLAND, cycled on to Madurodam, explored there for a couple of hours and then cycled all the way home.

It was tiring, but we really enjoyed it.

Back to Pops

That night, we went back to Pops for dinner.

After our first visit earlier in the week, we knew what to expect, we knew the kids liked it and we knew everyone could relax there.

After a day involving that much cycling, LEGOLAND and Madurodam, that was exactly what we needed.

Friday had been another very full day, but it was also one of the best days of the trip.

Saturday – Trying the Outdoor Pool & Some Rollercoasters!

On Saturday, we decided to try the outdoor pool.

You can spend up to around four hours there, although in our case the weather was a little overcast, so we didn’t feel the need to stay for the full amount of time.

The outdoor pool area has five slides in total, although two of those are really part of the children’s outdoor water play area.

For the bigger slides, there was the Quattro Run, where four people can go down side by side, and the Green Twist, which is more of a twisting slide that drops you into a larger pool at the bottom.

The water was definitely on the cold side that day, but it was still good fun.

There was also the Rainbow Splash and Boogie Ride, which are part of the children’s outdoor water play area.

The toddler pool looked fantastic for smaller children as well. There was water coming out from different places and little features where kids could stop and start the flow. It looked like great fun for younger children.

Plenty of Space to Relax

One thing we really liked about the outdoor pool was that it didn’t feel particularly busy.

There were loads of sun loungers available, including plenty stacked up towards the back, so there was no sense that you needed to rush in and reserve one.

The sunbathing lawn also had hammocks. There were three sets of hammocks, and it was really nice just to lie back and relax for a while.

Again, because it wasn’t particularly busy, the whole area felt very easy-going.

Lockers at the Outdoor Pool

One thing worth knowing is that the lockers outside work differently from the lockers at the indoor pool.

Inside, the lockers are electronic and free to use.

Outside, I believe the lockers required a €1 coin – and the money wasn’t returned afterwards.

We didn’t actually use the lockers ourselves. My daughter was sitting nearby reading a book, so we felt comfortable leaving our things where they were.

Was the Outdoor Pool Worth It?

Overall, the outdoor pool was nice, but the weather made a big difference.

When the sun disappeared behind the clouds, it felt noticeably cooler. The pool itself was bearable – not freezing to the point where you couldn’t stay in – but it certainly wasn’t warm.

On a properly warm or hot day, I can imagine it being a brilliant place to spend a few hours, particularly with younger children.

For us, though, on an overcast day, I think the indoor pool offers better value and more to do.

The Indoor Tiki Pool – What We Thought After a Week

Having used the indoor pool a number of times during the holiday, I thought it was worth putting everything we discovered into one section.

The first thing I’d say is that the indoor pool was warm all the time, but it never felt overly stuffy or uncomfortably hot.

I’d seen some people mention that the floor could be very slippery. Personally, I didn’t find that to be the case at all. Of course, it’s a swimming pool and the floor is wet, so you still need to be careful. I did see some kids running and I told my own not to, but overall I didn’t find the floor particularly slippery.

The Children’s Play Area

One of the first areas we went to was the children’s play area, which is for children under 1.2 metres.

The water there is very shallow, with a maximum depth of around 15 centimetres.

There is also a heated pool area for smaller children, and my nine-year-old son actually spent a good bit of time there during the week.

If we were going on slides or into areas he didn’t want to go into, or couldn’t go into, he was happy enough to stay around the heated pool or the children’s play area.

The kids’ play area itself has plenty going on.

There’s a Rapid Run, which allows three people to slide down together, and there is also a large tipping bucket that empties over the play area every so often.

Then there’s the Hurly Cone, which is basically a slide that sends you into a giant funnel before dropping you out again.

There are also two smaller slides, the Green Flash and Blue Stripe. They’re more suited to younger children, but they’re still good fun.

On top of that, there’s plenty of general water play throughout the area.

