The Best Europa-Park Plan
There is one theme park in Europe that tends to get the most attention, but if you want a better (and less expensive) overall theme park experience-you need to visit Europa-Park in Germany! Our family has visited this park several times because we keep having the best day ever here and want to keep coming back for more! Here I will lay out everything you need to know to make the best Europa-Park Plan!
Europa-Park is honestly one of our kids’ favorite places. If we lived closer, we would’ve bought season passes for sure! Europa-Park is one of the best theme parks in Europe and it will entertain kids of all ages as well as adults. Even if you don’t have kids, it is a very fun place to visit. The roller-coasters and other rides are tons of fun and the park itself is beautiful. I’m convinced you will have a great time if you choose to come here. I’ve used our multiple visits to put together this guide for Europa-Park and how to make the best Europa-Park plan for your family.
Europa-Park is my top pick for theme parks in Europe. If you can only do one, choose this one!
Where Is Europa-Park?
Europa-Park is located in Rust, Germany, a small town very near to the French border. Europa-Park can be easily combined with a visit to Western Germany, the Alsace region of France, or the Swiss Alps.
It opened in 1975 and is owned and operated by the Mack Family. You will notice their inspiration from other theme parks in the United States. The park is very well done. It is beautiful with natural elements, extremely detailed theming, and it is clean.
Europa-Park has a sister waterpark, Rulantica also in Rust, Germany. While they are not on the same site, they are very close together.
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How to Get to Europa-Park
The closest airports to fly into are Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Stuttgart, Strasbourg, Frankfurt & Zurich. Arriving by car is the most flexible option which I normally recommend. If you want to avoid renting a car, there are a few direct bus routes, or you can hire a private transfer.
What Ages is Europa-Park Best For?
Honestly, all ages will have fun here! There is something for every age group and every level of thrill-seeker. Further below, you’ll find the best recommendations for children 0-5.
How Many Days in Europa-Park?
The park is very large and has a lot of recommendations. I would suggest 2 days for Europa Park and 1 day for Rulantica if you want to visit their water park. If you only have one day, it is still worth it but just know you won’t be able to do it all in one day.
Look familiar? This is not in Orlando, it’s the France area of Europa-Park! Inside that big ball is a fun roller-coaster in the dark, the Can-Can Coaster.
How Much are Europa-Park Tickets?
Tickets vary in price based on your dates. There are many different options and combinations. You can buy 1-day tickets, 2-day tickets, flex tickets (open to any date), and Ride & Slide tickets that let you visit Europa Park and Rulantica on the same day. The tickets for adults start at about 52 euros.
The best option is to buy your tickets on the Europa Park App. You can even pay for parking in the app (about 8 euros per day).
Europa-Park Attractions
As you can guess by the name, Europa Park has 20 different themed area mostly based off European countries.
There are over 100 attractions, 14 roller coasters, rides, shows, and activities.
After our latest visit, I think 4/5 of us would pick Voltron as the best ride. It’s crazy!! If you like roller coasters, it’s a must. Full disclosure, I could only ride it once because I felt a little woozy after and it took me a while to recover. But I’d still do it again!
My other favorite is Wodan, the wooden roller coaster. Even though it’s not a looping, upside down roller coaster, I promise you, it is a ton of fun!
My oldest child would pick Silver Star as her second favorite.
My middle child LOVED doing the Virtual Reality experience near Blue Fire. And if you’re kids like VR, you can pay for a VR headset when you ride the Alpine Express coaster in Austria.
My youngest likes the smaller roller coaster Pegasus in Greece, and the Whale Boats in Iceland.
If you happen to visit on a rainy day here are my recommendations of the best covered attractions:
indoor playarea, Casa de Adventure, near the Spain/Portugal area
indoor Limerick Castle play area in Ireland
Can-Can coaster in France
the small indoor rides in Italy
Pirates of Batavia
Euro-Mir Coaster
Voletarium
see a show, check app for the next one in the schedule
Take a train or monorail ride
Read this Guide to London with Kids for another kid-friendly trip idea in Europe!
Europa-Park has wonderful details and theming. Make sure to look around at it all while you are walking through the park!
How to Make the Best Europa-Park Plan
Download the App
You need to get this app before you arrive to the park! It has so many great features that will help make your day at Europa-Park a breeze. You can even purchase your tickets and pay for your parking in the app (which I recommend doing). Don’t waste time waiting in line at the park to buy your tickets, do it from your phone!
Using the Europa-Park app is the best way to make the most out of your day at Europa-Park!
