Landal Park Eksel with kids: a small park, plenty of freedom, no pool

Landal Park Eksel is a small, family-friendly park just across the Belgian border. With plenty of outdoor space, freedom for kids and a calm atmosphere, it works best for relaxed stays in good weather.

Landal Park Eksel sits just across the Belgian border and it is small. That sounds like a drawback and it is precisely the opposite: because the park is easy to take in, children can head off on their own. Until June 2025 the park was called Roompot Park Eksel, so if you know it under that name: this is the same one.

For us it felt like a gentle way into holiday mode. You are away, but not far. That makes it an easy place to start a longer trip, or to slow down without committing to a big destination.
 

A park where children head off on their own

What struck us straight away is how easy it is to take in. Within a day the children had their rhythm with scooters and roller blades: laps along the paths, stopping at the playground, making friends along the way. Because everything is close together that happens by itself, without you having to walk along.

For young children an environment like this works well. For slightly older ones the gain is in the small things they get to do themselves, like going to the playground or to the shop. On a big park that fades away; here it does not.
 

Car free in theory, less so in practice

On paper Landal Park Eksel is car free: you may only drive onto and off the park on arrival and departure. In practice there is no barrier and no checking, so people drive on and off all day, for trips out, for shopping and for everything in between.

And not everyone drives slowly. With children playing in the street, which on this park is exactly what you want, that is not always safe. We now know three parks that call themselves car free, and the difference comes down to one thing: a barrier. At Hochsauerland and Allgäu the car goes to the central car park once you have unloaded, and you feel that across the whole park. Here it is an agreement, and an agreement without enforcement is exactly as strong as the people making it. We did not find it unworkable, but we did have to watch for it, and we had not known that beforehand.
 

Simple living, and dogs everywhere

The accommodation suits the park: practical, comfortable and uncomplicated. Not luxurious, but perfectly fine. We had a semi-detached bungalow type 6 of 77 square metres, for six people, with three bedrooms and one bathroom. After unpacking we slid almost immediately into a rhythm of eating together, children disappearing outside and adults staying nearby without watching over them all the time. More a temporary neighbourhood than a holiday park.

Do look at the floor plan for this type, because the layout is not what you expect. Of the three bedrooms only two can actually be closed off. The third, at the top of the stairs, is really a hallway that doubles as a bedroom, and there is no door in it. The stairs themselves are quite steep, which is not comfortable with young children. And the downstairs bedroom has a door to the outside that cannot be locked.

We solved it by putting the children in the closed room upstairs and sleeping in that hallway bedroom ourselves. That works fine, but it is not what three bedrooms suggests. If you want to put two children in separate rooms and still close a door yourself, look at a different type.

Something else that stands out: dogs are welcome in many of the cottages, and you notice it around the park. We do not have a dog ourselves, but for our children dog spotting became a daily activity, and it adds to that lived-in feel. It never bothered us, and neither did the thing you might worry about with that many dogs: our cottage was simply clean, even though dogs had almost certainly stayed in it before.

The brasserie deserves a mention. The food was better than we expected and the staff were genuinely welcoming. That fits a park run with care rather than with efficiency. The terrace also looks out over the playground and the sandpit, so you sit while they play. An evening meal for the four of us cost us 93 euros, main courses and drinks.

Mostly outdoors, and that shapes your week

At heart this is an outdoor park. Playgrounds, water play and open space set the days. If the weather cooperates there is plenty to do without organised activities.

There is no swimming pool on this park. There is a spray park, and on a warm day young children are happily busy there for an hour at no cost. But it is outdoors, and it is not swimming water.

That makes the weather matter more than at most parks. During a week of rain you have little to fall back on here: the indoor facilities are limited and swimming is not an alternative, so you end up looking for things off the park. That is not a criticism, but it is worth knowing in advance.

One more detail you will not read anywhere: there is a military base nearby and fighter jets pass over now and then during the day. It did not bother us, but if you are sensitive to noise it is worth knowing.

Nearby: variety without long drives

The location is an advantage. There are enough family destinations close by to have some variety without driving far.

We spent a day at Center Parcs De Vossemeren, and that is a completely different experience: bigger, busier and far more focused on facilities. You cannot simply walk in: we booked a day and paid for the Discovery Center. Good for a day, and coming back to the calm of Eksel afterwards felt like coming home.

In the same region is Landal Mooi Zutendaal, where we have also stayed. That park is more spacious, with bigger houses and a private garden, but with the same emphasis on being outdoors.
 

Frequently asked questions about Landal Park Eksel

 

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

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