Hotel Hochsauerland by Center Parcs

I am a frequent Center Parcs visitor. But this was absolutely horrible. For the price of more then 2.5K this was absolutely miserable. We had a VIP Cottage. But I don't know why it was called VIP. This park is losing its shine very fast. Let's start positive: - The Park design is good. There are a lot of things for children. - The play grounds are great. The fact that the Adventure Land is really close by is a big bonus - The people working there are all very very friendly and willing to help. - The beds were good and supportive. - The gamehall and trampolines are awesome - The summer activities are great. - The green in the park is overall well maintained. There are a lot of weeds in the backgardens of the cottages but overall its good. But the negative: - The house was very dirty. We even found used tissues which is very gross but to top that we even found soiled underwear in the children bed. The bathrooms were wiped clean but you could tell they were still dirty due to all the grease stains. The floor was dusty, Threads of dust were hanging in the corners of the ceiling, the cutlery still had leftover food stuck to it. Our holiday started by going to the shop to buy soap and clean everything in that house. - The house is old and it shows. The furniture had it's best time. The most comfortable seats where the garden seats. The stairs are creaky and the paint is all worn off. Damages in the wall have been painted over leading to a nice spotted colored wall. - The food was lousy. We had kuchen that was still frozen on the inside, meat that was rubbery and dry, vegetables that were withered and soggy. - The price of the food is very high. - The bubble bathtub worked half. The lights didn't go on, the pressure couldn't be adjusted because the knob would fall off. - There are a lot of cars in the park. Not only the normal golfcars but actual cars. - The fresh breadrolls were delivered once IN the cottage while we were sleeping upstairs. That is a big no! I'm visiting center parcs for 30 years. This was the worst, most expensive visit I ever had. It feels as a waste of 2.5k. I will never return to this park and makes me think to stop going to Center Parcs.

We had a good week at this park and think it rates well against the British ones we have tried. It was about half the price (we were visiting outside of the german school holidays) and the range of amenities was better overall, if more appealing to younger children. The location is quite rural (rolling hills with lots of forest) so took a bit of driving. But the local town (Medebach) is an established tourist destination so there is plenty to do, even outside the park. We had the cheapest accommodation (comfort) and it was fairly basic but spacious and had everything we needed. The bathrooms appeared quite new and the beds were comfortable. You do have to pay for sheets/towels but the charge is not excessive. The swimming pool is typical for CP including waves, slides and areas for younger children. The swimming pool was bigger than parks we have visited in the UK and had a good range of slides plus an outside area (including deckchairs etc). Changing cubicles were a bit limited but, that aside, we really enjoyed it. The other major attraction for children is called the Spielberg (an enormous playground on a hill). It is advertised as part of the park but is actually just outside - literally adjacent - and free for any visitors to the area. You can walk to it from your chalet within 5-10 mins. One thing we hadn't realised about european CP was that all the parks are in fact open to non-residents (at a charge) so this probably does increase the numbers on certain days but we never felt it was overcrowded. Food-wise I have read some quite negative comments on here but we felt it was fine. There are several restaurants in the covered 'village centre' serving mostly german-style/international/italian food. There is also a pub/cafe on the Spielberg. Quality was decent and we thought the buffet (at the market restaurant) was pretty good. It is perfectly possible to cook in the houses (there was an oven and hob, sufficient crockery/knives/cutlery etc) and the prices at the supermarket were only slightly higher than at the shops in town. The staff at the park were polite and professional. There are possibly fewer staff here than we have seen at UK parks so you may have to queue a bit for reception / shops but I didn't find any to be rude and they were very responsive about any problems we had. Other positives that we noticed were free, reasonably quick, WIFI and easy access to your car (the parking is nearer and not as vast as in UK so you can easily nip into town). Would have given 4.5 stars if I could.