Efteling Hotel

We stayed at Efteling for 4 days and 3 nights to celebrate our daughter’s 6th birthday — hoping for fairytales and wonder, but left feeling let down by the reality. While the park itself is impressively clean and many rides are beautifully designed and age-appropriate, they’re poorly signposted and frustrating to navigate. This made it difficult to enjoy the experience fully with a young child in tow. We paid extra for birthday decorations and a cake — key elements meant to make the trip special — but the room barely offered more than a few small balloons and Efteling flags. It felt tokenistic at best. When we asked for a birthday dinner reservation, we were told the earliest available table was 8 PM… hardly ideal for a child’s celebration. The accommodation included a coffee machine, but oddly enough, no water to use with it. You're expected to buy water separately — an unnecessary inconvenience that felt symbolic of the whole experience: style over substance. Worse still were the staff interactions. Cold, unhelpful, and often dismissive — there was little trace of the hospitality you’d expect from a place built on enchantment. It felt more like navigating airport security than entering a magical world. If you’re a family expecting warmth, thoughtful service, and child-friendly hospitality, Efteling might not be the fairytale you're looking for. In our case, the park’s charm couldn’t disguise the lack of human touch.

Our stay at the Efteling Wonderland Hotel had some notable aspects, both positive and negative. Upon arrival, we were disappointed by the lack of essential information. We weren't informed about the check-out time, breakfast hours, or the crucial nighttime park access closing time for hotel guests. This last point caused significant inconvenience. On one occasion, we were told by hotel staff that the access closed at 11:00 PM, only to be later informed at the park entrance that it was 10:30 PM. This inconsistency in timing makes it difficult to plan your evening and return to the hotel efficiently after a day at the park. Another issue we encountered was with our room. We arrived at the hotel to check in around 12:00 PM, but our room wasn't ready until the standard 3:00 PM check-in time. When we finally got into our room later that night, after a full day at the park, we found the air conditioning blasting at full fan speed and set to a frigid 18 degrees Celsius. The room was ice cold, which was far from ideal when all we wanted was a warm shower and to get comfortable. To add to this, upon entering the room, we also found a dust cloth and a cleaning staff report, which gave the impression that the room hadn't been thoroughly checked or prepared before our arrival. We went down to reception to complain about the temperature, and while they adjusted the thermostat from their central system to 22 degrees Celsius, they stated that the entire hotel was kept at the same temperature. Regardless, having a room set to 18 degrees for an extended period, especially from noon until late evening, meant it remained uncomfortably cold and unwelcoming. For a 4-star hotel, we really expected a more comfortable and welcoming room environment, and certainly one that felt completely ready for guests. On a positive note, the breakfast provided was good. Overall, while the hotel offers proximity to the park, the issues with communication regarding essential timings, the uncomfortable temperature of our room upon arrival, and the oversight in room preparation significantly impacted our experience, particularly for a hotel of its supposed star rating.

We arrived with a giant expectation: - A Hotel outside the park with a view to the highway. - Efetling type farytail building but a groundfloor like a money making factory with only 1 restaurant with industrial food. When we arrived at a nice 4 star room with a poor bathroom, the room was frozen at 18.C and 4 hours later still only at 20:00. at 21:00 we had to go down to the reception and ask for a heater which was brought to our room with the excuse the AC was not working well. - At dinner the staff with the exception of 1 waiter long beared, was uninterested and ignored us. We received the starters 30 min after arriving and only 1 hour later the main course. The food was normal to low, the desserts were some kind artificial. - We booked the Hotel being only 2 min walk outside the park, but as we stayed until the watershow being finished, we were requested to walk back to the hotel outside the park with a ling way and dangerous crosses over the streat. A real demand… - Breakfast the cherry on the cake: Bring money as you get no coffe with milk, only simple coffee. They ask extra payment for a coffee with milk. Requesting for a fried egg willing to pay, you will not receive one. Again industrial breakfast with no care.

We visited the Efteling Hotel last October and my son has been obsessed ever since. He was so excited for our second stay but the poor thing contracted a terrible sickness and diarrhoea bug and was unable to visit the park. The hotel staff were amazing, showing genuine concern for our son and did everything they could to help us, including sending medical care, collecting medication from the pharmacy, sending cleaning services and providing lots of extra towels and bedding. Thank you so much to Marreke and Barbara who went above and beyond, sending our son some lovely presents and a card to cheer him up while he was ill in bed. This was such a lovely gesture and we were all touched by it. He was especially pleased with the VIP tickets they gave him to let him skip the queue on a ride, and this meant he got to go on symbolica (his favourite ride) before we went home on the last day when he felt a bit better. I would also like to thank Maarten on reception who assisted with cleaning when other staff refused. He came to the room himself with rubber gloves and cleaning supplies! There were so many other amazing staff but there are too many to name. The fantastic staff at the hotel meant the trip was not a total loss and we will never forget their kindness. We hope for a more successful visit next year! The room was comfortable (pillows were a bit lumpy) and breakfast was fantastic.