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At the end of May we took a trip to the Europa Park in Rust with our girls and while Helena was tagging along just fine, Emilia had the perfect age. We have been a huge group of people cause my parents joined us as well as my husbands parents and his sister with her boyfriend. Everyone loved it and we had a total blast.
The Parc
It is the biggest amusement parc in Germany and I can really tell why. The parc is divided in countries. There is Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Russia, Ireland and so many more. The shops, restaurants and also the rides are down to every detail like it would be in said country. The love for detail is unmatched in anything I have ever seen (except for Disneyland). It is beyond clean. You won´t even find a chewing gum on the ground.
We spent the main part of our day in Ireland – the kids section. There are plenty of rides for smaller kids to go on alone or to ride with parents or an older sibling as well as lots of diaper changing rooms and kids restaurants plus a huge playground and resting area.
But what I really liked and wasn´t aware of is that every other country has 2 to 4 rides for smaller kids as well as the really really fast and dangerous ones. Other things for small kids are all the different shows you can watch. There are some that will only take 15 to 20 minutes which should be fine to keep them entertained. Also there is a huge parade everyday with lots of different characters and the mouse of the Park – Ed.
The Hotel
We stayed at the Colosseo Hotel, one of the Europa Park theme hotels. It really gives you a touch of Italy with the rooms and all the interior decor also if you step outside there is a huge piece of the actual Colosseum of Rome rebuilt into the backyard of the hotel.
If you can I would highly suggest to stay at a theme parc hotel. It makes the experience whole and there are so many merits to it. You have early parc access as well as characters at the breakfast. There are kids pools and wellness and you have a separate entrance to your parc from your hotel.
I just love how kid friendly everything is. People are nice to your kids, you don´t have to apologize for them running around and/or spilling food.
We had a normal room but definitely are going to take two rooms with a connecting door the next time we go cause it is hard to do anything after the kids are asleep. Our room was very italian. We had a huge Leonardo painting over our bed and the curtains had little Cesar heads on them. The attention of details is just so amazing.
The Food
If you are “trapped” in a parc all day you have to eat there. Even if you take some stuff with you there is no way to stash this much to last for days without a cooling opportunity.
The parc itself as well as the hotels have a lot to offer in terms of food.
Food in the parcs
There are plenty of restaurants you can choose from, always with a great palette of kids menus. There are many booths where you can get waffles, ice cream, coffee and sweets as well as slushies or fruit.
You do not have to have dinner at the hotels but the parc closes at 6 at night (or at least the rides do) so this might be a little stressful to manage.
We had lunch on all three days at the restaurant in Ireland. It had healthy options like salad and chicken as well as burger and fries and super pretty cakes. You can also just have a quick coffee or refreshing drink. The choice is yours. The possibilities are endless. Every country has a bunch of their own restaurants, of course always matching.
Food at the hotels
Not all hotels have the same type of restaurant. For example at the first night we had dinner at our restaurant but you weren´t able to reserve a table upfront so the managed to squeeze us in but it might not always be possible with a group of ten people.
There are several hotels who have their own all-you-can-eat restaurant (like the Bell Rock Hotel – we had dinner there the first time we visited and it was so good I will never forget it) as well as a fine dining option, but to be honest both aren´t a great fit for small children/babies.
If you are a hotel guest you can have dinner in any other hotel as well, you just need to reserver upfront if that is possible, but of course prices are higher than in the parc itself. We had dinner at the Castillo Alcazar Hotel on the second evening and it was beyond delicous. If you go definitely try the Crema Catalana.