The Lazy River

Notes 📋📏 Check current rule | 🎢 Gentle  💦 Relaxed water

One of our favourite things in the indoor pool was the lazy river.

You can either swim around it or wait for one of the rings. Obviously, the ring is a lot more relaxing!

It’s a fairly long lazy river and we ended up going around it a number of times during the week.

Sometimes we managed to get a ring and just went with the flow, and other times we simply swam or pushed ourselves around without one.

Either way, it was good fun and something we could all enjoy together.

Pelican Dive

Notes 📋📏 Check current rule | 🎢 Gentle 💦 Relaxed water

One of the first slides I tried was the Pelican Dive.

This has a minimum height of 1.2 metres, so my younger son was tall enough for it.

Being honest, I wasn’t quite prepared for it.

It’s actually one of the shortest rides in the Tiki Pool, but I found it one of the most intense. You basically go into a very short slide and then suddenly drop into a large pool of water.

It’s over very quickly, but it’s quite a shock the first time you do it.

Good fun, though.

Xtreme

Next up was the Xtreme.

This one uses a trapdoor. You stand inside, there’s a countdown, and then the floor literally disappears from underneath you and you drop into the slide.

I’d been on something similar previously in Center Parcs, where the slide was longer and the initial drop felt bigger, so this one actually felt fairly straightforward in comparison.

It was still good fun, but once was enough for me.

The Wave Pool

The wave pool is also worth mentioning.

The waves were fairly intense, and personally I wouldn’t automatically assume that it’s suitable for very small children, particularly further towards the front.

My advice would be to stay towards the back initially, see what you think of the waves and then decide how comfortable you are going further in with younger children.

The waves seemed to run roughly once every 30 minutes.

There’s a countdown beforehand, so you get plenty of warning that they’re about to start.

Triton

Another one we really enjoyed was the Triton.

This is a triple-cone slide where you travel through three large funnels in a figure-of-eight style route.

You can go either on your own or with family, which made it particularly good fun for us.

The minimum height was 1.2 metres, so again my younger son could go on it without any problem.

[VIDEO TO ADD: Triton]

Green Barracuda and Blue Shark

The Green Barracuda and Blue Shark are located together and are more traditional racing-style slides.

You head down and get a recorded time at the bottom, so naturally that led to a bit of competition between us.

One thing I would definitely watch if you’re travelling with smaller children is how quickly they get out of the landing area at the bottom.

We had one occasion where my younger son was a little slow getting out after coming down the Green Barracuda and an adult came down very quickly behind him.

I’m not convinced that the adult had waited for the green light at the top.

My impression was that the green-light system may be automated based on either an average ride time or a sensor somewhere towards the bottom of the slide, rather than somebody physically checking that the previous person is completely clear of the landing area.

That’s only my impression from using it, but it did make me more cautious afterwards.

If you’ve got a smaller child, I’d probably let them go first and then follow directly after them yourself.

Moonlight and Starfright

There were also the Moonlight and Starfright, which were located together in another part of the pool.

Again, there was plenty of variety between all these slides, which was one of the things we liked about the Tiki Pool.

You could go from something relatively relaxed like the lazy river to something considerably more intense within a couple of minutes.

Flitz and Blitz

And then there were the two that I won’t forget in a hurry: the Flitz and Blitz.

These were probably the fastest water slides I’ve ever been on in my life.

They are ridiculously fast.

You genuinely feel the force of the speed in your face as you’re travelling down. I wasn’t expecting anything quite that intense and, being honest, I found them a little frightening.

My younger son didn’t go on them.

My older son did try one, but once was enough for him as well.

For me, Flitz and Blitz were very much a “glad I tried it, don’t particularly need to do that again” experience.

Cannonball

Another one we tried was the Cannonball.

This one is over near where the Typhoon and Cyclone exit, and it’s very easy to miss because it basically just looks like a red hole in the ground.

It’s very, very short, but it’s fast and powerful.

It’s one of those rides that’s over almost before you’ve had time to think about it.

