As amusement park lovers, we try to visit a few every year. Including some parks we have never been to before. One of the visits that has stayed with us the most is Europa-Park, which is Germany’s biggest amusement park. Are you curious to know how our stay was? Then read on!
Travelling there
Our trip to Europa-Park began with a drive of about 6 hours from the Netherlands towards southern Germany. Driving on the autobahn is an attraction in itself, and we quite enjoy being able to legally drive that fast. Unfortunately, there are only small stretches where this is still allowed, as maximum speeds apply around cities and at roadworks (which are everywhere!).
Europa-Park is easily accessible by car. It is indicated on the signs, and our navigation, too, knew exactly where we were going. We had put the address of Hotel Colosseo in the navigation, as we were going to stay there overnight, and also parked our car here.
You can also reach Europa-Park by train or plane. With the train, you get off at Ringsheim/Europa-Park station and from here you can take a bus to the theme park. Arriving by plane? Then you can choose from several airports in Germany, Switzerland or France. From there you can continue your journey to the theme park in a rental car.
Inside the amusement park
As you can understand, we were eager to explore the many attractions. We had read a lot of information beforehand about the roller coasters and many other things you can do in the amusement park.
When you stay in one of the Europa-Park hotels, you enter through a dedicated entrance near the Atlantica Supersplash water attraction. From here you can easily walk to other parts of the park.
For us, the roller coasters were high up on our wish list, so they were a top priority during our visit. My husband’s favourite roller coaster was the Silver Star, which reaches speeds of 130 km/h. My favourite was the Euromir which resembles Crush’s Coaster in Disneyland Paris.
However, the other attractions were also worthwhile. We particularly enjoyed comparing attractions with other theme parks, as Mack (Europa-Park’s owner) builds attractions for theme parks worldwide, of course.
We ended up visiting all the attractions in 2 days, with the exception of the playgrounds for small children. Since we are not into shows, we were not fans of Europa-Park’s offerings, but that is very personal. We were absolutely delighted with the attractions and can recommend them to everyone.
The hotels
We opted to stay overnight in a Europa-Park hotel. Not just because of the convenience, but also because of the fun theming. Which made it quite difficult to decide which hotel to pick! Because did we want to stay in a castle, monastery, adventure hotel, American coastal town or Italy?
In the end, we opted for Hotel Colosseo, the hotel that takes you to Italy. All Europa-Park Hotels have 4-star rating, which means big rooms and almost all of them have their own swimming pool, You can also use the swimming pools of the other hotels.
Breakfast was included in our stay and it was good. Plenty of choice of fresh rolls, eggs, juices and hot drinks. Europa-Park’s mascot – Ed Euromaus – also paid a visit during breakfast, although only a few children took a photo with him.
From the hotel you can very easily walk to the theme park. In our case, we only had to cross the street. You can then enter the amusement park through a special entrance, making it less crowded. During your stay, you can leave your car at the hotel even when you go to Rulantica, as there is a free shuttle between Rulantica, Hotel Kronasar and Europa-Park.
To Rulantica
Of course, you can’t visit Europa-Park without also going to Rulantica. We love swimming pools and slides, so we definitely wanted to check out this water park.
The Rulantica water park is just as beautiful as the theme park and designed down to the last detail. Indoors, it is huge with several attractions, a lazy river, pools and loungers. When we were there, it was pretty crowded. In that case, make sure you reserve a lounger early and visit the slides as soon as possible. On hot days, the outdoor pool is also open with even more sunbeds, a pool and slides.
A visit to Rulantica is not included in your park ticket, you have to buy an extra ticket for this. When you only go in the evening, it’s cheaper, but know that it can also be busier then. It’s best to get there as soon as it opens to minimise your wait.
Crowds
Just like in any theme park, you will also spend a lot of time in the queues at Europa-Park. When we were there, it was pretty busy. For many of the attractions, we stood in line for around 30 minutes anyway.
For some of the bigger attractions, we tried to use VirtualLine as much as possible, which allows you to reserve a place in the queue via the Europa-Park app. This is free, but the supply is limited. With VirtualLine you reserve a place in the queue within a certain time slot. When it’s your turn, you go to the VirtualLine queue, and you can go on the ride in no time. After this, you can reserve another VitrualLine.
Rulantica was also quite busy, with queues between 20 and 30 minutes. Luckily, we had our own sun lounger, which also allowed us to take time to relax. However, even these were almost all occupied pretty soon after opening.
Price of our stay
Finally, what did our 3-day visit to Europa-Park actually cost? For two nights at Hotel Colloseo, 2-day admission tickets and a 1-day Rulantica ticket, we spent around 450 per person. That included breakfast but no other meals, and we stayed in a Standard Room Plus overlooking the square. This room was €80 a night more expensive than the cheapest one.
We stayed at Europa-Park with 2 adults, but should you travel with children, the price per person will be a bit cheaper as they benefit from a lower rate on admission tickets. For the hotel room, you pay a fixed price per night with a small surcharge per person.
Going to Europa-Park is not cheap, but remember that you are staying in a luxury hotel and the theme park has only top-level attractions. For us, it was definitely worth it, and we’ll be going there more often in the future.
Hopefully we were able to help you with our review of Europa-Park. Do you have any further questions or are you missing information? Then send me a message on social media or leave a comment below!
