'Center Parcs' for half the price
You either love Center Parcs or you hate it. It's the Volvo covered with Marmite of family holidays. If you've not been, try to imagine a swimming pool with slides under a big domed roof on a housing estate in the woods.
But if you can get over the mass check-in - an enormous very British queue where everyone quietly hates each other - you'll end up having a great time. The 'parcs' somehow happily assimilate the masses and there is tons of fun stuff to do. But here's weird thing. Most people, I reckon, either swim in the pool, ride their bikes or watch the telly - all of which you can do at home. Weirder still is the fact that the parcs always seem to be fully booked - in spite of the cost.
A midweek Monday-Friday villa this February half-term is £879. Or £220 a night. You can upgrade to 'executive' for £909 or cough up a staggering £2,355 for an 'exclusive', which has its own own sauna, maid service, steam room, outdoor hottub. It sleeps up to eight people so you can share the cost by taking your friends but this does make it, technically, the opposite of 'exclusive'.
Now then, if you are a little more adventerous you can cross the Channel to Belgium and stay in one of their Center Parcs equivalents, called Sunparks, for loads less. There's not nearly as many sporting facilities but there's the same pool complex, bike hire and the big queue at arrival time.
The equivalent four-day break at half-term costs not £879 but 406.50 and that's euros. In pounds we're talking around £300. The basic house is a mere £210 and the one with the sauna is £1,300 - but it sleeps 20. Different school holidays mean lower prices and fewer people.
There are a few extras to account for, such as sheets at £5 a pack, and there's the ferry that can add up to £200 and the petrol. But Belgium's beaches are fantastic and, if you stay in the flat bits, it has probably the best and most organised and safe cycle routes in the world. There's even an AA/RAC type service for cyclists who get a punture.
>> Sun Parks (it's in English).
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