Typhoon

My son and daughter both went on the Typhoon, and both of them came off saying they’d never experienced anything like it.

They reckoned it was even faster than Flitz and Blitz, which gives you some idea of what it’s like.

I gave that one a miss myself.

Cyclone

We’d also been keeping an eye on the Cyclone.

This one finishes with you spinning around inside a giant funnel before eventually dropping out of it.

It’s definitely one of the more dramatic-looking slides, and I’ll include a video because I think seeing it gives you a much better idea of what you’re dealing with.

[VIDEO TO ADD: Cyclone]

One thing we did notice around the Cyclone was a group of four kids coming down together at one point.

A lifeguard did catch them and speak to them, so the situation was dealt with. But it reinforced something we’d noticed a few times during the week: the lifeguards appeared to be covering quite a few different areas at once.

They were doing their job, but they seemed particularly busy.

It’s just another reason I’d say that, especially with younger children, it’s worth keeping your own eye on what’s happening around the bottom of the slides.

The Indoor Lockers

One other thing worth mentioning is the locker system at the indoor pool, because it worked really well.

Unlike the outdoor lockers, there was no charge for the indoor ones.

When you arrive at the lockers, you use one of the electronic terminals and select that you want a new locker.

You then choose a code.

My advice here is very simple: remember your code!

Once you’ve entered your code, the system assigns you a locker number.

You go to that locker, open it and put your belongings inside.

I think it’s worth testing the system before filling the locker completely, just so you know exactly how it works.

When you want to reopen the locker, you return to the electronic terminal, enter your locker number and then enter your code.

The locker opens.

The system also asks whether you’re coming back to the locker again or whether you’re completely finished with it. So if you’re just taking something out and returning to the pool, make sure you select the option that keeps the locker active.

The best part was that there was no additional charge.

Indoor or Outdoor?

Having tried both, my personal choice would be the indoor pool.

You get around two and a half hours from the time you enter, and there is just so much more to do.

Obviously, if you get a fantastic hot day, the outdoor pool could be brilliant. But with the weather we had, I thought our time was much better spent indoors.

Saturday Evening – The Play Fountain and Arcade

On Saturday evening, we also spent some time around the amusement park.

One thing that really stood out for me was the play fountain near the arcade.

My son probably spent a good 45 minutes running backwards and forwards through it.

I’ll include a video because it gives a much better idea of what it’s like, but if you’ve got younger kids, I’d definitely let them enjoy it properly rather than worrying about keeping them dry.

Swimming togs would be ideal, maybe with a T-shirt and shorts over them, and just let them get soaked.

It puts on a surprisingly good show and stays running for quite a while in the evening before eventually switching off later at night.

The only thing I thought would have made it even better was music.

Even without that, though, my son absolutely loved it.

[VIDEO TO ADD: Play fountain]

The Arcade

We also spent a fair amount of time in the arcade.

One warning here is that it’s very easy to spend money without really noticing how quickly it’s going.

My advice would be to tell the kids in advance not to get too focused on collecting enough tokens for a big prize.

Most of the prizes in the arcade shop are fairly basic, so the best approach is really to play the games for the fun of it.

When you play some of the games, you win paper tickets.

You then bring those paper tickets to one of the machines, feed them in and tap your arcade card.

That card holds your game credits, but it also keeps track of the tickets you’ve won.

If you’ve ended up with multiple cards, staff can also consolidate the tickets or credits onto one card.

Once you’ve loaded all your tickets onto the card, there’s another machine that works almost like a shopping cart.

You tap the card, select the prize you want, and the machine gives you a receipt.

You then bring that receipt to the counter and collect your item.

It sounds slightly long-winded when you explain it, but once you’ve done it once, it makes sense.

The main thing I’d say is: play the games because they’re fun, not because you’re trying to win an expensive prize.

Saturday Night – Italian in Wassenaar

Afterwards, we headed into Wassenaar for dinner.

