Why is Europa Park such an unknown quantity in Britain?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Europa Park is one of Europe's largest and most visited theme park resorts; with the recent news that EP is likely to pass 6 million guests for the first time ever in 2022, it looks likely that the park could reclaim the 2nd place spot for European theme park attendance, sitting behind only Disneyland Park in Paris. In spite of this, however, I've noticed that the park is borderline unheard of in Britain outside of enthusiast circles, even compared to other European theme parks. The likes of Disneyland Paris and PortAventura have tons of British visitors, and to a lesser extent, even places such as Efteling and Parc Asterix have some degree of British visitation. But in spite of its vast stature, Europa Park has next to no British visitors and is virtually unheard of in Britain outside of enthusiast circles. I once read a Guardian article talking about the park that said that less than 1% of Europa's visitors are British, and I can certainly believe that based on my first ever visit in April 2022. It felt like we were the only British people at the resort, and even on our flight into Baden-Baden from London Stansted, we were some of the only British people as far as I could see; nearly all of passengers on the plane were German. With this in mind, I was wondering; in your opinion, why is Europa Park such an unknown quantity in Britain?

I know it seems like an odd question, but it just seemed strange to me that more Brits don't visit Europa Park given that it's equal to or greater than some of its more well known counterparts among Britons in stature. While I know that DLP can be justified with it being Disney and PA can be justified with it being in a seaside resort that's hugely popular among Brits, somewhere like Efteling being more visited by Brits is a bit of a head scratcher given that it's not branded or anywhere near any major British holiday destinations, as far as I'm aware. What is it about Europa Park that makes it so unknown in Britain?

I'd be interested to know your thoughts.

 

[John]

Short answer - most Brits just don't go on holiday in Germany. The main exception is city breaks and EP isn't near a tourist Germany city - someone looking for things to do in Cologne might hear about Phantasialand but that's never going to happen with EP

 

[Matt.GC]

1. Disneyland is Disneyland. I don't think this requires any explanation.

2. Efteling is only down the road from the busiest interchange airport in Europe with Amsterdam. Amsterdam the city itself is an attraction for many Brits so you can bet that Efteling will be on many British to do lists when visiting the city.

3. Portadventura again requires little explaining. Brits go to Spain and they go to the coast. Voila.

4. I doubt the accuracy of that 1% figure. I met a fair few British people out there on both trips and even 2 that worked there! I've also met a few people who are aware of it and some have been. Even my next door neighbours who are both in their 70's (although granted to guy next door used to be in the army and was stationed out in Germany) have been.

 

[Vik]

On my first ever visit to Europa Park in 2008 I bumped in to a work colleague there. He was someone who did driving trips to the continent for summer holidays and was around Black Forest area and heard about it so decided to pay a visit.

Usually hear a couple of Brits there on my visits. The park generates plenty of visitors anyway so doesn’t really need to market itself to the British. There has been a push in the past with adverts around London.

As for the other parks. Well Disney is Disney, PA is by Salou (Milton Keynes on Sea), a popular destination for Brits on their £20 Ryanair flights.

 

[venny]

As Vik says, Europa don’t really need to heavily market in the UK - they don’t desperately need the additional visitors. Combine that with a lot of Brits not seeing Germany as a traditional holiday destination means that its profile is rather low relative to its size.

 

[jon81uk]

I recently got Instagram adverts for Europa including a competition (with travel money in £s) so they are targeting British travellers. Not sure if they tracked me from here or anything so they might know I am already considering a trip.

 

[venny]

There’s definitely been a slight uptick in UK presence over say the last five years. It’s not massive though.

I think they were advertising for a marketing position in London around that time.

 

[Gurkensalat]

One factor might be that the travel itinerary to Europa-Park from Britain is a bit more complicated than to the other destinations.

 

[Matt.GC]

One factor might be that the travel itinerary to Europa-Park from Britain is a bit more complicated than to the other destinations.

Depends where you're travelling from. Flights from Bristol to Basel are 10 a penny.

 

[Matt N]

Depends where you're travelling from. Flights from Bristol to Basel are 10 a penny.

But when you get to Basel, there’s still around 2.5 hours left of your journey on public transport. I was led to believe that it’s a good hour even if you drive.

If you don’t drive, Europa appears to be quite a difficult park to get to, which I don’t think you would necessarily say about other parks in Europe.

And I’d argue that getting to the park from Britain in the first place is easier said than done. We certainly looked long and hard for flights; particularly with my parents stipulating direct flights only, our options were certainly limited. We ultimately flew to Baden-Baden from London Stansted (3 hours and around 160 miles from where I’m based according to Maps), and this cost around £150 each with Ryanair and were the only direct flights my parents could find from the UK. It should be noted that this is also a seasonal route…

 

[Matt.GC]

But when you get to Basel, there’s still around 2.5 hours left of your journey on public transport. I was led to believe that it’s a good hour even if you drive.

