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

Hi all,

I’m looking to visit the resort in a few months time, but I’m really scratching my head with direct flights. I’m in the midlands, which airports in the uk and nearby the park would you recommend?

Cheers guys.
 
deathproof69 said:
Hi all,

I’m looking to visit the resort in a few months time, but I’m really scratching my head with direct flights. I’m in the midlands, which airports in the uk and nearby the park would you recommend?

Cheers guys.
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There's a list of recommended airports and routes in the first post of this topic. 😊
 
Poisson said:
I believe La Romantica will also do takeaway pizzas, in the bottom of Colosseo
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Thanks, I’ve since seen that this is a non bookable place, to be honest that’s kinda what I meant too, somewhere I can go with the kids without a reservation, bearing in mind I’m going next week right in peak season. So I’ve got the pizza joint at Colosseo and the Cantina place at the Camp.

Regarding the dinner buffets, how fancy do you need to dress to go there without feeling uncomfortable? Is it normal to go there in park clothes? Like t shirt shorts and trainers? It’s going to be hot next week I don’t fancy packing shirts trousers and shoes when I myself am a big kid anyway, I’d only be doing it in case I turn up at the buffets and everyone is all fancy pants.

Cheers!
 
Soprano187 said:
Regarding the dinner buffets, how fancy do you need to dress to go there without feeling uncomfortable? Is it normal to go there in park clothes? Like t shirt shorts and trainers? It’s going to be hot next week I don’t fancy packing shirts trousers and shoes when I myself am a big kid anyway, I’d only be doing it in case I turn up at the buffets and everyone is all fancy pants.

Cheers!
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You'll have no problem rocking up in shorts and a t shirt. There will be people dressed in a mixture of clothing, which is often the case in a lot of theme park hotel restaurants.
 
Hi,

I have my flights, hotel and park tickets sorted, just need to sort transfers…I hate public transport abroad it stresses me out and I’d prefer to spend that time in the park.

I am flying to Basel, has anyone had any recent experience with cheapish taxis?

Thanks again…so excited for my first visit!
 
Cheapish taxis are an impossibility in Switzerland, and indeed the wealthy part of Germany that EP is located in.

You're looking at 150-250 euros one way. One of the worst things about the resort is getting there on public transport. It's not exactly Alton Towers interminable, but it's no Phantasialand or Efteling.

I had the park themselves organise the transport from Basel to Bell Rock myself earlier this year. When we checked in, they went through the bill, and the taxi came up as they ran through the itemised order. The lovely lady on reception, sensing how excited we were, winked at me and whispered, "Don't worry, at Europa Park, we'll take care of that."

She then noticed we'd travelled from Basel, not Ringsheim up the road, and her eyebrow nearly hit the ceiling. Suffice to say, the transfer was included in the cost upon checkout.
 
deathproof69 said:
Hi,

I have my flights, hotel and park tickets sorted, just need to sort transfers…I hate public transport abroad it stresses me out and I’d prefer to spend that time in the park.

I am flying to Basel, has anyone had any recent experience with cheapish taxis?

Thanks again…so excited for my first visit!
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I usually get a hire car. It does feel a bit of a waste that you don’t really use the car whilst at EP as the car is just sat there, but you can sometimes get cheap car hire rates, but also they can be really expensive.

If you do look at hire cars it’s also worth checking rates from the French side and the Swiss side of the airport as they can often be very different prices. Also ensure if you do get a hire car that you can cross to other countries (you usually can, but some places don’t let you).
 
Plastic Person said:
Cheapish taxis are an impossibility in Switzerland, and indeed the wealthy part of Germany that EP is located in.
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We've flown into/out of Basel a couple of times and found everything about the place expensive!

I know the OP has mentioned "hating" public transport, but we have found the train trip from Basel to Ringsheim/Europa-Park station pretty stress free in the past and then only getting a taxi once arriving into Ringsheim to take us to Rust.
 
Having done the trip by public transport in May, it’s straightforward. I will give you the fast way, but include the cheaper and more flexible way at the end.

Regular bus (No.50) directly outside Swiss terminal, 3 zone ticket from machine. Stay on until last stop, Basel SBB (about 20mins).