We went to a lovely Italian restaurant on the main street called Il Picare – although I need to double-check the exact name before publishing.

It closes at around 9:30 p.m., and we were cutting it a little fine for time when we arrived.

To be fair to them, they were very accommodating. They took our order without any fuss and we ended up having a really lovely meal.

My daughter had pasta, while the rest of us went for pizza, and the food was excellent.

It was one of those meals that just worked perfectly at the end of a busy day – straightforward, relaxed and really enjoyable.

https://share.google/pvvr5Y2ZtDJEGACBq

And that was Saturday done.

By that stage, we had just one full day left.

Sunday – Our Last Full Day at Duinrell

On Sunday, we spent more time exploring some of the attractions that we hadn’t got around to earlier in the week.

I say “smaller attractions”, although that probably depends on your point of view. Some of them were still fairly adventurous!

Splash

One of the first ones we tried was Splash.

I was a little apprehensive about this one at first, mainly because you know you’re probably going to get wet.

You have the option of going in a boat with or without a roof.

Without the roof, you’re almost certainly going to get wet.

With the roof, you might think you’re safe, but not necessarily. The roof folds open through the middle, so if there’s water sitting on top of it, that water can pour straight down onto the seats when the roof opens.

So my advice would be simple: bring a towel.

It’s great fun, though.

There’s also a viewing hut around the Splash area where you can stand behind a Perspex window and watch the boats hit the water. The wave crashes right up against the window, which is quite impressive.

You can also stand outside the hut.

My son decided to do that.

He got absolutely soaked.

But that was half the fun.

Aqua Shute

The Aqua Shute is another interesting one because even getting to it is part of the experience.

It’s on a little island by itself, and you use a small raft to cross over from around the Catapult area.

Once you’re across, you make your way up to the top.

My younger son climbed most of the way with us but, once we got close to the top and he saw what was involved, he decided it wasn’t for him.

And I could understand why.

The Aqua Shute is essentially a very fast descent on a water sled.

The minimum height is around 1.2 metres and you can reach speeds of up to about 45 km/h, so it is genuinely fast.

You don’t need to carry the sled back up afterwards either. The sleds are returned automatically back up the chute, which is a nice touch.

It’s a short experience, but a very good one.

Tobbe Dancer

Another ride we went back to several times was the Tobbe Dancer.

This is basically like having your own Waltzer.

The really fun part is that you control the spinning yourself.

The ride only lasts about a minute, but because you have some control over how much you spin, it becomes very entertaining very quickly.

It’s one of the newer rides in the park, having opened in 2024, and the minimum height is around 1.4 metres.

It spins around while music plays in the background, and overall it was one of those deceptively simple rides that we kept coming back to.

Great fun.

The Monorail and Wonderland

At the other end of the scale was the monorail.

We went around on this a number of times during the week because it was just really relaxing.

It’s in the Wonderland or fantasy-style part of the park, close to Rick’s Adventure Castle, and it gives you a lovely view over that section of Duinrell.

After spending time on roller coasters, water rides and faster attractions, sometimes it was nice just to sit down and take a slow trip around.

The whole Wonderland area was a nice change of pace in general.

It’s much more fairy-tale themed and definitely aimed more towards younger children and families.

But, again, even with older children we enjoyed walking around it.

One of the funnier little details was a statue of a small child having a wee.

The water sprays out across the path, so naturally the game becomes trying to walk past without getting caught by it.

It’s ridiculous.

And, of course, the kids loved it.

The Candle

One of the rides we discovered there was The Candle.

This is another one that’s very simple, but surprisingly good fun.

You sit in the seat and pull yourself up towards the top using the rope.

At first, I wondered whether your weight would make it difficult to pull yourself up, but it really doesn’t.

Whether there’s one person or two people in the seat, you can pull yourself upwards fairly easily.

Once you’ve reached the top, you let yourself back down again.

The ride goes up to around nine metres, and you can have up to two people in it at the same time.

