Center Parcs Ireland: prices rise to £200 per day for first week of summer opening

Prices still lower than at the original UK site, and cheaper deals available later in the year

Parc life: the new property in the centre of Ireland cost over £200m (Center Parcs)

The latest Center Parcs village, and the first in Ireland, is set to open on Monday 29 July 2019 – with prices for the launch week already soaring to over £200 a day.

Longford Forest, as the location is known, is almost in the centre of the island of Ireland, northeast of the town of Athlone and 75 miles west of Dublin. Belfast is 130 miles away.

The project is the sixth in the portfolio of Center Parcs UK, which is owned by the giant private equity firm, Blackstone. Construction of its first Republic of Ireland property has cost €233m (£208m).

The village has almost 500 properties, with 30 of them apartments and the remainder self-catering lodges.

At the heart of the Center Parcs concept is the “Subtropical Swimming Paradise”. As in other locations, the water is heated to a steady 29.5C year-round. It is claimed to be Ireland’s largest indoor water park.

The opening date has moved progressively earlier. It was originally announced to be November 2019, then bookings opened for stays starting on 23 August.

With an extra three-and-a-half weeks of prime summer holiday to sell, the firm is likely to secure an instant windfall.

Test bookings made by The Independent for a family of four found the lowest price for a week starting on opening day, 29 July, to be €1,579 (£1,407). The rate of £201 per day buys the most basic two-bedroom “Woodland Lodge”.

The top-end property, a four-bedroom “Exclusive Lodge” with an outdoor spa area, costs €5,353 – which works out as almost £700 per day.

Anyone who can take a four-day midweek break in November, meanwhile, will pay only €399, or the equivalent of £89 per day.

In addition, most activities cost extra. They range from an “Aerial Adventure”, including trees, ropes and a 185-yard zipwire, to Bollywood dancing lessons.

But compared with the Sherwood Forest site, a family of four staying in the basic lodge will save almost £500 by going to Ireland for the week beginning 29 July

Access from the UK is easiest by car from Dublin port or airport. Discounts of 25 per cent are available for British visitors to Center Parcs on Irish Ferries from Holyhead in northwest Wales.

The new Center Parcs location is only 20 miles west of the home of Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, but the budget airline is not offering any cut-price deals to customers.

The Center Parcs concept was created in the Netherlands more than 50 years ago, as a way for city dwellers to experience the countryside. It arrived in the UK in 1987, with the opening of Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire.

The Rank Organisation tried to compete by opening a site in Cumbria, but it was soon sold to Center Parcs and now trades as the Whinfell Forest site.