Tell me what you need to know.
July the crowds still will be heavy especially the early July. South of schools of south off The Netherlands are closed. Lots of people will have an annual pass, ''bouwvakantie'' will not be started so children will go by themself or with 1 (grand)parent.
Also other parts of the Netherlands, espacially the middle part won't have holidays yet, but Efteling is a popular schooltrip during those days. be prepared for the busiest days of the year.
And of august will be less crowded, South of the Netherlands will go back to school at the 17th of august.
Save ''sprookjesbos'' for the time when it's most busiest in the park. You can walk through it and it's lots of fun.
July can be hot, but also very cold, last July (2024) in the evening I was still wearing my winterjacket and it was raining all day long. On the other hand there where also years when we closed the schools some days because it was way to hot to teach (schools here (most of them) don't have airco) it went above 40 degrees in classrooms.
I think Efteling is nice, but 4 days is little to much. I never visit it more than 1 day in a row. I like the thrill rides, havent done the new one Dance Macabre yet, the lines are crazy for that one. Run to it the first thing in the morning is my advice.
I love ''Droomvlucht'' it's soo beautiful. If you bring your own lunch, eat it on the boats on the water, great place to sit, to relax and have something to eat.
Buy your parking ticket in the morning when you walk into the parks, if you do it when the park will close, you will stand in line for like forever.
Thanks for all that information!!
The trip is set now - we're flying in on July 6 and flying out on July 10.
We are only going to visit Efteling, nothing else.
Fly into Schiphol, private bus to Efteling. Four nights Efteling. Private bus back to Schiphol and home.
The only reason we're going to the Netherlands is to visit Efteling.
My son and his young children went last year for 2 days and loved it and very much wanted to share it with us.
So this year it's my son and his family, my daughter and her family, and us.
Four nights is actually only 3 days in the park (we arrive Sunday afternoon and leave at the crack of dawn on Thursday).
This way we can take it at a slightly more leisurely pace.
Since the ages are 10, 9, 7 and 2, we'll probably spend more time in sprookjesbos than on the thrill rides!!
as for weather, yes we've encountered the hell that is Europe in a heat wave.
We were in France in July 2019 when the heat records were broken (44 degrees celsius).
Hell couldn't possibly be as hot as it was then.
This is actually part of the reason i chose the Efteling hotel over Bosrijk, which doesn't have a/c.
But i'll pray for a cold wave in any case.
Last summer, when my son was in Europe with his family in July it was bitterly cold for most of their trip, until they got to Efteling.
By the way, my son and his family also when to phantasialand last year and hated it. Probably because it's mostly thrill rides? I don't know. I'm not at all familiar with it. But that gives you an idea of what they like and don't like.
Bottom line - it's memories. There is no way to know what tomorrow will bring.
The grandkids wanted us to see Efteling so we will.
