Center Parcs le Lac D’Ailette

Currently half way through our stay at Center Parcs Le Lac D’Ailette. I think if you come here expecting 5* accommodation I would question your choices. Most people come here for the variety of activities and a comfortable base to stay at - and this place does exactly that. Having stayed at CP UK, and now here, I would say the French CP accommodation is a little more basic, but perfectly functional and comfortable. Things to note - unless you are in VIP you need to bring your own towels for the house. Maybe bring your own mugs, the cups here are TINY so we went to Leclerc in Laon to do a big shop and bought some normal sized mugs for a cup of tea/coffee. There’s no chopping board - bring lots of antibac wipes - and only one pillow each with no spares. If you’re fussy make sure you bring extra! But it’s clean, spacious and although reviews say there’s a tiny kitchen it’s what I would expect. The swimming pool is amazing, plenty to do and can spend hours in there. A bonus to UK center parcs is you don’t pay for badminton/tennis, you turn up and wait for a court to be free. The aerial adventure is well worth the money - looks like you can do it quickly but much more challenging than the Go Ape courses in UK. We’ve been to the Italian restaurant which was lovely, and going to the French bistro towards the end of our stay. Would I return? Yes, but would be sure to select our location (we were close to the centre but some cottages are quite some distance away!) and probably pack a couple extra pillows! If you want 5* comfort this isn’t the place for you, but for an action packed stay with family young and old this is a great place to be.

First time staying in a center parcs in France and probably our last. On arrival accommodation was shabby and badly cleaned. Children's playground is overgrown and closed. Service was slow and staffed by people who didn't seem to care. It was very hot all week yet there seems to be no aircon anywhere on site. You have to sleep with the windows closed because of the mosquitoes. I've never been so bitten. On the last night we had a dissapointed child who couldn't bowl as they closed the whole area for a corporate function. Avoid.

We did a mon-fri with family and friends in separate cottages. Check-in was easy enough. The cottage (to sleep 6) was small. The kitchen is TINY!! No oven but a dishwasher?! We had a toilet downstairs and then a separate sink and shower in another room. It would of been more useful to not have the downstairs shower and just extend the kitchen. We took an air fryer which was a life saver! You can't fit 2 people in there! Cloths and dishwasher tablets provided which helped. Beds were ok, pillows were awful so take your own! Our shower leaked and we didn't take a bath floor mat (who would of thought I'd need one!) So the bathroom floor was always slippery. We were lucky enough to be a short walk from the main dome but we still did a lot of walking. Although we knew it was there, it was disappointing and says something about your on site restaurants when McDonalds is next to the main reception and is so busy all the time. The onsite CarreFour is very expensive and also sells food you can only cook in the oven....?! Soft play was good but on the small size considering the space. We used our 20 of our 30 activities vouchers on bowling and even that was messed up. The staff had double booked our lane, refused to move another family so we could all bowl together and were met with rudeness. Eventually we managed to persuade the family and we lost about 20mins of our allocated bowling time. Never saw any boating activities available. My daughter did a pony ride along with a friend. Were told at the start, don't let them eat the grass and were then taken on a route with grass either side. The horse did not behave and was so strong to try and control it kept going for the grass and my daughter got upset. There was 1 lady looking after 8 pony rides which is crazy! The aquamundo (water park/pool) was the best thing there. Lots of slides for the kids and for the adults along with an outside pool. The evening entertain was in a corner by the bowling so no separate area to sit (hardly any chairs, people were sat on the stairs to the soft play) and enjoy a drink in the evening. Overall, I probably wouldn't return (especially out of season as most things shut early) and I always saw Centre Parcs as like a top tier staycation type place and this just did not feel like that at all. I've never been to a UK centre parcs but from what I've heard its a lot better than there. I guess you get what you pay for.

Center Parcs Le Lac d'Ailette is approx. 2hrs from euro tunnel when using the toll road so a good commute from the UK. The scenery is beautiful, it is situated overlooking a lake with lots of forest views. We did pop to Laon which is 10mins away, Reims which is 45mins away and Paris which was 2hrs. The resort is most definitely in need of some refurbishment as it’s looking very tired inclusive of the accommodation, the grounds aren’t particularly well kept either. On arrival, there was a overgrown tree blocking access to our property, the sink wouldn’t drain and the toilet door handle was hanging off, all of which were addressed very quickly once flagging with the team there but why the staff their hadn’t addressed this following routine cleaning is beyond me. The cleaning capability is poor so do take your own cleaning products so you can whizz round on arrival. The bedding was all clean. The shop is sufficient but expensive and we totally overlooked bringing our own salt, pepper, sauces, and teabags. If you plan to cook whilst there I would encourage you to bring your own food. There are lots of picky bits but no over in your accommodation, there is a microwave and a hob. There are restaurants and the food in them is average but the prices are quite high so everything is c.18 euros and there isn’t lots of variety at some of them so you may want to bring your own meals. There is no BBQ facility at the property so this is a further €30. There are activities to do whilst there, definitely appeal to the below age 6 population more so than older children and the team are incredibly flexible with letting you love them and refunding the money to your bracelet and you can then use in the shop, restaurant or on more activities. The swimming pool needs attention, there is mould in some areas, leaves everywhere and paint had peeled away meaning it’s visibility tired and in need of a refurb which is hard to look past when you’re on holiday. Despite that there are a number of slides, rapids and a lazy river so good fun if you look beyond it. Overall, we had a nice week and very much used as a base to visit other areas. If you have it booked I think you will have a lovely time as it’s in a quaint part of the country, however, we won’t be visiting again unless it’s refurbished.

