Center Parcs Sandur Emmen

On arrival the cottage smelt awful of sewage and greasy food. The following day the sewage smell was fixed- the cleaners had left the shower drains open so the smell was coming up. The oven smelt of food cooked by previous occupants. The cottage was really hot and there were no fans or air con. There was only one pillow each, beds were made up on arrival. Each cottage is next to water but you can’t necessarily go in the water but there are places to do this on the site. The activities on the site are cheaper than in the UK. The archery was great fun. The steam room and baths were broken all week. The supermarket is well stocked and okay for prices. The restaurants are very expensive. This is a great site for younger children. It is not as well maintened or as lovely as UK center parcs. All staff were helpful. Would not return to this site.

We just got back from 4 nights in one of the Comfort Kids bungalows and it was WONDERFUL. We drove there with our 3 kids (11, 9, 5), parked the car and never got in it again the whole time. We rented bikes, bowled, boated in a canoe and a swan boat, the kids did paintball, mini-golf, we rented a Kids Safari truck for our littlest to "drive" around...I cannot say enough good things. The cottage was completely clean. Sparkling. And I am picky. Really picky, according to my husband. Yes, the facilities are not brand new but they are well-maintained and super clean. We had our own dock and tried to fish off it with no success, but it was fun anyway. There are playgrounds and air trampolines, the restaurants were fine if a bit slow with service, and the grocery store was well-priced and well-stocked. Everyone was kind and pleasant and helpful. Totally recommend. It's pretty far from where we live so I can't say for sure we'll be back, but we're excited to try it again or other CentreParc locations. Oh! And the pool slide!! Wow that was fun. The kids and I went down it about 1000 times. Again, I don't know what happened in the other reviews but our cabin was clean, everyone was helpful, it never felt crowded. Try it!

Before we start: If you find yourself reading this after you’ve already arrived, first up I’m very sorry for the disappointments you’ll likely experience. Take frequent trips to Emmen, it’s a really nice town. I have great memories of this place when I was a kid. I was horrified when I saw how this place looks now. First off: it’s a blast for kids or in our case adults in their 25s/30s who wanted to revisit old memories. Lots of activities, water boating, sports, you name it. But man, was that house ever filthy. Set aside at least one day of cleaning and re-doing the bedsheets. Plus, there’re signs of disuse everywhere. It’s like this place was built at some point and subsequently never once visited by staff or management since. We could see and smell the people who were here before us. There was hair on the bed, the kitchen surface, the toilet and the sofa - the sofa! That in particular really turned my stomach. There were stains, scratch-marks of generations of dogs, a heavy layer of dust and what we assumed to be kitchen grease, mixed with the aforementioned hair. We had to spend a solid day of our holidays just deep-cleaning. Cleaning supplies we had to buy ourselves, mind you. If you come to Sandur, accept the reality of this: nobody cares if you’re living in a dirty home. You can complain, send in the feedback slip, even talk to management - nobody will clean up the mess if you don’t do it yourself. Lastly: Make sure you visit April or later, otherwise many of the activities will be closed to you, particularly water activities. And even then, don’t expect everything to be open. On the positive side, the Sauna and Whirlpool in the VIP house were nice.