If you don’t drive, Europa appears to be quite a difficult park to get to, which I don’t think you would necessarily say about other parks in Europe.

And I’d argue that getting to the park from Britain in the first place is easier said than done. We certainly looked long and hard for flights; particularly with my parents stipulating direct flights only, our options were certainly limited. We ultimately flew to Baden-Baden from London Stansted (3 hours and around 160 miles from where I’m based according to Maps), and this cost around £150 each with Ryanair and were the only direct flights my parents could find from the UK. It should be noted that this is also a seasonal route…

An hour is a very short journey by car when you get off the plane. Basel flights are easy from many UK airports.

If you choose not to drive, it's not particularly easy to get to Europa from anywhere. Like the majority of parks in Europe, you're likely to face a journey on one side or the other. I'm trying to book a trip to Portadventura for next year and it's far worse. Nottingham to Rues or Gatwick/Heathrow to Barcelona aren't much better options. The latter will require a substantial trip on either side for many.

I think it would be hard to expect to jump on trains and planes and get to any European park in an affordable and time efficient manner. Even if you go to DLP, only a short trip across the channel, there's still multiple changes and a small mortgage in fares to pay.

 

[Matt N]

An hour is a very short journey by car when you get off the plane. Basel flights are easy from many UK airports.

If you choose not to drive, it's not particularly easy to get to Europa from anywhere. Like the majority of parks in Europe, you're likely to face a journey on one side or the other. I'm trying to book a trip to Portadventura for next year and it's far worse. Nottingham to Rues or Gatwick/Heathrow to Barcelona aren't much better options. The latter will require a substantial trip on either side for many.

I think it would be hard to expect to jump on trains and planes and get to any European park in an affordable and time efficient manner. Even if you go to DLP, only a short trip across the channel, there's still multiple changes and a small mortgage in fares to pay.

I can’t remember why we didn’t do Basel, come to think of it… I think my parents were scared off by the thought of faff at the borders post-Brexit (Basel is in Switzerland, isn’t it?).

I’ve done some research, and I think other European parks certainly appear easier. I looked into PortAventura, and Jet2 appear to do terrific package deals entailing flights into Reus from both Bristol and Birmingham. If you’re looking into PA, I’d actually thoroughly recommend looking at Jet2, as they sold package holidays entailing at a PA on-site hotel, flights and 3 day park tickets for as little as £600 per person dependent on time of year. Even full board was only around £750 per person.

However, Disneyland Paris must surely have been the benchmark for public transport access prior to the recent termination of the Eurostar route from Britain. As far as I can tell, you could previously catch the train from Kent or London and get off in DLP. I’m not sure how it is now, but prior to COVID, the rail situation there sounded about as ideal as it gets!

Believe me, I do not expect an easy public transport journey compared to the car (most countries are very driving-orientated), but Europa does appear particularly difficult for a non-driver compared to some other European theme parks.

 

[Matt.GC]

I can’t remember why we didn’t do Basel, come to think of it… I think my parents were scared off by the thought of faff at the borders post-Brexit (Basel is in Switzerland, isn’t it?).

I’ve done some research, and I think other European parks certainly appear easier. I looked into PortAventura, and Jet2 appear to do terrific package deals entailing flights into Reus from both Bristol and Birmingham. If you’re looking into PA, I’d actually thoroughly recommend looking at Jet2, as they sold package holidays entailing at a PA on-site hotel, flights and 3 day park tickets for as little as £600 per person dependent on time of year. Even full board was only around £750 per person.

However, Disneyland Paris must surely have been the benchmark for public transport access prior to the recent termination of the Eurostar route from Britain. As far as I can tell, you could previously catch the train from Kent or London and get off in DLP. I’m not sure how it is now, but prior to COVID, the rail situation there sounded about as ideal as it gets!

Believe me, I do not expect an easy public transport journey compared to the car (most countries are very driving-orientated), but Europa does appear particularly difficult for a non-driver compared to some other European theme parks.

Believe me, I've checked. You can get package deals, which I try to avoid because they work out quite expensive, from Bristol to Rues and it's from £3k for all of us as you say, off peak, as you suggested for 3 nights. Much more for school holidays.

My last 2 Europa trips, less than £2300 for a whole AirB&B 2 storey house in a beautiful french village, for 5 nights including car hire and park tickets. First time flying into Basel (just a quick hour drive up the motorway) and the second time into Zurich (just over a couple of hours drive) which worked out roughly the same apart from the cost of that flight departing from Luton. More holiday and far cheaper than PA. Shorter flights also.

