Euro Roadtrip 2026 Day 5: Tuesday 11th August – into the Netherlands with Kids
- Aug 11
- 6 min read
Day 5 was always intended to be something of a breather between our rather manic Luxembourg adventures and the second half of the trip – and, as it turned out, that's exactly what we got.
We had originally planned to squeeze in our postponed visit to Aachen on the way north, having sacrificed it the previous afternoon when our Mullerthal adventures massively overran. Unfortunately, when rearranging everything we'd failed to notice that the cathedral wasn't open to visitors at the time we would now be passing through - on a Tuesday.
This was particularly annoying because Aachen Cathedral had been one of the places I'd really wanted to see (my Bill Bryson book encouraged this). But after four days of museums, cities, waterfalls, caves, castles, hiking and driving, we felt we would let it go. So we reluctantly admitted defeat, added Aachen to the ever-growing "next time" list and pointed the car north towards the Netherlands.
Our accidental Dutch campsite
Around two hours after leaving our slightly questionable Airbnb in Kelmis, Belgium, we arrived in the Dutch countryside near the German border at Ardoer Camping De Ullingse Bergen, just outside Sint Anthonis.
We'd found this place almost by accident; when planning the trip I'd originally imagined spending this night somewhere around Eindhoven, Rotterdam or The Hague. Then, when I looked at the price of accommodation for five people during the summer holidays, I decided to continue our rural self-catering vibe.
This little campsite looked lovely; loads for the kids to do, and worked perfectly for breaking up the journey northwest towards Wassenaar the following day.
There was just one slight problem: while we no longer had enough time for Aachen, we would arrive ridiculously early, so we decided there was little harm in turning up and asking whether we might at least be able to use the facilities while we waited.
Instead, they handed us the key. Four hours early!
We have always known that the Dutch do outdoor living well, but this might genuinely be the best-appointed self-catering accommodation we've ever stayed in on our European travels.
It had everything! A proper, well-equipped kitchen. Toddler cutlery. A step and toddler seat in the bathroom. And – glorious sight after days of handwashing dishes – a dishwasher. The self-catering family's dream.
More than that, though, it actually felt like a little home. Holiday park accommodation can sometimes feel rather bare and functional (we don’t spend much time in it of course!), but this had pictures on the walls, nice curtains, candles, a bookcase with ornaments and lots of little touches that made it feel as though somebody had actually thought about making the place pleasant to spend time in! Eurocamp could learn a thing or two perhaps…?
Outside we had our own completely secluded garden with a picnic table, two sun loungers and six cushioned chairs. Everyone loved it. Obviously, this is the one we booked for just the one night – Ha! With approximately 18 hours in which to enjoy it, we had some lunch and got on with enjoying the facilities.
When in Holland…
What do you do when you arrive in the Netherlands?
Hire bikes, obviously.
Except the kids spotted the pedal go-karts instead (prices below)
So rather than the idyllic family cycle through the Dutch countryside I'd vaguely imagined, Andrew and I spent our time chasing three children down hills and then dragging the go-karts all the way back up again.
This was all very wholesome until Willow went absolutely FLYING down one of the hills. She narrowly missed a bollard and disappeared straight into a bush.
There was a horrible split second where we genuinely thought she'd really hurt herself. Given the speed she'd been travelling and the assortment of branches she'd just launched herself into, I’m counting this among the nearest-of-near misses I’ve ever witnessed. I was mentally preparing myself for our first encounter with the Dutch healthcare system.
Somehow, she emerged from the other side with nothing more than a scratch on her leg and one missing shoe. I have absolutely no idea how.
We recovered the child, eventually recovered the shoe, and counted ourselves extremely lucky. The pedal go-karts suddenly seemed considerably less wholesome than they had five minutes earlier so back to the flat road it was…
A proper afternoon off
Once everyone's heart rates had returned to something approaching normal, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the campsite (and dropping off our laundry!).
There was a nice little selection of three pools: a heated rectangular main pool which was VERY deep, plus two toddler pools with a lovely mid-sized water slide. Elsewhere there was a ball pit, enormous train table, soft play, sports courts and “jumping pillows”. Basically, everything required to entertain three children – and with barely any people once more - the whole site was incredibly quiet and rural. There were ordinary tent and caravan pitches alongside all sorts of chalets tucked among the trees, and despite there being plenty of families around, it never felt remotely busy.
One particularly lovely touch was the campsite bakery system. You could order fresh bread and pastries the night before and then send the kids to reception to collect them the following morning. Every time we walked through reception it smelled of freshly baked croissants. In fact, that was one of the things that struck us most. Kids were everywhere with no adults. Totally unescorted kids just cycling around in groups together, playing together, wandering between chalets - disappearing off around the campsite with friends and siblings.
Having travelled around a fair bit, we've seen this kind of independence elsewhere in the world, but noticeably less so in Europe. Certainly it was different from the level of supervision we're accustomed to at home, and there was something awesome about that. Particularly that I’ve had some strange looks from others for letting my kids walk to the park/shops/friends alone from a young age with no phone.
So eventually we decided to embrace the Dutch campsite experience and do something that felt surprisingly momentous for us. We let all three of ours go off exploring without us. Max doesn't have a phone, but is a keen scout, so we armed him with a map, and showed Quinn how to use “Find My” to navigate them back to our chalet if they somehow became completely lost.
And then off they went! All three of them disappeared around the campsite together for the best part of an hour, somehow returning exactly on the deadline.
Nobody got lost, fell into a swimming pool, got injured or launched themselves into another bush. At least, not that we know of. And eventually all three wandered happily back.
Meanwhile, Andrew and I sat in our unexpected private garden, opened a cider and experienced something almost unheard of during a family holiday: peace and quiet without any children. This has definitely never happened before. It'll be bar-side evening drinks before we know it! Ha!
It was a strange little milestone. As the kids get older, trips like this are beginning to change. We're gradually moving away from the years when every minute requires supervision, entertainment, carrying, pushing or negotiating, and towards something where they can have their own little adventures alongside ours.
There are definitely pros and cons to that – but sitting in a sunny Dutch garden drinking cider while all three children happily explored together was a fairly compelling argument for the pros.
And that was pretty much our day!
No castles.
No waterfalls.
No museums.
No caves, chairlifts or medieval cities.
We didn’t leave the campsite!
But after four fairly relentless days of travelling, sightseeing and trying to squeeze as much as possible into every day, we were clearly easing towards slowing down now!
The kids swam, played, explored and gained a little bit of independence as part of the roaming horde. We sat in the sunshine, drank cider, grilled some sausages and enjoyed this accidental little corner of the Dutch countryside we'd only discovered because city accommodation looked more expensive (and a bit soulless!).
It won't be the day that produces the most spectacular photographs from the trip, and it certainly wasn't the most adventurous, but not every day needs to justify its existence with a major attraction. And, somewhat ironically, this random one-night stop we'd booked in the middle of nowhere near the Dutch-Germany border became one of our favourite places we'd stayed. Our only real mistake was discovering it approximately 18 hours before we had to leave again.
Still, Day 6 would be a good one. We had a birthday girl. And she was “getting an eclipse” for her birthday.
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