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Trip Planning 2023/24: Information, advice and questions!

Gut feeling is the website just hasn't been updated. But to be honest if it's not showing as a station on the website and even if they can pick up (never heard of that one mind!), it's gonna be hideously expensive and probably cheaper to just keep the car as @Alsty suggested.

Even when they had the rental desk, it was still cheaper to arrange car hire separately and keep it for the duration of the trip last time I hired.
 
Craig said:
Gut feeling is the website just hasn't been updated. But to be honest if it's not showing as a station on the website and even if they can pick up (never heard of that one mind!), it's gonna be hideously expensive and probably cheaper to just keep the car as @Alsty suggested.

Even when they had the rental desk, it was still cheaper to arrange car hire separately and keep it for the duration of the trip last time I hired.
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I suspect your gut feeling might be correct. The issue with holding onto the car is that we're travelling back via train through Germany, so won't be returning to Basel, nor any other airport. This leg of the journey is close, yet so far!
 
Plastic Person said:
I suspect your gut feeling might be correct. The issue with holding onto the car is that we're travelling back via train through Germany, so won't be returning to Basel, nor any other airport. This leg of the journey is close, yet so far!
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I'm guessing you're flying to Basel airport and aiming to go straight to EP? There's a Flixbus from the airport at 09:10 (approx €15) or from Basel Station at 17:40 (€13), but not sure if they'll line up with your flights (probably not).

If it turns out there's no option for dropping off at Europa-Park, and you really don't want to take the train or shuttle from Basel, maybe you could drop off at a train station on your journey back? There's a Europcar a short walk from Offenburg station and a Sixt at Mannheim. I'd imagine there's still a large one way fee, it may be cheaper dropping off at a large central location like Frankfurt if you're heading across Germany.
 
I actually live in Berlin, as do my group, so I will be taking the Nightjet train back a few days later. I'm beginning to wish I'd booked the direct ICE from Berlin HBF passing through Offenburg, but it's just an extremely early start and I have tickets for a gig the night beforehand, so know I'll be out late. Also, Deutsche Bahn's service has been terrible beyond parody lately, so an hour in the air with Easyjet seemed preferable. As you suspect, those Flixbus services do not line up, so looks like it'll be a shuttle service for five.... Flixt's seems to be close to 350 euros! So I'll shop around closer to the time, luckily this isn't an element that fluctuates in cost compared to public transport. But Germany in general gets a bit hectic that week, which marks the start of the Euros.
 
Question about the Flixbus that goes to and from Rust/Europa park - where is the pick up/drop off point for that? Also are there any other similar coach companies that do a service like that from any other airports or cities?

2nd Question: - does anyone know when the official reports hotel website is updated/rooms are re-released? at the moment I've got piecemeal rooms around the resort/off resort, but in past experience if you keep doing a search - rooms become available again as they are cancelled - does anyone know if this is daily, automatically, weekly etc? and is it best to wait to closer to the time of your stay to catch the booking that get cancelled just before cancellation policy etc? Or has anyone ever contacted the resort to ask if they can be on any 'wait-list' for released rooms?

Thanks
 
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I've found a few days of cheapish rooms in June, but have a few questions for the EP veterans!

I'll be travelling from N.I., which complicates things. Best options are either direct to Frankfurt from Belfast, then train down to Ringsheim, though these flights are quite pricey. Second option would be Baden Baden via Stanstead, which is often quite cheap but adds half a day of extra faff via connecting in London. Any thoughts from those who have done similar?

I'm debating taking me ol' Mum as a late birthday gift - she's not into coasters or thrill rides but I think there's more than enough there for us to enjoy together for a few days. Anyone taken older folks before? It doesn't appear to be super busy midweek in June going by most crowd calendars for the past few years, so I'm not too worried about her standing for ages in queues or struggling to get into shows etc, but if we took our time exploring the place, enjoying the hotels etc, could we easily, happily spend 3 days on park? I can happily dash into the park in the morning with early entry to tick off the coasters solo.

Finally, since I/we will be travelling via public transport, the options to explore locally are probably a bit more limited than if we had a car. Any recommendations for local sights, towns, places to visit? The travel itinerary will have a day to fill, and currently thinking of a night in Baden Baden with a day at the thermal spa.