Find out how to book activities before getting there. We were unable to use the app in the UK and the web page showed the activities we were interested in as unavailable (e.g. paddleboarding, kayak, segways), so we thought maybe we can book on-site. However we were told either "fully booked" or "finished" - very disappointing for our two teens. Especially as we would see the various water craft tied up, empty for much of the day. When we waded into the lake, we were told "no swimming", which was a suprise to us and others as there was a lovely beach area created from imported white sand, which seemed perfect for sunbathing and swimming to cool off. Luckily the weather was amazing and we made good use of the pool with all it's flumes, slides and rapids. The lakeside setting was beautiful and our cottage was clean and comfortable. Our perception was that perhaps the park is struggling with staffing levels and can't run all activities as it normally would, however this was not explained so it's just a guess. In the end, we were able to book paddleboarding as some slots freed up. So, if we've got it wrong and haven't understood how we should have booked activities, if anyone knows - please let me know.

We stayed here as a family of 4 with a dog for August bank holiday weekend on our way to village nature. The great things we found was the activities on offer, the staff all very friendly and enthusiastic. The Aqua park was great and we all loved the rapids. The outdoor area was nice for lazing in the sun. We took out a Pedalo, had a game of family paint ball and kids did the rapids on an evening which they absolutely loved and again the staff were amazing with the kids. The onsite supermarket works well for self catering. The McDonald’s was good for a quick fix after arriving. The fresh bakery goods were all delicious and the delivery service was a great treat. The park is very picturesque and the setting around the lake is lovely. We stayed in a premium cottage and although clean and fine for a weekend it didn’t feel so nice to come home to after a busy day. The bathroom and kitchen having a revamp would make such a difference as the decor was quite modern bar these. We had a lovely terrace and enjoyed eating out and never had trouble with wasps. We had an afternoon to Laon that was very beautiful but it was mostly closed on the Sunday we visited so maybe check this before hand. We did the land train and played some family games in the village square which was very nice. We passed through soissons but we preferred Laon.

This resort is NOT a choice for EV. The park claims that they provide 2x charging possibilities at the park entrance for E-Autos. However, 1) the output is only 2 kW. 2) it is impossible to find a charging slot. they security claimed only 2 cars can be charged although there are more electricity outlets. 3) there is no waiting list or any form of control. We saw the same Tesla from UK there for the last 4 days. We have no clue why this could happen as the rule said charging is only allowed for up to 12 hours. 4) it is not possible to drive the car in front of the vacation home to charge as no car is allowed in the park. 5) the closest Tesla Supercharger is 50km away in Reims. 6) the service personnel at the park entrance is not friendly (except one French gentleman- curly hairs, rounded). Most of the personnel there behaved like the government personnel. They are not interested in your questions. They answered with everything with “no” or “I don’t know”. Now we are driving 50 km to the Tesla Supercharger. It was exhausting after trying for 4 days to charge in the park.

Initial impression was favourable but there are many issues that should really be sorted. 1. Cleaning - the VIP cottage was quite dirty - sand in the bath when we arrived and used cotton buds down the side of the sinks for example. 2. No onsite pharmacy and not even Calpol or equivalent in the supermarket. Would have been good to have something when our little one caught a fever. 3. Everywhere you look online it says that at Center Parcs you can cancel/refund activities. Apparently not here. The reception were quite terse when we asked for a refund for our 5 year old who was to small to do the adventure that we'd booked in advance. Plus we'd booked beach deckchairs for two days - the first one we were only given 2 when we'd booked 4, and by the time we would have used the second booking there was building work going on right next to them. Again no chance of cancelling/refund. 4. Although most of the eateries have allergen lists there was practically nothing available for our coeliac daughter. It's basically a list saying you can't eat anything here! Really not acceptable nowadays. To sum up it's really not much more than a Butlins in a nice location, but without the entertainment. Go with low expectations to avoid disappointment.

Just back from 11 nights at Le Lac d’Ailette Pros: - very easy to get to on the Eurotunnel- about 2.5hrs on a fast toll road - electric car charging on site albeit via 2 pin plug - comfy beds, upstairs in cottage (one of the main things I like at CP France is that the bedrooms are upstairs vs UK) - the Aqua Mundo complex, with variety of slides - we went every day apart from a couple. It’s crazy busy during the day - we went at 6:30pm onwards as it was too busy otherwise - plants and trees in the pool complex are great - staff in the on site restaurants are generally good - the Italian served good food and the other restaurant did good coffee - easy to do laundry on site for 6 euros for a big load - Lake good for swimming, paddle boarding etc Cons - internet is bad- we relied on my hotspot a lot of the time to watch Netflix etc - busy as you’d expect - ice cream expensive on site - they’ve sold out and put a McDonalds in the main complex - loads of people seemed to eat there though! - pool crazily busy during the day - we went during the day once and left because it felt a bit unsafe We only went off site a couple of times - once to go to La Caverne du Dragon, the site where the French and German soldiers fought during WW1. Best to check on their website when the English tours are. We also went to a restaurant called La Fabrik in Laon, which did rustic pizzas etc. Price was similar to the Italian on site We also walked to a local boulangerie to get sandwiches and cakes I’ve seen some reviews about poor cleanliness, but our cottage was fine. I always wash all the crockery/cutlery when we go away but it was spotless. Some dust on the skirting boards but all clean otherwise We had a great 11 nights, pretty much back to back sun, very active holiday in the pool and some chill time too