Are the kids up for a day trip to an amusement park or zoo?
There's a whole lot of these in all shapes and sizes and not too far away either

Amusement parks

Slagharen amusement park
This amusement park comprises two sections, linked by the Main Street lined with shops and restaurants. There are more than 40 attractions at the park, including two rollercoasters: the Thunder Loop and the Mine Train. There's a water ride too: Ripsaw Falls. There are six zones in the park: Indian, Yellowstone, New Orleans, Mexican, Wild West and Jules Adventureland.

Hellendoorn adventure park
Amusement park with the longest rafting river in the Netherlands, a wild waterfall, a water slide park with 11 spectacular water slides and the Tornado and Rioolrat rollercoasters. And for the very young, there's Dreumesland.

Plopsa Indoor, Coevorden
20 indoor attractions including the Plops Speelboom (Play Tree), Dansende Fontijnen (Dancing Fountains) and Vliegende Fietsen (Flying Bicycles) and sailing on the Scheve Schuit
(Oblique Barge). Discover the new Maya outdoor playground.

Cowboy & Indianen Speelreservaat, Coevorden
Large indoor Western-themed play paradise for young and old.
Separate section for small children. Includes a climbing wall, miniature golf, outdoor playground and petting zoo!

De Waarbeek recreation park, Hengelo
A well-laid-out park full of attractions for the whole family.
A family park where you can zoom above water in an overhead train and fly in your own UFO in the Skyflyer. For younger kids, there are the Eendencarrousel (Duck Carrousel), the Muizenstad (Mouse City) and the old Spoortrein (Train). And for the really young ones, there's a safe playground area with a baby roundabout.

Speelpark Hoge Boekel, Enschede
An amusement park for children from 2 to 12 years of age with old fashioned pieces of playground equipment, but also brand new attractions such as the boat ski jump.



Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen
The animals are housed in the section of the world they come from in what is possibly the Netherlands's most beautiful zoo. A walk through the zoo is like taking a short trip around the world.

Apenheul, Apeldoorn
Large zoo in the middle of natural park Berg & Bos, where many ape and monkey species live wild; there are hardly any nets or bars, and sometimes you're even walking among the monkeys yourself. There are some exciting pieces of playground equipment to climb up on and clamber over too!

Nordhorn Zoo, Germany
Nicely laid out, small-scale zoo with 100 different types of animals from Ape to Zebra! There's a great petting zoo on the large 19th-century farmstead Vechtehof as well as a playground!
Attractive entrance fees.