You’ll need to set up a Mack One account to buy your tickets. It doesn’t take too long, but I wouldn’t recommend waiting until the morning of your visit to do this. Downloading the app at least one day in advance would be best.
The best features in the app:
Map, filter by restaurants, attractions, shows, etc. and get walking directions to where you want to go. Just like Google Maps!
Waiting Times, see how long the wait is at different attractions
Virtual Line. You can only use this benefit in the app, so you need to get it! Read more about how Virtual Line works below.
See the height requirements and age requirements for each ride.
Here’s a ride warning sign with the height limits, and warnings. You can check the height requirements for rides online and in the app.
Check Height Requirements Before Your Visit
This is a universal tip for theme parks with kids. Always check the height requirements of the rides before you go. It helps so much to manage expectations and curb disappointment (tantrums) on the spot. You can come up with a backup plan for any rides that some or all of your kids aren’t able to ride. You can check height requirements in the Europa Park App or online.
Europa Park is very good about having attractions for littles next to the bigger attractions. So it is very easy to entertain younger siblings while the older ones ride the big thrill rides. Which brings me to my next point…
Baby Switch tickets at Europa-Park. These are a game changer when visiting Europa-Park with small children.
Use Baby Switch Passes
At Europa Park, you can get a Baby Switch pass for any attraction that one of your kids is not tall enough to ride. It works to let both parents ride a ride without waiting in line twice. There’s not an age limit on the Baby Switch, we used it on my tall 5 year old without issues. Here’s how it works:
Walk up to the ride line as a whole family and find the first attendant you see.
Sometimes they want to see the “baby” so it’s important to all walk up together.
Decide which adult will ride with the big kids first, that adult will be handed a paper Baby Switch Pass as they enter the line.
Adult 1 rides with big kids.
Adult 1 meets Adult 2 after the ride and hands off the pass.
Adult 2 can now ride the ride with ONE child using a special entrance that allows them to skip the line.
Baby Switch entrance at Europa-Park. Look for these signs when you are ready to use your Baby Switch.
You DO NOT have to use the pass as soon as you get it. In fact, we like to save them for later in the day when the lines tend to be longer. We ride as many big things in the morning as we can and collect the passes for use in the afternoon. Then we divide them up based on who wants to ride what.
It’s important to note that it only allows you to take one child the second time. That means if you have more than one older child, you’ll need to decide who gets to go. This is why having multiple passes is helpful. You can make sure everyone gets a second ride on something.
To find the Baby Switch entrance, look for Baby Switch signs or ask the attendant where to go. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it’s not.
Here’s what the park looks like when you arrive before rope drop.
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Arrive Early
I always recommend arriving around 20 minutes prior to park opening. We find that being in the park early lets us get on some of the bigger and more popular rides while crowds are still low and wait times are not as long. We tend to line up in Italy for rope drop in order for the quickest routes to the big rides. You can use the app to give you the quickest walking route to any attraction.
Europa-Park’s newest roller coaster, Voltron, in the new Croatia area. Voltron is like no other ride that I’ve experienced, it’s so much fun!
Go To the Most Popular Rides First
We like to have a bit of a strategy and head to the big coasters first because those are the rides that typically have the longest waits. Right now those rides are: Voltron, Silver Star, Wodan, and Blue Fire.
Pick the ones your family is most excited about, and head there first. Don’t forget to get your Baby Switch Passes!
This is what the virtual line looks like once you’ve secured your spots.
Use the Virtual Line on the App
Virtual Line is basically a way to make a reservation for a ride and it will allow you to use a special and shorter line. Not all rides are eligible for Virtual Line, but these attractions are: Voltron, Silver Star, Blue Fire, Wodan, Voletarium.
You need to have the app to use it and you need to have your tickets loaded into the app. It is FREE to use, this is a big advantage over other theme parks where you pay to skip the line. Select the ride you want to use it for and it will show the next available time window to reserve.
Once you use the Virtual Line, you can not use it for another ride until AFTER you ride the first ride. So you can’t bank a bunch of times for different rides. It’s one at a time.
It will automatically apply the reservation to all tickets in your account, even if the child is too small to ride.
The app will load a QR code about 5 minutes before your time. You’ll need to show the QR code to the ride attendants in the line before they allow you in the attraction.
My suggestion is to open the app and select a Virtual Line for your number 2 ride while you’re in the line for your first ride. Ideally you can get a time in the morning in order to use it and free it up for something else later.