Thank you, you lovely folks!
 
cloudburster said:
Finally, since I/we will be travelling via public transport, the options to explore locally are probably a bit more limited than if we had a car. Any recommendations for local sights, towns, places to visit? The travel itinerary will have a day to fill, and currently thinking of a night in Baden Baden with a day at the thermal spa.
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If you can get into Baden-Baden via public transport, the nearby Merkur Funicular Railway is worth a visit which takes you up the hill to Merkurturm. There’s plenty of walks around the top and also a wildlife walk at the base.
 
cloudburster said:
Anyone taken older folks before?
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There is so much to do there that isn’t thrill rides, or even rides at all. You always see elderly couples wandering around on their own and enjoying the beer gardens etc, having just as much of a good time as the rest of us! I’m sure your mum will love it if she’s open to the idea of the place being more of a resort with rides than a theme park. :)
 
IDB said:
If you can get into Baden-Baden via public transport, the nearby Merkur Funicular Railway is worth a visit which takes you up the hill to Merkurturm. There’s plenty of walks around the top and also a wildlife walk at the base.
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Yes I'd spotted that doing my research, and I think a bus goes by the base. I think it's very likely to fill our extra day even if we fly via Frankfurt, looks like a nice town! Thanks for the input!

Burbs said:
There is so much to do there that isn’t thrill rides, or even rides at all. You always see elderly couples wandering around on their own and enjoying the beer gardens etc, having just as much of a good time as the rest of us! I’m sure your mum will love it if she’s open to the idea of the place being more of a resort with rides than a theme park. :)
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I'd mentioned to her last year as we always used to see the signs for it during our European summer travels as a kid so she was familiar, but it took ordering the EP brochures to show her it's not like Alton Towers and it is a fully-fledged resort (sorry towers, love you xox). I think if I book her in for a spa morning or something, make sure we make all the shows, and take our time it would be good fun. Glad to hear she won't be the only elder! haha
 
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Hi all,

Going back to the park early summer, however due to other plans, I’ll have to meet the rest of my group out there.

Firstly, how good/reliable are the train routes on Sundays? Planning to go from Basel (either SBB or BBF) to Ringshwin, then EP bus.

Secondly, just wondering if there any good taxi/transfer companies that might go to Rust/EP from Basel (or near that area). Willing to pay more, but not to a ridiculous level.
 
Matt Creek said:
Firstly, how good/reliable are the train routes on Sundays? Planning to go from Basel (either SBB or BBF) to Ringshwin, then EP bus.
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I’ve travelled on Sundays before and never had an issue. The timetable is the timetable, reliability is about the same as any other day of the week. The thing to note about arriving on a Sunday though is that shops will be shut, which can be an issue sometimes!
 
Hey all - just a question regarding Flixbus, has anyone used this service? planning a trip later this year, and looking to use the serve from Basel airport as my connection to Rust - as there is only on service a day either way - I just want to check how legit they are before putting all my eggs in one basket - and plotting flight times accordingly. Thanks
 
Flixbus are a pan-European operator, you should be fine. I used them for Basel Airport to Freiburg once and it worked well.
 
emmerse2891 said:
Hey all - just a question regarding Flixbus, has anyone used this service? planning a trip later this year, and looking to use the serve from Basel airport as my connection to Rust - as there is only on service a day either way - I just want to check how legit they are before putting all my eggs in one basket - and plotting flight times accordingly. Thanks
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I used them in 2022 to get from Freiburg to Basel airport. We booked a service at 2pm from Freiburg central station and made sure we were there in good time. The coach arrived on schedule. The driver helped load our cases into the side compartment and then scanned our ticket before we boarded the bus. We had a reserved seat but it was kind of irrelevant as the coach had about 10 people maximum on it.

I would use them again if it was the most convenient and cost effective means of transfer. My only concern for doing the bus the other way (Basel to Freiburg) would be how long it takes to get out of the airport. I have arranged an EP shuttle before and they kept ringing my phone to see where we were, since we were stuck in passport control for about an hour. If it had been a tight Flixbus connection then we would have missed it.
 
Were hoping to get to Europa this summer but can't get the holiday days, the only time I can get is over October half-term which goes over actual Halloween. Has anyone been to the park on Halloween day, is it unpleasantly busy?
 
Halloween is probably the busiest time of the year at EP these days. I mean, it's still doable, as it's Europa, but it's one of those rare occasions when the likes of Blue Fire, Wodan and Arthur creep towards 90 minutes.
 
evilcod said:
Were hoping to get to Europa this summer but can't get the holiday days, the only time I can get is over October half-term which goes over actual Halloween. Has anyone been to the park on Halloween day, is it unpleasantly busy?
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It's busy at Halloween. As with many parks, it'll be top few days of the season especially over the near weekends.

Saying that, you'll get rides in the dark.
 
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