Last Updated on June 25, 2023 by Suzy McCullough
There are a number of accommodation options at the fairytale Efteling theme park in the Netherlands. There is the Efteling hotel, Efteling Holiday Village Loonsche Land, Efteling Loonsche hotel and Efteling Bosrijk village. To compare the options please visit their website (link below).
At the two Efteling hotels, you can choose from a range of rooms including suites some with more than one room. At Loonsche land they have wooden houses which can accommodate anywhere up to 12 people. In the Holiday Village Bosrijk, you can choose a holiday home by the water or between the trees. We stayed three nights in a Woodland House at Efteling Holiday Village Loonsche Land.
Efteling Hotel – 5 minutes walk to the theme park entrance.
Bosrijk Village – 10+ minute walk to the theme park entrance.
Loonsche Land – 15+ minute walk to the theme park entrance. We were staying right by the hotel Loonsche land and it only took us 9 minutes to walk there.
Bosrijk and Loonsche also have a courtesy bus most days.
Efteling is approx. 1 hr 10 drive from Amsterdam airport and approx. 40 minutes drive from Eindhoven airport. You can take a ferry to Amsterdam or even France where it’s about a 3-4 hour drive to Efteling.
*Disclaimer. We were provided with a discounted press rate for our stay which included theme park tickets. All opinions and photos are my own and must not be duplicated without permission.
We arrived late on a Friday evening at Loonsche Land, just minutes before check-in was due to close at 10:30 pm. I parked the car in their large car park which is free for hotel guests and we wandered over to reception with our booking details. The lady behind the hotel desk was friendly and very welcoming. She soon had us checked in and was handing over a map of where to find our holiday house and where to park and explained our park tickets, early entry and the courtesy bus to us.
The rate for our stay included tickets for the theme park. If you book directly via Efteling your room rate will also include theme park tickets. Our holiday house cost 900 euros in high season, for this we had 3 nights in a 2 bedroom house plus 4 full day tickets to Efteling. This was exceptionally good value for money, especially compared to many other similar theme parks in Europe. We did receive a discount on this as a press rate but 900 euros would have been the full price for our stay at the end of July.
Our holiday house was easy to find and we were luckily just a short walk from the main hotel and car park. As it was late we decided to drive to where we were staying and park in the turning circle near our house. We were allowed to park here for 30 minutes so we got our son to bed, unpacked the car and I drove back to the car park. Although it was dark the holiday village was dimly lit, enough to be able to see to walk but not too much to feel overly bright.
2 Bedroom Woodland Holiday House at Loonsche Land Village
In Loonsche Land you can either stay at the hotel there or in one of their holiday houses. These can be booked for 2+ nights and are available for up to 6 or 12 people. They are set in the dunes or in the woods. We were in a dune house with a grass roof beside a lovely little lake with ducks waiting to be fed every day.
Our holiday house was furnished with natural materials. Check-in was from 3 pm and check-out by 11 am. We had a nice outdoor seating area with an umbrella. There was a lovely view of the lake and the Loonsche Hotel from our patio.
We opened the house with a key card and each room had one large window that opened except for the shower room and the separate toilet which didn’t have a window. You enter the large living area. Here there was a large sofa, a massive and very comfy bean bag. Plus a large TV and some small tables or seats.
There was also a large dining table that seated at least 6 people and a small kitchenette with a large fridge/freezer, cooking utensils, a microwave, cooker, kettle and a coffee maker. There was even a cleaning kit pack that included 3 dishwasher tablets, 1 dish soap, 1 dishwashing brush, 1 scouring sponge, 1 hand soap, 2 dishcloths and 2 garbage bags.
It was a nice surprise to find a dishwasher. There was also a high chair which was nice to see. The only thing we seemed to be missing was plates. For some reason, we only had one plate and a few bowls.
Next to the living room was the larger of the two bedrooms. This had a bunk bed, a cot and 2 single beds. Oddly only 4 hangers on the wall though and no other storage so I left everything in our case during our stay. The second bedroom had two single beds which could be pushed together to make a double. Again there was no storage and only 4 hangers on the wall. Linen was provided including towels.
The main living area had a door separating it from the bedrooms. Each of the bedrooms had a heavy curtain instead of a door. The windows had curtains but not light-blocking curtains.
The holiday houses have free WI-FI which we found to be excellent. There was also free WI-FI once in Efteling which was fantastic for always being able to refer to their wonderful Efteling App without having to use up any of my own data. More about the app in another post. It was fantastic for us. Dogs are also allowed with an additional €19.50 per stay for cleaning costs.
Efteling had also left a birthday parcel for our son with a handwritten card. This was a lovely touch.
Facilities at Loonsche Land
If you are staying in Loonsche Land village you can also visit and eat at the Loonsche Hotel. We ate there one night and my husband had some of the best mussels he’s ever tasted and I had a wonderful gourmet burger. There is also a small shop which sells gifts and limited toiletries. They sell ice-creams but no drinks. You can buy drinks to take away in the restaurant/bar area.
The courtesy bus
The courtesy bus runs from a stop on the opposite side of the lake to the hotel entrance. The bus does not run all year round but it does run for most of the year. If it is not running then it’s an approx. A 10-minute walk from the entrance to the hotel to the entrance to Efteling. Or you can park at Efteling for 12.50 euros a day.
We used the courtesy bus for 5 of our 6 journeys to and from the park. It was surprisingly quiet and some days we were the only ones on the bus. It starts running early on in the day and picks up about every half an hour but it does stop running less in the afternoon.
The last bus is well past park closing time. The park closes at different times throughout the year. On Friday night it was open until 11 pm and the other two nights at 8 pm but it was still open past that time for dinner and the evening water and light show.
Playgrounds
We really wanted to optimise our time at the theme park so we never had the chance to explore Loonsche village. I would love to return though to be able to enjoy their adventure playgrounds and animal pen. Mr Sandman also sometimes makes an appearance to read the children’s stories in Dutch. Children can also enjoy feeding the many ducks at Loonsche Land. The setting is truly magical and like nowhere we’ve ever stayed before.
We all really loved where we stayed. We loved the ease of the courtesy bus and the look of the site in amongst woods and sand dunes. They even have tree houses and lakeside houses on stilts.
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