Centre Parcs - Longlete, September 2006 (Center Parcs)

Member Name: White Beaver

Product:	Center Parcs
Date:	17/09/06 (1056 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quality of the pool area first class. Ideal sharing to cut the cost of the accommodation

Disadvantages: Quite hilly - so be prepared. Smells within the accommodation

We have just returned from a week's holiday at Longlete. It was the first time that we had gone to Centre Parcs as we had always thought it to be quite an expensive holiday for one family, but when accommodation is shared with friends it becomes more reasonably priced. We purchased meat and provisions prior to arriving to try and cut the spending. We really enjoyed the site and found the facilities to be excellent. The indoor swimming pool is as it says, a tropical paradise with plants all around and also incorporates 4 slides, 2 that children can go down, an inside rapid, an outside warm pool, a hot tub/spa pool, a cold plunge pool and a more adventurous rapid ride for those who dare!

We completed the on-line registration prior to arriving and this enabled our entrance to the site to be very quick and painless, approx 2 mins. Would recommend this to everyone if they have access to a computer.

Longlete is quite a 'hilly' resort which we were unaware of prior to our holiday. We had two 4 year old children within our party who are still using stabilisers on their bikes. We purchased trail gators prior to our visit and these were a god send as the children would not have accomplished very much cycling without these. There are a couple of routes down to the Jardin des Sport via broadwalks, but these are utilised by everyone whether it be on foot, bike, pushchairs or wheelchairs, so they can get quite busy and sometimes hectic. We took the children everywhere using the trail gators, both down the hills and up again. The adults in our party found it quite difficult to cycle up the hills, so be prepared for this! There is a flat piece of road that the children can cycle along on at the top of the complex and also round the lake at the bottom, but these are both concreted routes. That said, there is a train/bus that can take you around the site if needs be. We utilised this once early in the morning, but it can get quite busy and full during the day. This service runs all day and into the night.

We reserved places for the children in some of the Time Out classes which they thoroughly enjoyed and we were happy that they were safe. When you collect your child you are given a quick resume of what they have done and how they have been. I felt confident that if there was a problem then I would have been contacted immediately.

The sports complex was well equipped with various activities. The only down side was that it was very warm and did not feel like the air-conditioning was switched on. There is a sports cafe bar, but this can get very busy especially if the weather is bad and also the music can be quite loud sometimes. There is however a small soft play area for the children to play in which seemed to be very popular.

We also booked activities and treatments for the adults and I would recommend booking your activities/treatment prior to arriving as they get booked up quite quickly and it will also save you having to queue for some time to book. If you book before arriving you will also be able to plan your stay which we found very helpful especially with 2 young children.

There were only 2 negatives that I can comment on and that is the smell in the accommodation and the building works at the Aqva Sauna. We stayed in a 4 bed comfort appartment, it didn't look much from the outside, but there was a large living room area, large dining table and the kitchen was roomy too. There were also two fridges which, in a party of 6, came in very useful. However, the smell in the double bedroom was that of a smelly squash court after two men had been playing a hard game, not pleasant at all!. This lingered all week but we could not detect where it was coming from and was more noticeable when going to bed and first thing in the morning. However, on the last night there seemed to be a cooked bacon smell with it! The bathroom also had a damp smell about it when we went in there first thing in the morning.

The Aqva Sauna is still having a lot of building work carried out. The grounds are still not complete and there were various workmen walking through the spa and treatment areas on a daily basis. It looks like most of the main work has been completed, but there are still a couple more sauna's/steam rooms to be finished and the area outside around the building has yet to be completed. Putting that aside, the treatment rooms have been completed and are first class.

We would definitely go back to Centre Parcs again but as we have youngish children would choose a Parc with flatter ground until they were old enough to be able to cope with the slopes/hills.

Summary: On-line registration a must to speed up checking in process. Active holiday, no time for boredom