Europa Park

[Whenwillglorioussummercome]

Has anyone been? Would be keen for tips on good times of year to visit, how good the hotels are, and whether the water park would work if the weather isn’t blazing hot. Are there long queues? What’s the best stuff to do?

Following !! Am finding this place really tricky to get to ( but we live in Dublin ) !

Haven’t been recently but went a couple of times as a teenager (which was admittedly about 20 years ago..) and it was soooo good! Following for up to date info as would love to take my own kids in a few years!

We're facing the same logistical issues (we live in Cork)

I really fancy it though!

It’s really good. Stayed in a cute traditional hotel that was a 5 minutes drive away and a lot cheaper than the on-site hotels.
went before the water park opened so can’t comment.
In terms of queues, if you get there when it first opens there are no queues and you can do loads in a shot space , by lunchtime they got quite long on the bigger rides but were ok on the smaller ones and then they reduced again by the end of the day.

We are going in summer, getting the train from Paris (appreciate living in Dublin/Cork makes this more of a challenge) I haven't been before but we're planning to have a day in the park, day in the waterpark, then another day in the park 🙂

Stayed in the coliseum style one about 13 years ago, was pretty good, better than Disneyland hotels for instance. There wasn't a water park then, but good indoor outdoor heated pool. Great spa area that was 12+ (clothing not worn!)

We drove as part of a road trip to Venice

If flying fly to Strasbourg and rent a car or there's a flix bus

I went in about 1985 😂it was good then.

It's brilliant. We went last August as we were in the area. The water park has a large indoor area which would be good in any weather. It wouldn't be a disaster to only do the indoor things.

We stayed in the hotel by the water park which was nice. there is a shuttle bus which all works well. You can get into the park early if you stay in a hotel and do some of the bigger rides first thing. Queues move quickly and everything is very well managed.

Wow, thanks for the replies! Very helpful.

I wonder whether the Irish contingent could fly to Frankfurt? There’s a train from there? My experience of Strasbourg flights is expensive and unreliable.

Is the food good? And would my roller-coasting hating child be OK there? It seems to have a tonne of stuff for them from the website but that’s what websites do of course.

Yes we liked the food in the park. We ate at the roller restaurant Food Loop and at the Greek place. Don't think we ate at the water park.

My DD adores rollercoasters including all the big scary ones so can't really help very much on non coaster things to do. The flying ride (Voletarium) is good.

Do you need to book the restaurants in advance? We're going in the summer and I really want to go to the Food Loop.

They don't take bookings for Food Loop so you just have to turn up and queue. They do take bookings for restaurants in the hotels but we didn't use them so not sure whether or not they're needed.

We went to the equivalent of the Food Loop at Futuroscope last year and it was definitely style over substance! Feel able to leave that one this time.

I am torn between October half term and Easter next year. I don’t suppose anyone has been for the Halloween session and can say whether it’s madly busy?

Europa-Park is wonderful and well worth the effort of travel. We’ve been twice - once flying into Basel and once into Stuttgart. We hired a car both times, but I understand public transport from both airports is pretty straightforward.

The hotels are ££££ but, in our opinion, part of the whole experience. Yes, it’s busy, but everything moves well and never feels that crowded.

I live an hour from there so go all the time. Have you checked flights to Basel airport?
Weekends are mad, but weekdays even school holidays are not that bad, as neighbouring countries tend to have their holidays at slightly different time.

Now I have to say the water park is much better in the summer. The outdoor area is massive, and if everyone is squeezed indoors, it is a bit packed. But still a very good waterpark. Note the adults-only sauna area is 'textile free' as they call it. Nude, in other words.

If you stay in the hotel, you get early access. Definitely make use of it and do the most popular attractions - the lines for Silver Star and Bue fire for example get quite long.

Hi I was there last month - we stayed in central Freiburg and hired a car, we didn't go to the waterpark but had a full day in the theme park. It was excellent and given it was the week of Easter we expected there would be huge queues but we walked onto a lot of rides and others were a maximum 30 minute wait. The park was huge and clean with so many rides! The food (we ate in the Greek restaurant) was very good and not very typical of a theme park with proper plates and cutlery etc. I'd go back! We flew out of Basel.

Thanks - this is all very helpful. We’ll either drive or get the train although I know others are thinking of flying.

I’m wondering about August now - we could potentially do a couple of weekdays on our way to our main holiday. I’m going to check out hotel availability. On one hand, we’re already going to have a lovely holiday so should we spread out the fun (and cost!). But on another it’s probably the only chance we have to go when the weather works best for the water park. Hmm.

Re things for non rollercoaster fans- absolutely loads. Seriously
Do try and get them on the Arthur ride though.

We live "down the road" and have been every few years since kids were small.

Do book the resort hotel restaurants well in advance though.

Thanks. One of mine is autistic and finds any movement more than a gentle swing a bit much but is always happy doing other things if available. They’re a geography buff who is already excited about the idea of the Luxembourg zone, and luckily DH detests any fast or high ride, so the two of them happily potter off together. Europa does look very well served for this!

Thanks writingandspelling that's good to know.

We live 4 hours away, have kids ages 18, 16 and 14. We love it!! Went to the water park soon after it opened and wasn't hugely impressed but don't really remember the outside part so maybe it was not fully open.

The main park is fabulous. We managed 21 big rides in one day last year, rushing from one to another, carefully looking at queue times. Food is OK, we kind of snack and go, as some rides are good to catch when everyone else is at lunch! We have never stayed in the hotels.. airbnb's near by, camping on site and last year we camped about 30 minutes drive away.

I don't know about thinks to do for your chikd for whom anything more than a mild swing would be too much as even some of the mini roller coasters are quite fast and most of the rides move.. there are things to see but in my opinion, not much really.

www.thegrill-rust.de/index.html

Just to add there is an excellent grill restaurant very close to the park that we went to, it was full of people who had been at Europa park.

Thank you!

I should say, they don’t mind moving per se! Just not roller coasters. So they will, for example, do anything that just follows round on a track, or moves at a fairly sedate pace. Stationery VR is ideal. Go-kart type rides are also a big favourite.

Hi everyone,

We're looking seriously at this park. Has anyone got any up to date information? I'm looking the Foursides hotel as an option.