Virtual Line passes do run out for certain rides (Voltron, Wodan). The others seemed to stay available all day long. Virtual Line can be used on these rides:
Blue Fire
Euro-Mir
Pirates in Batavia
Voletarium
Voltron
Water Rollercoaster Poseidon
Wodan-Timburcoaster
If you need a little bit of a break, the playground in the Ireland area is fun for kids and has several places for adults to sit and relax.
Best Area for 0-5 Year Olds
If you are coming to Europa Park with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, I suggest heading over to the Ireland area. This area has the most toddler-friendly rides and attractions. You’ll find a big outdoor playground and small rides that toddlers can ride on their own or with an adult.
This area also has a massive indoor play area (Limerick Castle) that’s great for all ages. Beware though, once you set your kids loose in here, it can be hard to get them back! It’s kind of a labyrinth inside and the kids LOVE playing in here. They won’t want to leave.
It’s great if the weather turns and it starts to rain. But don’t come here if you have a packed agenda because you’ll spend more time here than you intend!
Other areas good for littles:
Grimm’s Fairytale Forest (many fairytale scenes, some interactive)
England (small race cars, carousel, London bus)
Dutch Area (Pirates of Batavia, Red Baron airplane ride, ball pit, Flying Dutchman, small bumper cars, playtower)
In the Ireland area of Europa-Park, there are a lot of rides suitable for small kids.
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Europa-Park Restaurants
The food prices and variety are very good by theme park standards. Disneyland Paris was the opposite at our last visit-very overpriced for very subpar food.
As you can imagine, there’s different cuisines available in each area. We’ve eaten in Bamboe Baai in Holland (Asian food, cafeteria style, but seating area overlooks the Pirates of Batavia Ride), at Pizzeria Venezia (typical Italian dishes, cafeteria style with seating area), and at Food Loop (burgers, table service). The food at the Greek Taverna also looked good, but we ended up there too late and it was already closed (some restaurants close a little before the park closes).
Food Loop is a very entertaining restaurant because all the dishes arrive on little food roller coasters. The kids LOVE it. I will say the food is OK but not amazing, you’re paying for the entertainment. And the portions are slightly smaller because they have to fit in a certain container. This restaurant also tends to have a line and a wait so factor that into your day.
The one area where I feel like the app is lacking is listing the menu of each restaurant. You can see a brief restaurant description, but not the actual items available. Hopefully they will add this in the future.
Eating at the Food Loop restaurant is exciting and everyone will have fun watching the food zoom down the tracks.
Even though there are great snack options in the park, I still recommend you bringing your own snacks and water. There’s no restrictions about bringing food and drinks into the park. You could also bring your own lunches if you wanted to.
It is helpful to have your own snacks and water so theres no waiting when you need it. You can pull it out in line and manage hungry tummies.
I like to pack my kids each a small backpack full of lots of different snacks. I don’t manage the snack distribution. The kids can get their own snacks and pick what they want, when they want.
You’ll feel like you’re walking through Paris in the France section of Europa-Park.
Europa-Park Hotels
When people ask me for recommendations on where to stay, my honest opinion is to book an affordable apartment in one of the surrounding towns. It’s much more affordable than staying in one of the on-property resorts.
We find ourselves just sleeping in the hotel when we go, so we don’t feel like we need all the extras. I look for something within a 15 minute drive of the park since we always have our car. Use the map to browse options for your dates. We stayed here & here before.
Both were good basic options with restaurants on-site and plenty of room for our family of 5.
On-property resorts are another (maybe more fun) an option. If you like staying in the “bubble” and having a hotel with theming and specialized restaurants then look into these hotels. You’ll also have access to a shuttle to take you between properties, a special hotel guests entrance, and early entrance to the parks.
Superior Category
Hotel Krønasår (adjacent to Rulantica)
Standard Category
Camping Options
Camp Resort (tipi style accomodations)
Camping (bring your own tent/RV)
Blue-Fire is one of the 14 thrilling roller coasters you can ride in Europa-Park.
What to Pack for Europa-Park
My packing recommendations are based on a spring/summer visit with pleasant weather. If you visit in winter, you’ll want to dress much warmer!
comfortable shoes for lots of walking
rain jacket or ponchos just in case of rain or to keep dry on water rides
small backpacks for kids to carry their own snacks
sunscreen
sunglasses
*** If you are also going to Rulantica bring your own towels (not provided by the water park), bathing suits, and slip on rubber flip flops.
If you want to extend your trip, consider some of the options below:
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