The minimum height is around 1.2 metres and there’s a weight limit of approximately 90 kg.

Again, it isn’t one of the headline attractions in Duinrell, but it was good old-fashioned fun.

The Fun Factory

The Mini Cars

Catapult

Ship Ahoy

More of the Amusement Park

Kikkerrad – The Ferris Wheel

The Playgrounds and Slide Tower

Niagara Superroetsj

The Shooting Gallery

Image gallerySwipe or scroll

The Ball Pool and Shadow Room

Shops and Souvenirs

Kikkerachtbaan

Falcon

The Falcon is probably one of the more obvious thrill rides in the park.

It has a big climb followed by a serious drop.

My daughter went on it. I didn’t.

I’ll include a video so people can judge for themselves, but this is definitely one of those rides where you’ll know immediately whether it’s for you or not.

Wild Wings

My daughter also tried the Wild Wings.

One thing she said afterwards was that, at one stage, she actually felt like she might fall out.

Obviously, you’re very securely held in, and looking at the ride itself you can see the restraints are substantial, but that sensation was something she specifically mentioned.

The Toboggan

One ride we found quite late in the holiday was the toboggan, up near the sand dunes.

We really, really enjoyed this one.

It was also one of the first times during the trip that I remember feeling like we were genuinely queuing for a long time.

I think we waited around 45 minutes.

Even with the wait, though, it was worth doing.

Because it’s located further towards the back of the park, it would be very easy to miss if you don’t explore properly.

This is where the Duinrell app becomes useful.

You can use the app to look at the attractions, get an idea of where everything is and plan which rides you want to do instead of just discovering things by accident like we sometimes did.

I’d definitely recommend making time for the toboggan.

Mad Mill and Water Spin

My older daughter also tried the Mad Mill.

This is one of those rides that spins while also swinging from side to side like a pendulum.

It’s definitely more suited to older children and teenagers who enjoy spinning rides.

Watching it was enough for me!

She also went on the Water Spin.

Again, this is another fairly intense ride.

It spins you around, takes you upside down and you also get splashed with water.

If you’re into that sort of thing, it’s great fun.

Aqua Swing

The Aqua Swing looks relatively simple at first.

You’re basically sitting in a swing seat while the whole ride rotates around like a giant carousel.

There is a safety strap holding you in.

The thing I hadn’t really expected was that it doesn’t just go around in circles.

It also moves up and down.

That extra movement made it a little more unsettling for me than I’d expected, but it was still good fun.

A Few We Didn’t Get To

Despite spending the full week at Duinrell, there were still attractions we didn’t manage to try.

One of them was the Dragonfly.

I’ve seen plenty of positive comments about that roller coaster, and it looked like great fun, but somehow we never got around to it.

We also didn’t go on the Duinrell Drifter, which is located behind the Tiki Pool and was very new when we visited.

Another attraction we missed was the themed old-car-style ride around the Wonderland area.

There were also the good old-fashioned bumper cars.

They’re exactly what you’d expect: a couple of minutes driving around trying to crash into everyone else.

Sunday Night – Our Final Evening

We packed everything up on the Sunday so that we wouldn’t be rushing around too much the following morning.

Once we were ready, we walked into Wassenaar and had a look around for somewhere to eat.

We ended up finding Me Gusta, not far from the ice cream shop, and it was absolutely fantastic.

We were actually a little bit sorry that we hadn’t discovered it earlier in the week.

They describe it as tapas, but there was a really good mixture of food. One of my sons had pasta, my wife, daughter and I had tapas, and I think my younger son had another pasta-style dish as well.

Everything was excellent.

The staff couldn’t do enough for us, and although it was a little bit more expensive than some of the other places we’d eaten during the week, for our final night it was perfect.

I’d definitely recommend it.

One Last Evening Around Duinrell

After dinner, I played a couple of games of pool with my son in the Duinrell pub area.

We also finally cashed in our remaining arcade tokens.

