Phantasia land or europa land (or both)

[TimetohittheroadJack]

Hi,

im looking for advice on my holiday plans 2 adults, 3 teenagers) they are currently looking like:

fly to Düsseldorf (from edinburgh)
hire car
go to phantastia land (2-3days)
drive to europa land (2-3 days)
return home from Basel.

I had originally looked at staying at the theme park hotels but I think it’s going to work out to pricey (probably 4K for the hotels including park ticks plus 2k flights and car - I’ve not yet considered food :() so was thinking on only going to one park, and possibly staying somewhere quiet, relaxing the other days (although, want to avoid teenage boredom moaning).

Any ideas? Are both parks good? Should I just do one? Or is there somewhere close to either we could base ourselves and both adults and teenagers would be happy?

my budget is flexible, but ideally I’m not want to go over 5k (including 1.5k flights and car hire), so any suggestions would be very welcome!

Phantasia land is not far from Cologne or Bonn so you could base yourself there.
There is a shuttle bus from Bruhl train station to the park , but we have never used it.
I'm not sure you would need 2-3 days there, you can probably get round the park in1 day. However, this depends upon how busy it is- would you be there during NRW school holidays?
Also, if you are big fans of theme parks then maybe you want more time there.
Don't know the other park.
You could also look at die Efteling which is another theme park in the Netherlands north of Phantasia land.

Just noticed you would hire a car, so no need for the shuttle bus

Thanks efeslight I’ll have a look at the Netherlands one. I guess that also opens up thinking of taking my own car (I think there’s a ferry from Newcastle).

for Cologne and Bern, is there stuff to do for teenagers? They would do outdoor stuff (as long as the don’t involve getting up early or walking up hills), but we usually go on beach type holidays. Museums etc are not really met with any sort of enthusiasm (to put in mildly).

Fair bit to do in Cologne, visit the Dom/ cathedral, chocolate museum, walk by the rhine, there's a zoo, go to Bonn for the day.

Europaland is better than phantasialand but both are great if you have time for both.
efteling is also great. If you can do all 3 that will be amazing.
If I had to rank them then:
-europaland
-Efteling
-phantasialand.

i think you want 2 days minimum at europaland as it’s huge. The others you could do in 1 day but there is also enough to fill a 2nd day.

For europaland there are lots of cute German traditional style hotels within a 5 minute drive that will be much cheaper than staying at the park.

Thanks everyone - my eyes are square with looking at all the different options!

I think I’m going to go for Europa land, it looks the best for bigger rides. Efteling looks great, but my kids are 15, 15 and 17, so I think they might be a bit old to appreciate it now.

last question, is it worth the extra to stay at the Europa park hotel? Last year we stayed at the portaventura one in Spain and I loved that we could relax at the pool while the kids went around themselves. At portaventura, the rides were open till 11pm, but it doesn’t look like Europa is opened past 6.

Not done Germany but would agree that Efteling is probably a bit young for your guys - my oldest two are 16 and 13 and they enjoyed it but there are only a couple of real thrill rides.
When are you thinking of going? Remember the football Euros are on this summer in Germany!

At 15 and 17 they will still love the Efteling but europark is better.

I think if you stay in the park hotel you get access 1 hour earlier than everyone else. Wherever you stay get there at opening time, you will be able to go on lots of rides before the crowds start. It wasn’t open late when I was there but not sure if that’s always the case.

Europapark? Yes you can get in earlier and do all the good rides without waiting. And plan one day for Rulantica.

My 16 year old absolutely loved Phantasialand. Spent 2 days. Stayed cheaply locally night before and then one night in resort. Big fan