Table of Contents
- Summary
- An introduction to Efteling
- Is it worth visiting Efteling during February half term?
- How much does a trip to Efteling cost during February half term?
- Efteling Wonder Hotel
- Weather and ride availability
- Food
- Detailed Itinerary
- Conclusion
Summary
This post is a detailed write up of our 4 night February half term trip to the World of Wonders – Efteling in the Netherlands. This was the first trip abroad for our kids and we had the most amazing time.
Read on if you’re interested for a detailed look into how much the trip cost, a detailed itinerary of what we managed to fit in and our view on Efteling for a family break.
An introduction to Efteling
Efteling Theme Park
Efteling is a fairytale themed theme park resort. It started life as a walkthrough fairytale forest with interactive scenes from fairytales. Over the years it has grown into the amazing and immersive experience it is today.
You frequently hear comparisons between Efteling and Disney. There are definitely similarities – both have high quality attractions, amazing theming and cater to families of all ages. However, whilst we love Disney, we do find Efteling is calmer and much less commercial than Disney resorts. There’s a real charm and vibe that’s uniquely Efteling.
Location
Efteling is located in Kaatsheuvel, just over an hour’s drive south from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
Accommodation
Efteling has lots of on-site accommodation – with theme park entry included in the price of the stay and a 30 minute early park access benefit exclusive to guests staying on site. The on-site accommodation options are:
- Efteling Wonder Hotel – a hotel specialising in themed rooms and suites.
- Efteling Grand Hotel – the luxury on site hotel.
- Efteling Bosrijk – a mix of hotel rooms and self-catering accommodation in a woodland setting.
- Efteling Loonsche Land – a mix of hotel rooms and self-catering accommodation on the edge of a nature reserve.
Language
Sometimes you wonder how accessible a theme park abroad will be if you don’t speak the native language. As an English speaker, you have absolutely no trouble at Efteling.
All the staff speak fluent English and all signage/menus are multi-lingual. Efteling also have a translation ‘subtitling’ feature in their app that translates ride pre-shows and fairytales in the fairy tale forest. It’s a really accessible park if you don’t speak Dutch.
The only place we had any language challenge was in the Kasbah restaurant – it’s the only place we found where the signage/menus wasn’t multi-lingual and the staff member we asked for help didn’t speak English. I believe this restaurant is run by a 3rd party company and operates a little bit differently to the rest of the park.
Is it worth visiting Efteling during February half term?
Absolutely, yes. In those cold, depressing post-Christmas months at the start of the year, it was the perfect thing to look forward to. Whereas UK theme parks typically close from November – March – Efteling is open all year round, and an amazing place to visit whenever you go.
A couple of perks of going in February – it’s quieter and cheaper than the summer months/other UK school holiday periods. The downside of course is weather – it’s naturally colder and wetter as the Netherlands has a similar climate to the UK. But I’ll talk about weather in a bit more detail later on!
How much does a trip to Efteling cost during February half term?
Like all trips, the cost will vary massively depending on how you get there, where you choose to stay and what you choose to eat.
Our preference is typically to stay in hotels and eat our meals out to have a nice break from the chores of day-to-day life. It’s not the cheapest way of doing things – you’ll definitely be able to plan a cheaper Efteling trip. But this blog is all about the detail, so I’ll share the costs for our trip.
We went as a family of 4 (2 adults, 5 year old and 2 year old) for 4 nights from Monday 16th February to Friday 20th February 2026.
| Expense | Amount |
|---|---|
| Parking: Manchester Airport Parking (T2 West Multi-storey ) | £68.64 |
| Flights: Return flights from Manchester to Amsterdam with KLM | £981.48 |
| Car Hire: Estate Car with Budget Car Rental (including car seat hire) | £364.83 |
| Hotel and Park Tickets: Efteling Wonder Hotel | £1,241.63 (€ 1404.46) |
| Food and Spending Money | Approx. £600 |
| Total Cost: | £3,286.58 |
How much does a trip to Efteling cost during February half term?
