Center Parcs Les Trois Forêts

We had such high expectations but the park is very tired and unkempt and we were really disappointed. We accept that we visited during the August school holiday but the park was very busy, busier than any other CP we have ever visited. The Aqua Mundo couldn’t cope with the numbers of guests. There were long queues for rides and a shortage of inflatables for the slides. In comparison to other sites, the slides were also pretty disappointing for our children. The outdoor pool is not large enough. The landscaping around the rapids was abysmal, looks like they forgot to do it. The central forest was the best bit, especially for finding shade during the heatwave. Sadly this was our least favourite CP out of the English and European parks we have visited so far.

We had a good experience at Les Trois Forets. The park is really large but despite this well maintained (better than Center Parc village naturel near Paris, for example). There were quite a lot of bluebottle flies around, but surprisingly no biting insects - first holiday in ages I haven’t been bitten! We liked the Aqua Mundo and the playground near the Centre had a nice creperie, big soft play area and the farm next door. We enjoyed cycling and walking too - some nice easy forest routes although there are some long hill routes outside the forests, be warned! The pool area inevitably gets very busy but we still enjoyed it. The free water buoyancy jackets for little kids were handy. The other main soft play on the far side of the park had a nice cafe with outdoor seating, but generally I’d say the soft play is better for younger kids. We were extremely glad we situated ourselves near the centre with our small children. We took the hints from previous reviews and paid an extra eur59 to reserve a VIP 3 bedroom cottage (no.470) near the Aqua Mundo and the kids farm/playground. This meant we didn’t need to hire an electric car. In our experience, the reviewers saying there are “electric cars everywhere” are massively exaggerating. We didn’t see any children driving them either! There are a few busy junctions but everyone is careful. We felt confident taking our young kids scootering and cycling round the paths. The accommodation was really nice - although hard to keep cool (we were blessed with hot sunshine every day. Pillows were bizarrely very lumpy - and for some reason we only had one small toilet roll in one of the bathroom (for six people for a week this seems a bit stingy!) -these were my only complaints about the accommodation. Wi-Fi excellent. The little carrefour express in the Centre was well stocked, and bread and water are reasonably priced. For better prices inevitably you need to head offsite to a local supermarket.