The Europa-Park, Germany's largest amusement park and Europe's second largest after Disneyland, opened in 1975. Since then, the number of visitors has grown from 250,000 to five million, and in 2014, Amusement Today, an authoritative periodical covering the amusement park industry, gave Europa-Park the top prize at its annual Golden Ticket Awards.
The park covers an area of 950,000 square metres. Visitors can enjoy more than a hundred attractions, various shows, rides, themed hotels and fifteen venues representing European countries.
Park Sectors
A tour of the amusement park in Germany takes visitors on a tour of several European countries:
- Austria offers a ride on the Viennese swing and a tour of the diamond mine.
- An exhibition dedicated to football, a visit to a sports bar, shopping in an Adidas shop and a ride on a dabbledacker is the UK.
- The huge cinema and the Silver Star slide, whose height reaches 73 m. -
- A trip through the world of illusions with special special effects awaits guests in the Greek part of the park. There you can repeat the flight of Icarus and ride on water slides, in which the Acropolis and the Trojan Horse are organically integrated.
- The ideal sector for holidays with kids is Ireland, where children's slides, playgrounds and a carousel in the form of rotating dragons have been built.
- Italian passions are simmering in the Castle of Ghosts, and a monorail ride based on Leonardo's drawings allows you to look at the park from a height.
- The popular Flying Dutchman carousel was built in the Netherlands.
- Fjord Rafting is organised in Scandinavia.
The Russian "territory" in Europa-Park is popular not only with compatriots. The excursion starts with a pavilion built on the motif of GUM, and the highlight of the programme is the Euromir roller coaster, built of steel and reminding the world of Russian space programmes. The track runs around huge mirror towers, the maximum rise is 28 metres high, and the speed of the gondolas reaches 100 km/h. Near the slide you can see a model of the Mir space station, and you can even climb into the modules docked to it if you wish.
The Russian spirit in Europa-Park is perfectly conveyed in the crafts pavilions, where traditional folk crafts of our country are presented and blacksmiths, icon painters, potters and glass blowers work. The items you like are sold in souvenir shops.
The most interesting attractions
Among the attractions of Europa-Park are especially popular:
- Blue Fire Megacoaster slide on the "territory" of Iceland, built by Gazprom. Inversions, sound and light effects, a length of more than a kilometre and a height of 38 metres make Blue Fire one of Europa-Park's brightest stars.
- Three Silver Star roller coaster trains every hour provide 1,750 passengers with the opportunity to ride the park's famous attraction. The trains move in all different planes and make 180° and 270° turns, and the ride has a height difference of 67 metres.
- The Wodan Timbur Coaster in the Icelandic part of the park is based on Scandinavian mythology and reproduces the effects of fire, water, fog and thunderstorms. Passengers plunge into tunnels, plunge into smoke curtains and naturally feel the wrath of the god Odin, after whom the train is named.
- ARTHUR roller coaster with inverted backrests is a half-kilometre ride, whose guests find themselves in an enchanted forest, or cross a stream, but end up on an island. The impression is greatly enhanced by 4D effects - odours, wind, sounds and so on.
And finally, Mercedes-Benz Hall - a small museum, which presents a full-size replica of the Mercedes-Benz Formula One car.
When planning a visit to the park, take into account its particular popularity with tourists in the second half of summer. In August, queues for some rides can take up to an hour of your time.
How to get there
The amusement park is located in the city of Rust in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.
The nearest major city Freiburg can be reached by car (40 km along the E35) or by train (from Freiburg Hbf station to Ringsheim Bahnhof, where buses to Europa-Park depart).
From Frankfurt, where there is an international airport, you can take a train to Offenburg or Lahr (journey time about 2.5 hours), where you can catch buses to the amusement park.