One thing worth mentioning is that the arcade opening hours can vary.

During the week, it seemed to close at around 5:30 p.m., while at weekends it appeared to stay open later. There were also some later opening nights depending on the day.

So this is where I’d recommend checking the Duinrell calendar rather than assuming everything is open at the same time every day.

And that brings me nicely onto the Duinrell app.

The Duinrell App – Definitely Download It

I’d downloaded the Duinrell app before we travelled, and I found it very useful during the week.

One of the biggest advantages is the map.

You can see where you are in the park and where everything else is around you.

Originally, our accommodation looked like it was going to be closer to the shopping area, but we eventually ended up in Duingalow 908, and the location was brilliant.

I’ll include a short video showing where we were staying.

We were only around a five-minute walk from the centre of the park, but the accommodation itself felt very peaceful.

There was a little river behind us with plenty of ducks, so despite being close to everything, it didn’t feel like we were right in the middle of an amusement park.

The app also allowed you to browse attractions and plan things you wanted to do during the week.

We didn’t really use it for booking lots of additional activities, but you could use it to organise things, mark attractions you wanted to visit and make sure you didn’t forget anything.

The location awareness was particularly handy.

If you were somewhere in the park and wanted to get to another attraction, you could use the map to work out exactly where you needed to go.

I’d definitely download it before travelling.

Returning the Bikes

We’d rented our bikes for the week and returned them on Sunday evening.

That meant we had to walk into Wassenaar for our final dinner at Me Gusta, but it was only around a 10-minute walk from Duinrell and was actually a very pleasant walk.

Returning the bikes the night before also meant we had one less thing to worry about on Monday morning.

Monday – Heading Home

Monday morning was departure day.

One small practical issue when staying in the park is luggage.

We had several fairly large cases, and although getting them to and from the accommodation wasn’t impossible, it did take a bit of effort.

If you’re travelling with a lot of luggage, it’s worth allowing some extra time on departure morning simply to get everything from the Duingalow back towards reception.

We had our airport transfer booked through Booking.com for around 9:30 a.m.

While we were getting the final bags together, the driver called to let me know he was on the way.

Again, the service on the return journey was very good.

The drive from Duinrell back to Schiphol took roughly 45 minutes.

Schiphol Airport – Book a Security Time Slot

One thing I’d strongly recommend before flying home is downloading the Schiphol Airport app.

One of the really useful features is the ability to book a security time slot.

You enter your flight details and then choose a time for going through security.

Because we had checked baggage, I initially based our security slot around the expected Aer Lingus bag-drop opening time.

For example, I think Aer Lingus was due to open bag drop at around [TIME TO CONFIRM], so I’d originally booked security for something like 11:30 a.m.

As it happened, the Aer Lingus bag drop opened earlier.

That meant we could check in the bags earlier and head towards security sooner.

I changed our security slot from around 11:30 to 11:15, and then, as we progressed even quicker than expected, I managed to change it again to around 11:00.

I actually changed it while we were approaching security.

When we arrived, there wasn’t anyone standing at the entrance checking the slot, so we walked straight into the reserved lane.

Normally, though, someone will check that you have the correct time slot, and you generally won’t be allowed through significantly earlier than your booking.

The big advantage is that the reserved security lane allows you to bypass much of the regular queue.

That alone makes the app worth having.

Passport Control on the Way Home

After security, you still have passport control to deal with.

This was again separated depending on whether passengers could use the electronic passport gates.

For us, travelling as a family, we ended up in the normal queue.

There wasn’t a separate EU family queue that we could see, so everyone was essentially funnelled together.

This took around an hour.

However, we’d deliberately allowed plenty of time, so it wasn’t particularly stressful.

By the time we got through to the departure side, we still had more than an hour before the flight.

Plenty of Time at Schiphol

We used that time to get some food, have a coffee and relax.

There are plenty of shops around the departure area, including souvenir shops and places selling Dutch products and tulip-related gifts.