Even our joint Phantasialand and Efteling trip this year, staying on park for both cost about the same as one trip to PA for 6 nights including car hire. All 3 of the flights shorter and more frequent than flying to Rues or Barcelona.

Basel is on the France Switzerland border. You can choose to go out the French side or Swiss side. Neither contains any more faff than traveling to any other European destinations so not sure what the concern was there? There isn't any difference as far as I'm aware?

 

[Matt N]

Believe me, I've checked. You can get package deals, which I try to avoid because they work out quite expensive, from Bristol to Rues and it's from £3k for all of us as you say, off peak, as you suggested for 3 nights. Much more for school holidays.

My last 2 Europa trips, less than £2300 for a whole AirB&B 2 storey house in a beautiful french village, for 5 nights including car hire and park tickets. First time flying into Basel (just a quick hour drive up the motorway) and the second time into Zurich (just over a couple of hours drive) which worked out roughly the same apart from the cost of that flight departing from Luton. More holiday and far cheaper than PA. Shorter flights also.

Even our joint Phantasialand and Efteling trip this year, staying on park for both cost about the same as one trip to PA for 6 nights including car hire. All 3 of the flights shorter and more frequent than flying to Rues or Barcelona.

Basel is on the France Switzerland border. You can choose to go out the French side or Swiss side. Neither contains any more faff than traveling to any other European destinations so not sure what the concern was there? There isn't any difference as far as I'm aware?

Ah, sorry… I do forget that the cost will be higher for a family. I’m looking from the standpoint of a solo traveller… £600-700 for a solo traveller sounds quite attractive to me, but I confess that, say, £3000-3500 for a family of 5 sounds far less attractive…

I may have to consider Basel if I return to Europa Park (or more likely when given that my parents have already expressed enthusiasm towards the idea of returning in a couple of years’ time). Rightly or wrongly, I think my parents were concerned about crossing the border between Switzerland and Germany and whether that would generate any faff. Although in hindsight, I’m guessing that freedom of movement/the Schengen zone would in theory mean an open border between Switzerland and Germany, thus meaning no border faff at all…

Basel is also easier to get flights from. They go from both Bristol (under an hour from me) and London Heathrow (under 2 hours from me on a good run), whereas Baden-Baden was only reachable from London Stansted (at least 3 hours from me on a good run).

 

[Matt.GC]

Ah, sorry… I do forget that the cost will be higher for a family. I’m looking from the standpoint of a solo traveller… £600-700 for a solo traveller sounds quite attractive to me, but I confess that, say, £3000-3500 for a family of 5 sounds far less attractive…

I may have to consider Basel if I return to Europa Park (or more likely when given that my parents have already expressed enthusiasm towards the idea of returning in a couple of years’ time). Rightly or wrongly, I think my parents were concerned about crossing the border between Switzerland and Germany and whether that would generate any faff. Although in hindsight, I’m guessing that freedom of movement/the Schengen zone would in theory mean an open border between Switzerland and Germany, thus meaning no border faff at all…

Basel is also easier to get flights from. They go from both Bristol (under an hour from me) and London Heathrow (under 2 hours from me on a good run), whereas Baden-Baden was only reachable from London Stansted (at least 3 hours from me on a good run).

No need to apologise Matt. Just putting it into perspective in the context of the topic of this thread. I don't think Europa is an expensive or strenuous park to get to in comparison to other parks in Europe if you drive on the other side. In fact, it's the opposite. I know it varies from where in the UK you're traveling from, but for us, only Efteling comes out cheaper and easier.

No need to worry about the Swiss boarder. As you say, it's Schengen so you're free to come and go as you please. On my first trip I went out of Basel on the Swiss side as the car hire was cheaper on that side of the airport for some unknown reason (even with the same hire company). On the motorway there's lanes at the border for customs which is set up like the old Severn bridge toll booths. But cars with nothing to declare just carry on through without stopping as normal. No faff at all. Exiting the airport is identical on either side as far as I'm aware.

There's more fanfare at the borders between England and Scotland or England and Wales than there is at any border I've crossed in Europe. We stayed in an excellent place on both occasions in France (I would thoroughly recommend, the host is excellent and the location is beautiful) and drove around 30 mins every day to Europa . First day was checking in, a trip to Lidl for some essentials, a glass of wine in a lovely local quaint french pub and a relaxing evening in Rulantica. I remember the first night of my second trip remarking to the Mrs that it was quicker and easier to get to such a wonderful place than it was to get to Blackpool by train!