Efteling Wonder Hotel
We stayed at the Efteling Wonder Hotel in a Premium Room with 1 double bed and 2 singles (pushed together).
The hotel has been gradually refurbished in recent years with the rooms refurbished in 2021, the exterior refurbished in 2023 and the ground floor reception, lobby and restaurant refurbished in 2025. As a result, it’s a very clean and modern hotel.
Location and Getting There
From Amsterdam Schiphol airport, it’s an easy 1.5 hour drive that’s completely via motorways.
The hotel is located just outside the theme park, with its own car park (free for hotel guests).
When you arrive from Amsterdam, make sure to get in the lane for ‘Resorts’ and this will take you straight into the Wonder Hotel.
On our first stay, we didn’t get in the right lane and these evil kerbs stopped us from correcting our mistake! We ended up on a very long tour of Efteling’s very large car park, finding our way back to the Wonder Hotel 10 minutes later. Thankfully, we were better prepared for the lanes on this visit!
Check-in
All check-in can be done online before you arrive. You’re then issued with a digital key on your phone so you can head straight to your room on arrival. No need to visit reception at all or do any in-person check-in. So convenient.
Room
This hotel is one of our favourite hotels we’ve ever stayed in. The rooms are spacious, clean and modern. There are magical touches and theming throughout the rooms with characters from the park appearing in subtle ways around the room. And everybody slept so well in the extremely comfortable beds.
Here are some photos from a previous trip (this is the 3 person room with double bed and sofa bed, rather than the 4 person room we stayed in). The style is identical, it’s just slightly smaller. In the chaos of arrival, I forgot to take photos of our room!
Breakfast
On top of the fantastic rooms, the breakfast is excellent with plenty of choice of hot food, meats, cheese, fruit, bread, pastries, etc. The breakfast room is large with plenty of space between tables giving it a more relaxing vibe. There’s also the opportunity to meet characters at breakfast as they make their way around the tables. We met Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and a Knight.
Park Entry and Early Access
The hotel has a dedicated park entrance a couple of minutes’ walk from the hotel entrance. You enter the park near Vogel Rok, Carnaval Festival and Scirocco to the north of the park.
In the morning for early access, the outer gate is open before 09:30, and you’re held in the quirky Kleuterhof playground until the inner gate is opened at 09:30.
Weather and ride availability
Daily weather
Going in February, you don’t expect warm sunny weather. We made sure we were prepared and took lots of thermals, waterproofs and wellies!
We had every weather you could imagine – even some snow one morning.
The great thing about Efteling is there are a lot of indoor rides, places to eat indoors, etc. – so there’s usually lots of places to shelter from the elements.
| Day | Weather |
|---|---|
| Monday | 7°C – Occasional showers |
| Tuesday | 6°C – Rain all day |
| Wednesday | 5°C – Cloudy and dry |
| Thursday | 4°C – Rain and snow in the morning, cloudy and dry in the afternoon |
| Friday | 6°C – Cloudy and dry |
Ride availability
You might think in the cold months that lots of things would be shut. The only 2 rides that were closed for the early winter months of the year were water rides – Piraña (river rapids ride) and De Vliegende Hollander [en: The Flying Dutchman] (water rollercoaster).
The only ride that had some issues whilst we were there was Joris en de Draak [en: George and the Dragon] – it was operating on 2 out of 4 trains for a number of days and also experienced some closures. I don’t know if this was weather related or not.
Food
Theme Parks are often derided for expensive, low quality food. We’ve found the food at Efteling to be generally excellent and reasonably priced. There’s something to suit everybody from fine dining offers in the Efteling Grand Hotel to quick take-away snacks.
Meals
Here’s an overview of what we ate for dinner each day.
Monday
On arrival day, we only had an hour in the park before closure so wanted to maximise our ride time. We chose to go to McDonalds after park close, it was about 10 minutes drive from the Wonder Hotel.
