Europa Park - tips wanted

[BorisJohnsonsPhysique]

We’re off to Europa later this month - booked after 20th August so hoping it might be slightly quieter as some countries have started school that week. We’re in a park hotel and have two days in the park and one at Ruatlantica. We’re all very excited and would love any advice on best things to do (rides and non-rides), places to eat, best stuff to do in our half hour before general opening, and anything else really!

Glad it helped! 😊 If you’re into hidden gems, try checking behind the Iceland area near the Whale Adventures ride – there’s a tucked-away bench with great views and barely any foot traffic. Have you got any favorite parks or rides elsewhere that surprised you in a good way? Always looking to add to the list!

We loved the Iceland area actually - usually ending up there for some chill time in the late afternoon, and our non-coasterer enjoyed the various water things to do there. Not to mention the Magnum making.

We are here now our room was much bigger the. I expected but we are over looking the car park.
It's sublime it's better then I remembered but next time we will make sure we choose our room .

I've been looking at going to Europapark, but travel there seems a nightmare, can I ask how people are travelling there and back from the UK?

I'd fly to Basel airport, it's just an hour away.

We’re driving. It’s six hours from Calais. We don’t mind long drives.

Strasbourg airport would be another option although I think there are likely more flights to Basel.

So jealous @BorisJohnsonsPhysique that you are going back. I'd love to stay at the Bell Rock. Am also mind blown that I could have just driven to Rutlantica from Colluseo.though I'd worry about the car park being full when I got back.

Food-wise I likes pizza antica in Rust for one night's not £££ meal. I still made it back to eat icecream in Colluseo and go to the blues bar upstairs.

I still want to go back to try the tesla/voltaron ride. And dance in the euromir queue again!

Went to efteling this Easter and stayed at bosrijk. It wasn't as big or as good as europapark but I loved it and the hotel was on point. Really great mix of thrill and whimsical rides.

Thanks, flights seem quite limited to both baden baden and basel, and then I'm having trouble aligning times with having to get the train (buses either side seem easy) and there is no direct train so would have minutes to change, which seems like it would be stressful when never been before and not particularly good with public transport. Plus getting back via public transport to catch a flight worries me, specially when there aren't many flights, so if miss it pretty screwed.
Wish I could drive but not sure I'd trust my fairly old car to do the journey, it would just be me and my 18yr daughter so would be terrified to break down, grrr we so want to go...

How about hiring a car at the airport?

Alternatively you could get the train from the UK? TGV over to Strasbourg - you can do the trip from London in about six hours total.

ETA the Trainline reckons the entire journey from St Pancras to Europa Park is seven hours. You couldn’t get there by air that fast.

Thanks @BorisJohnsonsPhysique yes train looks quite easy, however it's just over £700! So not affordable unfortunately. I did start looking at getting a hire car, that also seemed to be getting a bit costly, but might look a bit more into it.
I've just checked trains again and actually the ticket would be flexible so if I missed a train can get on next one so maybe not so bad

Look at Interrail tickets. Much, much cheaper than that.

Just checked and one youth and one adult pass is €495, plus you’d have €30 each Eurostar fee and TGV reservation fees. Still far less than £700! Also depending on when you want to go there are often reductions on Interrail passes so you could keep an eye out and bag them then - they are valid for a year from purchase.

And that will also cover any UK train you take to St Pancras on the day you leave.

Not sure where you are flying from, but there are 5 flights from London to Basel just today, should be able to find something that fits trains? Both Easyjet and BA fly this route..

Thanks @DecafDodgerand @BorisJohnsonsPhysiquesorry for not replying sooner
I did look at the interrail pass, but by time you add on the seat reservations it would have still been quite expensive.
But, I've booked our flights today, best/cheapest way is from Stansted to Baden.
The trains/buses seem easy, have watched a few vlogs, so fingers crossed it goes smoothly cos I'm a little anxious! We are going next month, so will report back, if you have any other advice re the travel please let me know!

We’re here and just wanted to report back. The suite at the Bell Rock is just fabulous. We did from 12-8 in the park today and are back tomorrow with plans to do Blue Fire early doors. It’s beautiful weather here with hotter days ahead and we booked a beach island at Rulantica so we’d have some guaranteed shady outdoor space as well as our indoor sofa. The Voletarium has added some elements to the ride which are quite fun and the waiting times in general have been lower than last year, which is great.

On our way home and just wanted to add that we worked out our preferred way to start the day wasn’t to go in at 8.30 and race to Blue Fire as it was too stressful for us. However we worked out if we turned up about 8.50 there were no queues at all at the guest entrance and we could walk across to Blue Fire calmly and grab a Virtual Line for it at 9am as soon as it opened while standing next to it. Once we’d used our ticket we immediately booked Voltron Virtual Line and that way we got both of those sorted both days. After that we just rolled with the punches and had a great time! (Oh, and anyone who doesn’t mind getting wet in the morning on a hot day has an open run at all the water rides for the first couple of hours.)