There are also plenty of cafés and places to sit down.

We had deliberately allowed ourselves around four hours at Schiphol before departure, and I think that was a good decision.

Security and passport control can sometimes take longer than expected, and I’d rather be sitting with a coffee on the far side than watching the clock while standing in a queue.

As it turned out, our flight was delayed anyway.

Initially, it was delayed by around an hour, and eventually that became roughly an hour and a half.

But there were plenty of places to sit, food was available, toilets were nearby and we could just relax.

There is Wi-Fi at Schiphol, although we found it very slow.

It worked, but I wouldn’t rely on it for anything particularly demanding.

Eventually, we boarded and flew back to Dublin.

From Dublin, we still had around a four-hour drive home, although we stopped a few times along the way.

And that was the end of the holiday.

Would I Go Back to Duinrell?

Absolutely.

I would definitely go back to Duinrell again.

I might leave it a year or so before returning, simply because there are so many other places we’d also like to experience, but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

And I would go back to the Netherlands at any time.

One of the things that stood out most during the entire holiday was the people.

We absolutely loved interacting with Dutch people.

They were friendly, helpful and had a great sense of humour – sometimes a slightly unusual sense of humour, as you’ll discover if you spend some time around the Wonderland area in Duinrell!

But they were lovely.

Whether we were in shops, restaurants, public transport or around the park, people were generally very willing to help.

Even little things stood out, like staff chatting to the kids, checking if they were enjoying themselves or helping them when they weren’t sure about something.

That made a big difference.

Would I Visit Somewhere Else in the Netherlands?

Definitely.

One place I’m particularly interested in for another trip is Efteling.

Efteling is a full theme park and has its own accommodation options, including the Efteling Hotel.

It’s a completely different type of destination from Duinrell, but it looks like somewhere we’d really enjoy.

For a future holiday, I might look at combining somewhere like a Center Parcs in the Netherlands with a visit to Efteling.

I like the Center Parcs concept, so finding one reasonably close to Efteling could potentially give us the best of both worlds.

That’s definitely something I’d consider for another trip.

One Final Point About the Swimming Passes

One thing that surprised us slightly about Duinrell was how swimming access worked.

Because we’d booked directly with Duinrell for the week, our stay included four swimming vouchers.

Those could be used for either the indoor or outdoor pool.

You can also buy additional swimming slots if you want more.

At first, that felt quite different from Center Parcs, where you’re generally used to having more flexible access to the swimming pool.

But in reality, we adapted to it very quickly.

Each indoor session gave us around two and a half hours, and honestly, that was enough for us.

We never really felt that we desperately needed more time.

If you did want additional sessions, you had the option to buy them.

So although the system surprised us at first, it worked perfectly well once we understood it.

Final Thoughts

Looking back, Duinrell was a bit of a surprise for us.

We’d gone over not entirely sure what to expect.

I was worried about the language beforehand.

I wasn’t sure how we’d find getting around.

I wasn’t sure whether there would be enough for children aged nine, 13 and 15.

In the end, none of those things were problems.

Between the amusement park, the Tiki Pool, cycling, Wassenaar, Amsterdam, LEGOLAND, Madurodam, the restaurants and simply wandering around the park, we managed to fit an enormous amount into one week.

We had a few frustrations.

We had some long airport queues.

We had one restaurant experience we’d rather forget.

We got soaked.

We got exhausted.

I lost a hat on the Catapult.

And we definitely spent more time than expected trying to work out which rides the kids wanted to go on next.

But that’s all part of the holiday.

For us, Duinrell worked really well as a family destination.

Would I recommend it?

Yes, absolutely.

Would I go back?

Definitely.

And would I return to the Netherlands?

Without hesitation!

Everything we’ve mentioned in one place

We wanted to wrap with a list of everything we’ve mentioned here , and our Duinrell Frequently asked ( or maybe the once ) questions.

Locations , Maps , Booking

Massive List of Duinrell Frequent Questions