Tuesday
We ate at Pinokkio’s Pizza and Pasta Restaurant. It’s a beautiful setting in the Efteling Theatre building, and cost us €71.40 (£62.15) for 4 pizzas and drinks. The pizzas were tasty and served quickly.
Wednesday
We originally planned to eat at Restaurant Saga in the Wonder Hotel, but the kids were tired and a sit down meal didn’t seem like a good idea. We tried Kasbah restaurant, but had a few language difficulties there.
Instead, we headed to Smulpaap – a loaded fries takeaway with an indoor seating area next door. The food at Smulpaap is excellent and reasonably priced.
We got Korean style loaded fries with roasted chicken, kimchi and sriracha mayonnaise for € 7.50. And the kids got chicken nuggets, chips, an apple, orange juice and a cool souvenir musical toadstool bowl for € 8.55 (£31.42 in total for all of our food and drinks).
Thursday
This was the food highlight of our trip – Polles Keuken – Efteling’s impressively themed pancake restaurant. At the centre of this immersive restaurant sits a huge animated oven that the kids loved to watch.
The menu features a mix of savoury and sweet options. I opted for Chicken Kebab and Mrs Where opted for Ham, Sun-dried Tomato and Pesto. The kids had a build your own heart-shaped pancake with fruit. The meal cost € 53.85 (£47.10).
The kids meals each came with a magnetic, Efteling themed, noughts and crosses/tic-tac-toe game. That was a lovely extra.
Friday
This was our travel day so we grabbed a quick McDonalds at the airport.
Snacks
We had so many different snacks at Efteling. As we had a big buffet breakfast at the hotel, we tended to have a selection of snacks throughout the day rather than a full meal at lunch time. Here are some highlights from our week.
Bäckerei Krümel
A tasty collection of cakes and doughnuts – we loved the Apple and Biscoff style cakes. These cost €4.50 (£3.94) each.
Snack Walls
A great thing about Efteling is the hot snack walls – there are 3 of them in various parts of the park (near Smulpaap in Anton Pieckplein, near the Max & Moritz exit and in Station East).
There are tonnes of snacks to try – breaded chicken ‘sausages’, noodle snack, meat ragout snack, meat snack ‘sausage’ and more. Prices start at €2.25 (£1.96).
Den Suykerbuyk
Even when it’s 4°C outside, we still love our ice cream. Den Suykerbuyk in Anton Pieckplein had a great selection of flavours – it cost €7.50 (£6.56) for 3 ice creams (and mine was particularly large…). Really great value.
Hollandsche Gebakkraam
We found ourselves here a few times before the Aquanura show as this stall is right next to the lake at the entrance to the park.
A regular hit was the toadstool cupcake at €3.25 (£2.85) – really nice cake and fairytale forest charm!
‘t Gebraad
We were weirdly addicted to these satay meatball sandwiches with crispy onions. These cost €7.25 (£6.35).
‘t Poffertje
I didn’t get any photos of these because I was too busy wolfing them down with the kids! The mini Dutch pancakes at ‘t Poffertje are delicious. I got 15 with nutella and banana at €9.50 (£8.31).
Detailed Itinerary
In February the park was open from 09:30 – 18:00 for hotel guests (10:00 for those not staying at an Efteling resort). Below I’ve included a detailed itinerary of what we got up to each day to give you an idea of what we managed to fit in. We love a good, busy full day!
