Last Updated on October 24, 2023 by Suzy McCullough
This summer we returned to our happy place of Efteling. Located just a 30-minute drive from Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands is this wonderful theme park. If you’ve never been I urge you to consider a weekend break there. We’ve been twice now and we absolutely love it there. If you want to find out more about the park itself we’ll add links to our other posts at the bottom of this post.
We decided to stay at the Efteling Hotel this time as it is the closest hotel to the theme park. They will be opening another hotel located within the theme park next year so this will become the second closest, although it is still very close and we love the fact this hotel gives you entry to the top end of the park away from the main entrance. The Efteling Grand Hotel will open in 2024 and it will be the first hotel located within the theme park.
The Efteling Hotel has 20 enchanting themed suites such as The Sleeping Beauty Suite and the Raveleijn Suite which is where we stayed. They also have comfort rooms and more spacious Junior Suites. We stayed for three nights and we had access to Efteling Theme Park for four days. Guests can enter Efteling 30 minutes before it opens to the general public and some of the rides are open early.
Booking a stay via the Efteling website is great value for money. The rooms aren’t over the top expensive and breakfast, parking and theme park tickets are all included with a stay at Efteling Hotel. If you click on a link in this piece, we may earn affiliate revenue.
How Close is the Efteling Hotel to the Theme Park?
The following information is from the Efteling website. I would say that our walk took us less than 5 minutes. You simply follow the footprints out of the car park and walk down a small traffic-free lane and you are then right by the entrance. This entrance is only for guests of the Efteling Hotel.
Efteling Hotel – 5 minutes walk to the theme park entrance.
Bosrijk Village – 10+ minute walk to the theme park entrance.
Loonsche Land – 15+ minute walk to the theme park entrance. We once stayed right by the hotel Loonsche Land and it only took us 9 minutes to walk to the main entrance.
Bosrijk and Loonsche also have a courtesy bus most days.
The Efteling Hotel has a free car park for guests. You must provide your car registration at the front desk to be able to park for free. Also included in your stay is a buffet breakfast.
Inside the Efteling Hotel
The hotel has quite a classic feel to it and the bar is very British in style. One of the main reasons we love Efteling as much as we do is that we never feel ripped off there. Food and drinks are very reasonably priced in the bar and in the theme park. The restaurant at this hotel is ever so slightly the exception but it’s still a lot cheaper than Disneyland Paris.
Because we are such a short walk away we chose to return on one of the days for food and drinks in the bar before heading out again later. This is perfect for families with young children who may want a nap.
Right next to the bar is a small children’s play area for younger children. This has a small soft play area, table football, a TV and a few wall puzzles. Perfect for the kids to let off steam while you relax with a drink.
On our first night, we were late arriving so we decided to eat in the Efteling Hotel restaurant. De Hoffelijke Herautrestaurant serves three-course a la carte meals in the evening. They also have a children’s menu. We were all very impressed with our food although we did not eat here again as it was, for Efteling, quite expensive.
Breakfast is served in the restaurant room above and there is also a second room which is opposite the children’s play area. Breakfast is included with all stays here booked via the Efteling website. Each morning for breakfast there were costumed characters that talked to all the children, even our 10-year-old! Breakfast is buffet-style and my son was especially keen on the donuts and the bacon.
Breakfast is open from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. and reservations are not necessary. You may have to wait though at busier times between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m.
The hotel has 7 floors and 143 rooms. We stayed at the end of the summer holidays and the hotel was almost full. This did cause some issues with the lifts. The hotel only has two and they can be very slow and they are always packed full of people. The only bonus for us was that we were staying on the top floor so it always came to us empty but we never made it down without stopping.
I had booked the Raveleijn Suite months in advance as certain rooms can book up a long time in advance. The Efteling Hotel has four Raveleign Suites and each is located in the four turrets of the hotel.
Although this hotel has many rooms that can sleep up to 4 people the Raveleijn Suite is the only one at this hotel with two bedrooms and the second bedroom is pretty unique.
When we arrived we didn’t even have to check in as I’d already checked in on the Efteling App. Not only that but the app is also your room key. You can request room cards if you don’t have a mobile phone. If you are visiting Efteling and you do have a mobile I can highly recommend downloading the app. It’s excellent for finding your way around the park and the estimated ride times are a great resource while you are visiting the theme park.
You enter the Raveleijn Suite via a small hallway with a wardrobe. This then leads to a large double bed. Here there is also a table with some tea and coffee-making facilities.
In front of the bed is another small corridor. Off to the right, there is the spacious shower room that I somehow managed to forget to take a photo of.
There is also a bookcase. Or is it? As you approach the door some horse noises and a trumpet start playing. The bookcase then lights up. If you pull at the bookcase it then opens to reveal a secret bedroom. You can turn the music and lights off at the front door which you may well want to do after hearing it for the millionth time. It is great fun though and certainly unique.
You are now in one of the hotel’s turrets. We absolutely loved the theming in this room and all the windows. There is a large solid bunk bed in the middle of the room and a chest of dress-up clothes for the kids. There is even a second TV in here.
Other great-looking suites at Efteling Hotel include the Flying Dutchman Suite and the Cinderella Suite with a pumpkin and a cauldron. The Carousel Suite looks like you are on a ride at the theme park and the Gilded Suite is incredibly sumptuous. You really are spoilt for choice.
We certainly found our stay at Efteling Hotel a lot easier for visiting the park than when we stayed at Efteling Holiday Village Loonsche Land. The other accommodation at Efteling brings you to the main entrance so the top end of the park is lovely and quiet to start off with, especially with the 30-minute early entry included in a stay here. Find out more about the Holiday Village at Loonsche Land.
Staying at Efteling Hotel you enter the park very close to Vogel Rok which is one of the rides that opens early. This is an indoor rollercoaster that is short but exhilarating. We all loved this ride and one morning we went on it 4 times in a row before the park had even opened. You can find out more about the rides at Efteling in this post.
We had two and a half days at Efteling during our last visit. Efteling has a lot of excellent rides and other fun things to do. I can highly recommend spending at least two days there. We have a post of our 2-day itinerary to help you plan your visit there. The Fairytale Forest alone can take around 1.5-2 hours.
