Family-friendly places to stay in the Netherlands

Center Parcs – a huge favourite for family holidays – first appeared in the Netherlands more than three decades ago, and Center Parcs Europe currently has several holiday parks in the country. 

Dutch cities have hotels for all budgets, B&B ‘inns’ (usually in residential areas), apartments and canal houses, and sometimes houseboats. In Den Haag, the luxury Hotel des Indes is family-friendly; in Maastricht, the Hotel Derlon has its own underground museum tracing the city’s history from the 1st century BC, plus apartments with up to 2 bedrooms as well as standard guestrooms.

Wackier options include the Controversy Tram Hotel north of Amsterdam, with reasonably priced themed bedrooms in old city trams within a farmyard, or the floating Cruise Hotel in Rotterdam, with a family package including entry to the city's zoo. If you stray into the north, the inhabited islands each have a few small hotels, lots of holiday homes and apartments, and a campsite or two; Texel and Terschelling are the best starting points.