Landal Mooi Zutendaal with kids: 110 m² house, own garden, 2.5 hours from Utrecht

Landal Mooi Zutendaal with kids in June: fourteen nights in a 110 m² house with its own garden, 2.5 hours from Utrecht, for around 159 euros a night. The Mechelse Heide by electric cargo bike (48 euros for one day), the Lieteberg barefoot trail (10 euros, adults pay too), and one real downside: the indoor play area.

Landal Mooi Zutendaal with kids is a different kind of holiday from a park you book for the facilities. There is an indoor pool, and beyond that mostly space: large houses, a private garden, and forest and heathland that start right behind the park. We were there for two weeks and saw no entertainment programme in that time, but we were also there largely before the summer holidays.

It sits just across the Belgian border and from Utrecht you are there in about two and a half hours, so you can go without the journey costing you a day. We stayed two weeks, from 20 June to 4 July, and what struck us was how quickly you settle into that quiet rhythm.
 

The house: spacious, with a garden and a washing machine

The accommodation here varies a lot, from simple cabins to villas with a private jacuzzi. We had type 6L, a six-person bungalow from the luxury category: a roomy living area, proper bedrooms, a well-equipped kitchen and a garden that became an extension of the house within a day. For the last week of June and the first week of July we paid around 159 euros a night.

About 110 square metres genuinely makes a difference when you stay longer. After earlier stays in smaller houses we noticed how much it helps that everyone can spread out for a bit. And the washing machine is the kind of detail you barely notice on the website but that takes away half the hassle on a longer stay.

One practical downside: there is little storage downstairs. Toys, games and the usual family clutter had no logical place, so some of it simply stayed in the bags.

You park directly next to the house, which is handy with shopping and on arrival. It does mean the park is not car-free. There are paths that cars drive over, because everyone drives to their own house. In practice it was fine: people generally drove calmly and sensibly. But it is different from a park where the car stays at the barrier, and with children who walk to the playground on their own that is the difference.
 

Outdoor living happens here by itself

What this park does well is make being outside easy. The gardens are roomy, the park feels open, and nature starts right around the corner.

On warm summer days life moved outside on its own. The children played between the houses and the playgrounds, water games filled the afternoons and the evenings stretched out in the garden. The outdoor playground is large, well thought out and works for a range of ages at the same time.

Inside there is a covered swimming pool, free for guests, and an indoor play area. We cannot tell you what that pool is like, because we did not set foot in it once in two weeks. Not because anything was wrong with it, but because the weather was so good that nobody wanted to be indoors. That says everything about how this park works in summer. If you come in autumn or winter, this is the thing you do want to look into, and then you are better off on Landal's own site than on ours.
 

The indoor play area is smaller than you hope

This is the only real downside we came across, and it is exactly the kind of thing you want to know in advance if you are booking for autumn.

The indoor play area is one room with one climbing frame, roughly what you would expect from a small soft play. Our youngest, aged four, liked it enough to go a few times, but we never stayed longer than twenty minutes. Our eldest, aged seven, was done with it within five.

And then there is something you do not think about when booking: at 25 degrees and above that room simply got too warm. Exactly on the days you would want to shelter indoors from the heat, you do not want to be in there.

Practical note: it is on the first floor and there is no lift, so with a pushchair or anyone unsteady on their feet you have the stairs to deal with first.

That does not make it a bad park, it just makes clear what this park is for: being outside. If it rains for a week, you will be looking for things to do off the site.
 

The area: Mechelse Heide and the barefoot trail

The surroundings are the real strength of this park. Forest paths, heathland and open stretches, ideal for walking and cycling.

The Mechelse Heide, part of the Hoge Kempen National Park, is close by. Cycling or walking through that landscape gives you an immediate feel for the region: wide views, quiet paths and enough variation to keep it interesting without it becoming hard work. Landal rents out several types of bike. We hired an electric cargo bike for one day, 48 euros, and with two children in the front that is exactly what you need to get into the Hoge Kempen without it turning into an expedition.

The barefoot trail at Lieteberg was the outing that stayed with us most. The trail is longer and more elaborate than you expect, with changing surfaces, water sections, balance elements and height differences. For our youngest some sections were tricky, especially where the water made the ground slippery.

What we thought was clever: at the most demanding sections there is often a parallel path, so you can skip the deeper muddy water without losing the adventure. There is a lookout tower along the way, and there the children beat the adults: they wanted to go all the way up, we called it a day one level lower.

What it costs: 10 euros per person from 1.20 metres tall and 6 euros below that. Note that adults pay here too, because this is not a children's attraction you walk alongside: you go through the mud yourself. Allow about an hour and a half for the whole trail.
 

Eating on the park, and how the days went

There is a brasserie on the park and it stood out in a good way. We ate there once and it was genuinely very good, not in the fine-for-a-holiday-park category but simply good. Relaxed, unfussy and in keeping with the rest. In hindsight two visits in two weeks would have been fair.

What it cost: we ate there with eight people for 250 euros, main course and dessert, four of them children. For a restaurant on a holiday park we thought that was reasonable.

We did our shopping in Genk, the larger town nearby. By car that is quickly done, and it saves a lot against park-shop prices.

Beyond that this was mostly a place where the days needed little structure. Eating together, being outside, children going their own way and conversations that ran on into the evening. Precisely because there is no constant entertainment, those moments stand out more.
 

Frequently asked questions about Landal Mooi Zutendaal

 

Does Landal Mooi Zutendaal work for families?

 

See also

Destinations The Belgian Ardennes with kids: three areas, our days out and what they cost Destinations Caves of Han with kids: price, parking and how long it takes Destinations Landal Park Eksel with kids: a small park, plenty of freedom, no pool

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