 

[Funcone]

4. I doubt the accuracy of that 1% figure. I met a fair few British people out there on both trips and even 2 that worked there! I've also met a few people who are aware of it and some have been. Even my next door neighbours who are both in their 70's (although granted to guy next door used to be in the army and was stationed out in Germany) have been.

I don’t know what the percentage is. I suspect any figure will be based to some degree on taking a sample and extrapolating it, and of course figures might change over time. There are a couple of things to bear in mind here.

Firstly, if 1% of the park’s visitors were British, it doesn’t mean that 1% of the visitors each day would be British. It might be that British people would be more likely to visit at certain times of year more than others. Some days more than 1% might be British and other days it might be less. The percentage of guests who are British isn't going to be the same in August and December.

It also doesn’t mean that the British people would be evenly spread across the resort, for example they might make up a bigger proportion of the guests in the hotels, and British people might be drawn to certain sorts of restaurants etc.

You might also find that British people spend longer in the park than locals who might pop in for a few hours with annual passes. If 1% of the visitors were British, but they had longer dwell times, the percentage of guests in the park who are British would be higher than 1%.

Secondly, from a psychological perspective, if you’re British you’re more likely to notice British people. It’s like when you buy a new car and you suddenly notice other people with the same car as yours.

 

[Tim]

We've done a lot of comparing Europa's travel to the rest of Europe but I think its worth brining up Florida. Florida the options are simpler but only through lack of choice. You have to rent a car if you plan to visit Disney, Universal and the Sea's parks. If you can't drive I'd argue it's far harder than a trip to Europa. Even on resort Disney require you to take 2 buses to get between Animal Kingdom and any other park. Europa the whole site is walkable (even Rulantica can be accessed by foot).

Yet people have no issue visiting Florida, maybe because they make it sound so accessible from all the UK advertising. Not even considering that planning a Florida trip is like a military operation.

I guess that shows that advertising and awareness is the real issue. The more you visit Europa the easier you realise it is, but you have to be aware that it exists first. And while their are no "obvious answer" ways of getting there, their also aren't really any wrong ways to get their. I've now visited 5 times and not once taken the same route, yet every route was its own little adventure I'd have no issue repeating.

 

[Ils]

We've done a lot of comparing Europa's travel to the rest of Europe but I think its worth brining up Florida. Florida the options are simpler but only through lack of choice. You have to rent a car if you plan to visit Disney, Universal and the Sea's parks. If you can't drive I'd argue it's far harder than a trip to Europa. Even on resort Disney require you to take 2 buses to get between Animal Kingdom and any other park. Europa the whole site is walkable (even Rulantica can be accessed by foot).

Yet people have no issue visiting Florida, maybe because they make it sound so accessible from all the UK advertising. Not even considering that planning a Florida trip is like a military operation.

I guess that shows that advertising and awareness is the real issue. The more you visit Europa the easier you realise it is, but you have to be aware that it exists first. And while their are no "obvious answer" ways of getting there, their also aren't really any wrong ways to get their. I've now visited 5 times and not once taken the same route, yet every route was its own little adventure I'd have no issue repeating.

We visited Florida in 2019 and didn't hire a vehicle and visited all the parks including Busch Gardens. It worked out about £300 cheaper just by ubering around then hiring a vehicle, paying car parking fees and gas prices.

It was really easy, even getting the complimentary bus to Busch from Vineland's.

We also got around Los Angeles, San Diego and Anaheim in October without having a car and again just by uber and buses.

Europa Park is one we always talk about visiting but for a family of four it can easily add up to £3k for a four night stay onsite and unfortunately my family would rather it go towards a Disney/Universal trip for that much investment.

 

[Benzin]

Have PA stopped doing the shuttle bus from Barcelona Prat Airport?

Europa currently don't have the easy transport links compared to a few. Granted though there aren't many parks that have an easy journey either from a public transport side (Liseberg is about the simplest), I'd also wager that due to the size it's harder to squeeze into a trip unless you set aside the necessary 2/3 days required.

Also Disney just have that marketing and brand thing since DLP opened. Hard to catch up on 30 years of brand force feeding.

 

[RicketyCricket]

I’ve done some research, and I think other European parks certainly appear easier. I looked into PortAventura, and Jet2 appear to do terrific package deals entailing flights into Reus from both Bristol and Birmingham. If you’re looking into PA, I’d actually thoroughly recommend looking at Jet2, as they sold package holidays entailing at a PA on-site hotel, flights and 3 day park tickets for as little as £600 per person dependent on time of year. Even full board was only around £750 per person.

That actually sounds a bit steep for PA. Can book it all separately for about half of that price.

Last time I went it was about £250 each for flights, 3 day park tickets and (off site) hotel.

With Europa Park I don't think it's that difficult via public transport. Certainly not the most straightforward but it's fine.