The park is about 4 hours from us, so we did not want to just do a day trip, and we had a long weekend, so I searched for a reasonably priced hotel. Nothing right nearby came up at a price we wanted to pay, but there was what seemed to be a good price at a vacation resort about an hour from the park in Belgium. For 100 Euro a night we could book a 3 bedroom bungalow with a kitchen at Sunparks Kempense Meren in Mol Belgium. From reading the website, it appeared this vacation resort had a nice indoor pool area that was free for guests as well as lots of other interesting on site things to do. So we booked it for Friday and Saturday nights with a plan to visit Efteling on Saturday.
It was a nice treat for us to be going somewhere only three and a half hours from home. We enjoyed sleeping in and not leaving until about 10 o 'clock. We had plenty of time (check in begins at 3:00 at Sunparks), so we stopped for a longish lunch at a Subway along the road (yes, we have Subways all over here!) and stopped a couple of times for drinks or ice cream and to stretch our legs.
Belgium is where the "French Fry" was invented (why don;t we call them Belgian Fries?) and we no sooner crossed the border than we began to see shack after shack selling paper cones full of the freshly fried treat. We thought this guy was funny--the "evil fry guy" Not the most appetizing:
We arrived at the resort about 2:30ish, parked in the large outer lot and headed into the main entry to check in (it looks like a suburban American school built in the 50s, doesn't it?) :
The resort is "car free" and only allows people to drive onto the main property two times a day--near check in and check out times for loading and unloading purposes. 3:00 is the earliest time to access bungalows and the time the gate to the road opens. Being the start of a holiday week, many people were waiting lined up in their cars to head in and unload--we joined the queue and by 3:05 were at our little house, #147:
We were lucky to have a location not too far from the car park and the main building. The bunglow was cute, in good repair and a lot roomier than just a hotel room. The two upstairs bedroom (one was the master) had slanted ceilings, but the main sections were full height so it wasn't hard to maneuver. Here are a few photos of the interior:
We went out exploring the property a bit. The resort is located on the shores of the largest lake in Belgium. There was swimming beaches, however the immediate resort area is signed as not for swimming (not that it was warm enough anyway). The lake was very pretty though, with lots of wild ducks, geese and other water birds and many trails for biking and hiking around it.
We also looked around the mini gold course. An 18 hole course. Inside the main building you can rent equipment for 5 Euro a person--something I am sure Rio would have to do if it were just a smidge warmer. As was, we just walked around the deserted course to check it out for future reference (we had already fallen in love with this little corner of Flanders and decided we need to go back for a few days in the warmer months).
Finally, we headed into the main common building. It was pretty impressive. There was a medium sized grocery store with half way decent prices, a full service restaurant as well as a pizzeria and diner.
There was a small arcade, pool tables, a bowling alley, many seating areas to use while surfing (there is free wi-fi in the common building), a big indoor play are for young kids:
and a fantastic pool complex (that did not allow photos to be taken). Use of the play area and the pool is free for guests.
The pool closed at 8:00 and it was about 5:30 by then. We decided to grab a baguette and some cheese and have a quick snack, then swim and have a late dinner.
It was a good call. The pool was really a big attraction in and of itself, with three big slides, a wave pool, a small lazy river, and indoor outdoor pool, etc. I think this would be sort of like Belgium's version of the American Great Wolf Lodge perhaps.
So, we ended Friday with a late dinner, cooked in out little bungalow and plans to be up and out by 9:00 the next morning so as to arrive at Efteling for the 10:00 opening.
--Hadley
No comments:
Post a Comment