This center parc (sunpark) is not up to the standard of others we have stayed at. The beds were horrible, bathroom smelt like urine, and the kitchen was dirty.

It cost us 40euro to catch the train into Amsterdam. For that price we should have stayed in the city and saved on travel time everyday.

Was truely dissapointed. We booked for 5 adults and 2 children. The unit and property needed attention. A bag of garbage sat on the sidewalk all weekend, there appeared to be no grounds keeping staff. There was dried up egg all over our units door, ants marched at will under the gaping hole under the front door and from under the kitchen cabinets. My mil, cousin, and I vacumed ants up every day. (We didn't even cook here!) The stairs were very steep and difficult for a young child to navigate. The bedroom door for the kids opened right at the top of the stairs, not such a great design. It seemed like fraternity type groups had booked many units on spring break. There were other families at the resort but we were defintly out numbered by young adult groups. There are no fans and no window screens and an abundance of mosquitos. I didn't think I needed to bring my mosquito netting to the Netherlands!

I was embarrassed to take my in laws here, we left a day early. When we checked out early and the staff asked us why, they did not seem surprised. Took a follow up survey from teh parent company and was never contacted to apologize for the property's condition.

Overall: Center Parc is a modest vacation spot suited to those who are comfortable with a housekeeping cottage conditions.
Location: Center Parc is located on the N201 about 30KM from Amsterdam. The property is located on a large private property near, not on, the North Sea beach of Zandvoort.
Checkin: Quite a few people arrive by car and bus at 3PM check in so be prepared for a line up to get in and check in.
Facilities: The property is a collection of many row houses or cottages made of grey brick with blue upper paint on the second floor and brown roofs. All the same. There are two ponds on the property for ornamental purposes. Small roads lead around to each cottage.
In the center, there is a main building which contains reception, a grocery store, a video arcade, several themed restaraunts, a bakery and also a favourite with most - a large indoor pool. The pool area requires a ticket to enter the automatic gate. Reception should give you tickets. There are lockers in the change room for valuables. The indoor pool is fairly large featuring a shallow area for small children. Life jackets for small children is supplied and required. There is also a hot tub, an outdoor pool and a large waterslide. A burger joint is connected to the inside of the pool as well. You must supply your own beach towels.
Towards the end of the property opposite the entry way by auto, there is a path that leads to the beach. Depending on where your cottage is it is a good 10 minute walk through the property, across a road, and around the Center Parc hotel. The hotel's facilities are available to cottage guests. They include an indoor mini golf course, a jungle gym, electric pay as you go cars on a track, bowling, squash, ping pong and tennis (all indoors). There is also two other restaurants in the hotel (but we did not try). Our son really liked the electric car which cost one Euro per timed ride.
Parking: On arrival, there is a parking lot on the left past the front gate. You must park there as there is no parking allowed near your cottage. You get a parking slip to display in your car from reception on check-in. You are allowed to drive your car to your cottage to off load luggage.
Clients: There was a whole assortment of guests from families with children, seniors, and we noted lots of school age children arriving by bus.
Laundry: Most do not trouble themselves with this except me, but if you are similarly inclined, the main facility has a self serve laundry of 3 washers and 3 dryers. Purchase coins from reception (5 Euros to wash, 1.90 to dry). The washer automatically dispenses soap. Note machine times displayed are not accurate. The machines will shut off sooner.
Dining: This is a do it yourself place. Many cooked their own meals. The grocery store has a good selection and accepts credit cards. If you dine out, we tried the Italian restaurant on the property and it was OK. We tried a restaurant on the beach and it was a little pricey (no surprise) and it did not accept credit cards. We also tried a Chinese restaurant called Wok Palace on N201 (Zandvoortselann 187). They have their own parking and service was good. You will likely need a car to get there but it is less than 10 minutes away. They have a play area for children too. They allow you to create your own meal for the wok or just choose off a steam table hot food or some Japanese sushi.
Hours: So you are not frustrated, note the hours of operation. Some things have short hours like the restaurant from 5:30 to 8PM for dinner or reception has specific hours (its not 24 hour).
Day Trips. If you go down Vondellan street about 10 minutes (which starts from the Parc entrance) you will get to the train station. If you take the train 3 stops you get to Amsterdam central station. The ride is 20-30 minutes. We had locals help us get a ticket because we could not understand the ticket machine (and it did not seem to take credit cards).
Service: If you do not want anything out the ordinary service is OK otherwise it can be terse - it is afterall not a resort.

We have just returned from a week here,. We found it very down market compared with other Center Parcs we have stayed in in Holland and England. Accomodat ion was old fashioned and spartanly equipped. The kitchen was a sink, a fridge, 4 rings and a broken micrrowave. Each bed had one tiny pillow and a very lightweight duvet, so we were freezing at night.
The surroundings were very poorly landscaped, and the whole site was littered with cigarette butts.
There were very few activities available - I was expecting a minimum of one fitness class a day, and packed accordingly, but in fact we only got one class in the whole week. Evening entertainment was kids discos, karaoke and bingo. It was all on a level of the £9.00 a head Sun caravan trips we used to go on, which is fine if that is what you are paying for, and what you want, but not if you are paying Center Parcs prices. Drinks and meals seemed expensive, but given our disenchantment with the venue, we ate off site every day.

On the plus side, it was all clean. The staff were polite, efficient and spoke English. The sun shone every day

We found some great restaurants in Zandvoort and Haarlem. The trains and buses were reasonably priced, and easy to navigate. We met many friendly people who went out of their way to help this family of tourists. Smoking is still permitted in pubs and restaurants in Holland which we hated, but others will like.
We certainly noticed the new strength of the Euro compared to the pound, which made everything seem quite expensive, but Center Parcs aside, it was all good quality, so we got value for money.

So a big thumbs up to this area of Holland for a friendly, relaxed holiday, but if you want a reasonable degree of comfort, avoid this branch of Centerparcs!