Europe packed into a park!

Europa Park, we can’t resist taking our three-year-old son there! It’s the continent’s second-biggest theme park after Disneyland Paris and is divided into 15 nationally-themed areas. Set in a lush area near Germany’s Black Forest, it’s just moments from the French border.

We started out from home at 6am by bus and reached by 9am. We jumped aboard the miniature steam train and enjoyed a quaint journey around the entire park. We began our adventurous day with an excursion into Germany! Stroll through the German Alley with its splendid façades and architecture and discover traces of German history. We enjoyed pure lake adventures on an exciting raft expedition to discover the empire of Salomon, the African Jungle King. We watched out for thrilling encounters as crocodiles are guaranteed to come scarily close to your raft!

We took our places in the boat, an expedition across the lake on a raft, and saw the tribe’s market, centuries-old trees lining the banks of the River Elz, elegant water lilies, and exotic tree groves. On the Monorail, we enjoyed a fantastic open-air view from above! We also entered the land of the gods and experience the Mediterranean joy of living!

And food? It’s simply awesome. We found an Indian restaurant there and enjoyed our food besides the rafting canal.

I think my husband and brave little son followed the steps of the big seafarers and discoverers during a fun and splashy ride with the Atlantica Super Splash. Their journey began next to the giant sailboat Santa Marian and took them via a dimly lit fortress onto an adventurous boat ride through the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Their boat was spinning around 30 meters above ground to travel down nine meters deep -backwards with a speed of 80 km/h into the refreshing water. Nobody was dry!

To get the full experience from Europa-Park, you’ll need to spend more than just one day there. We spent a full day at the park and returned to our hotel for the night. The next day we spent another morning and afternoon before we left. I don’t think I managed to get around half of the attractions in that time. Everything would have taken a lot longer.

I felt like this was more than just a theme park. The luxury of being able to relax, watch a show, eat in an up-market restaurant, swim in a lake or even have a spa treatment, means that you can spend a whole day there without going on any rollercoaster and still have a brilliant day. I’d strongly recommend putting aside at least two days to enjoy Europa-Park, and more if you can manage it.