More Vacation for Less at Villages : Families: Holiday centers are self-contained resort areas that provide an alternative to expensive European hotels. They can make traveling with children easier.

Looking for a way to save money on a family holiday in Europe?

Consider a vacation center, also known as a holiday or vacation village. They are in West Germany, Scandinavia, France, the Netherlands and other countries in Western Europe. Although still used primarily by Europeans, they are increasingly popular among American families looking for alternatives to hotels.

Usually found in resort areas away from major cities, many vacation villages are strategically placed along coasts, adjacent to lakes and in mountain areas. Accessible by car, you can also reach them by rail or motor coach.

These self-contained resort areas may offer such accommodations as apartments, bungalows or chalets. Some centers operate year-round, others only during the summer.

Villages may include high-rise apartment buildings, marinas featuring boating and aquatic sports, indoor and outdoor pools, sports and equestrian facilities, a variety of restaurants and auditoriums with nightly shows.

In addition to a supervised playground, children may be able to take ferry rides and go on excursions to nearby museums and parks.

Accommodations are usually rented for a week or longer. However, shorter stays may be possible, especially during the off-season. The cost of a week at a vacation center is generally less than a week at a hotel in a major city.

Moreover, accommodations are usually more spacious than at conventional hotels.

For example, a typical apartment might include one or more bedrooms, a living room and a full kitchen or kitchenette.

Guests who don’t bring their own linens and towels are charged additionally for these items. A cleanup fee also might be assessed.

Some accommodations, however, might include cooking utensils, tableware and linen. Dishwashers and automatic coffee-makers may be other domestic amenities. Laundromats are usually available at the centers.

Utilities such as heat, electricity and gas may be charged according to consumption or incorporated in the basic rates.

Damp 2000 on West Germany’s Baltic Sea coast near Denmark is a holiday center that features apartments and bungalows, restaurants with children’s menus, riding stables, indoor and outdoor pools, a bathing beach, a gymnasium, windsurfing, sailing, bowling, miniature golf and a children’s playground.

Weekly rates for a double apartment between June and August are about $285. A larger apartment for a family of four is about $570.

Denmark has more than 65 vacation centers. Danland, one major holiday center chain, has facilities in Blokus, Faborg, Fand, Sondervig and Mon.

“These vacation villages are family-oriented and good for travelers with children, as they’re located on the seaside or at waterfronts,” said Maibritt Hupseld of the Danish Tourist Board in New York City. “Travelers can also save money compared to accommodations in the cities. The great majority of people speak English, so there is no language barrier.”

Hupseld estimated that the weekly cost of an apartment with four to eight people at one of these Danish villages is $550 to $750 during the summer season.

A village at Stege on the island of Zeeland in the Netherlands offers an indoor pool, a children’s pool and a children’s playground, as well as discounts on children’s meals, a restaurant, a sauna, a Laundromat and various stores.

Also in the Netherlands are the Vendorado Bungalow Parks, which offer self-contained bungalows for up to six people. Amenities include indoor and outdoor pools, restaurants, supermarkets, gift stores, bowling alleys and discos.

At Zandvoort, one bungalow park has 400 bungalows, 125 apartments and an indoor shopping center.

During the summer season at Loohorst, figure on a tab of about $50 to $100 for a one-week rental of a double bungalow, $150 for a larger unit accommodating four or more guests.

Not all of these vacation villages are in Northern Europe. The Dean Hamlet Holiday Complex at St. Julians in Malta has nearly 60 one- to three-bedroom apartments accommodating two to seven guests, plus an on-site mini-market, a Chinese restaurant, a pub, a game room and a swimming pool.

Foreign government tourist offices in the United States or tourism offices in the country itself are the best sources of information on vacation centers.

Make arrangements well in advance, especially during the summer season, because these holiday centers are also popular with Europeans.

Although travel agents may not handle such bookings, since vacation villages generally don’t pay commissions, agents, however, could process a booking and add a fee for their service.

Also, rates quoted may fluctuate with the daily changes in the value of the dollar. Find out if a value-added tax is applied to such rentals and, if so, how much it is.

For more information on the vacation centers mentioned above, contact:

--Damp 2000, DZT-Service Department (German Hotel Reservation Service), Corneliusstrasse 34, D-6000, Frankfurt, West Germany.

--Vendorado Bungalow Parks, National Reservation Center, P.O. Box 404, 2260 AK Leidschendam, the Netherlands.

--Dean Hamlet Holiday Complex, C.P.L. Development Ltd., Upper Ross Street, St. Julians, Malta.

--Danland, Mileparken 16, DK-2740, Skovlunde, Denmark.