Monday
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 11:00 – 13:00 | – Flight from Manchester to Amsterdam. – Clock forward 1 hour. |
| 13:00 – 15:20 | Disembarking the plane, navigating the airport and collecting the hire car. |
| 15:20 – 16:40 | Car journey to Efteling |
| 16:40 – 18:00 | Attractions: – Carnaval Festival – Droomvlucht – Symbolica |
| 18:00 – 19:00 | – Check into hotel – Travel to McDonalds |
| 19:00 – 20:30 | – McDonalds – Trip to Albert Heijn supermarket in Kaatsheuvel for some drinks |
| 21:00 | Bed time! |
Tuesday
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 08:15 – 09:15 | Breakfast |
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Early access: – Fata Morgana – Danse Macabre (not an early access ride but we queued early) |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Attractions: – Danse Macabre (baby swap) – Pagode – Vogel Rok – Scirocco |
| 12:00 – 12:20 | Snack: Snack Wall near Smulpaap |
| 12:20 – 14:00 | Attractions: – Anton Pieckplein carousels – Walk around Volk Von Laaf – Villa Volta – Diorama |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Snack: Cake at Bäckerei Krümel |
| 14:30 – 16:30 | Attractions: – Danse Macabre (virtual queue) – Fabula – Gondoletta |
| 16:30 – 17:30 | Meal at Pinokkio’s Pizza & Pasta Restaurant |
| 17:30 – 18:15 | Snacks from Hollandsche Gebakkraam Shopping at the Grand Hotel |
| 18:15 – 18:30 | Aquanura |
| 18:30 | Return to hotel for the evening |
Wednesday
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 08:15 – 09:15 | Breakfast |
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Early access: – Vogel Rok – Scirocco – Droomvlucht |
| 10:00 – 12:30 | Attractions: – Python – De Oude Tufferbaan – Halve Maen – Train from Station East to West – Monorail – Villa Volta |
| 12:30 – 13:00 | Lunch: Het Witte Paard and ‘t Gebraad |
| 13:00 – 15:30 | Fairytale Forest |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Attractions: – Fata Morgana |
| 16:00 – 18:15 | Dinner at Smulpaap Carnaval Festival Mini dutch pancakes at ‘t Poffertje Symbolica |
| 18:15 – 18:30 | Aquanura |
| 18:30 | Shopping at Efteling Grand Hotel, return to our hotel for the evening |
Thursday
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 08:15 – 09:15 | Breakfast |
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Early access: – Max and Moritz – Scirocco |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Attractions: – Danse Macabre – Carnaval Festival – Barom (Baby swap) – Kinderspoor Pedal Trains – Python – Fabula Play Area |
| 12:00 – 12:45 | Lunch: Polles Keuken |
| 12:45 – 13:00 | Attractions: – Stoomcarousel |
| 13:00 – 13:30 | Ice creams at Den Suykerbuyk |
| 13:30 – 17:00 | Attractions: – Butterfly Carousel – Droomvlucht – Villa Volta – Carnaval Festival – Danse Macabre Souvenir shopping at In den Ouden Marskramer |
| 17:00 – 17:45 | Dinner: Fried Chicken at Frau Boltes Küche and cakes from Bäckerei Krümel |
| 17:45 – 18:00 | Attractions: – Fata Morgana |
| 18:15 – 18:30 | Aquanura |
| 18:30 – 19:00 | Souvenir shopping at House of the Five Senses and Grand Hotel |
| 19:00 | Return to our hotel for the evening |
Friday
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 08:15 – 09:15 | Breakfast |
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Early access: – Vogel Rok – Carnaval Festival – Droomvlucht |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Attractions: – Joris en de Draak – Nest Playground – Scirocco – Villa Volta Snacks at the Snack Wall |
| 12:00 – 13:30 | Travel to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport |
| 13:30 – 16:20 | Return hire car, navigate the airport and a pre-flight McDonalds. |
| 16:20 – 16:35 | Flight from Amsterdam to Manchester |
Conclusion
We had an amazing time at Efteling, it was a perfect first trip abroad with the kids. We managed to pack so much into 4 nights and loved every minute of the trip.
Efteling is now one of our absolute favourite places. Not only is it an excellent theme park with some amazing world class attractions – the food is brilliant and reasonably priced and the Wonder Hotel alone is a massive highlight.
Writing this post 4 months after we visited, the kids still talk about it now, hum the tunes from the rides and long to visit again. Efteling’s Spotify is a firm favourite in our house.
If you’re planning a trip to Efteling, I hope this has been useful!