Catch an international train from Basel SBB to Ringsheim/Europa Park. This will most likely require you to do a very easy change at Freiburg (onto the RB26), though a few per day are direct services. Use DB website or app to book - note tickets will be train and time specific.
Taxi from Ringsheim - around €22, they prefer cash if possible, though did pay via card once through a QR code.


The cheaper/flexible but slightly longer option is to catch a tram from Basel SBB to Basel Bad Bf (covered by the bus ticket) which takes about 15 mins door to door. Then you take the regular RE7 regional train direct to Ringsheim. Regional tickets are not train specific, you can take any RE7 train that day and break your journey. You therefore buy the cheapest single you can on DB website/app, even if it’s for a much later (or earlier) train.

At Ringsheim, if the bus is there it’s cash only at €2.90. You can also buy a train ticket to “Europa Park, Rust” rather than Ringsheim which includes the bus fare in the train ticket price.
 
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I’ll chuck these two food tips on here for anyone interested:

1. The buffets are great. I was hesitant to use them at first because of the price. But if you’ve got kids and you like good food, and you like a lot of it, then just pay the price. It costs that for a reason.
The food is all fantastic, you can tell they aren’t cutting corners or being tight on ingredients. Family of four cost approx €130 with a drink each, but that’s with one kid over 6 and one under 6 (under 6 eat free); so its not cheap but it’s the best buffet I’ve ever had. Did Alcazar one and Bell Rock one. Doing Kronasar one tonight. Perfect with kids as it’s super quick to get food into their faces but the food is still fancy for the adults to enjoy. Helping myself to ribs and perfectly cooked steaks was great. The desserts are all amazing too, I imagine with so many French here they can’t get away with rubbish pastry! If you go for table service somewhere else I imagine if like me you eat a lot you’ll be racking up a similar bill anyway. Plus what kid prefers a specific meal over a free for all buffet? We loved how there was a children’s den in the Bell Rock buffet for when they were done, too.

2. The room service in Bell Rock was really good and a handy backup if you’re hungry but too late to get ready for dinner. The Alcazar one was very limited and we didn’t use it. When we moved to Bell Rock, there was more choice but it’s not like a full restaurant menu or anything. Again I hesitated because of the price but in the end we were impressed. Me and missus had a club sandwich each and it was massive, and came with fries. One kid had spag bol, and another hamburger and chips. Including the €7.50 service charge it came to €75.50. The club sandwiches were €30 each and we could have shared one. If I was ordering again I would have just gone 4 kids burgers and chips and it would have come to €57.50. The portions were big enough. It came in about 15mins, came on a wheelie table and loads of sauces, with those chrome fancy dome things, we were all impressed and the kids loved it.
 
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What's more effective, using single rider queue or virtual line in case both options are available?
 
Evening, some quick questions for you all:

1. How frowned upon is taking things (eg fruit, pastries) from the hotel breakfast for a morning snack?

2. Do the evening buffets have a time restriction in terms of how long you can be there? Some buffet places want the table back after a set time (normally an hour and a half or so), but I can't see anything like that here. My partner wants to go to the meat buffet (Castillo), if anyone has any opinions on it?

3. Possibly a controversial one... the hotel bars all seem to be much the same, is there a recommended one? Or, one to avoid?

Thank you!
 
1. We’ve snook a few pieces of fruit out over the years. Nothing’s ever been said, but we were discrete.

2. No time limit.

3. They are all different and they’re all good. Buena Vista is our favourite, but it currently has very limited opening hours. Our fallback is Spirit of St Louis as they have a pianist nightly. Our least favourite is Bar Erikson but it’s by no means bad - it just doesn’t have quite the same cosy feel as the others.
 
venny said:
1. We’ve snook a few pieces of fruit out over the years. Nothing’s ever been said, but we were discrete.

2. No time limit.

3. They are all different and they’re all good. Buena Vista is our favourite, but it currently has very limited opening hours. Our fallback is Spirit of St Louis as they have a pianist nightly. Our least favourite is Bar Erikson but it’s by no means bad - it just doesn’t have quite the same cosy feel as the others.
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Thanks, that's good to know. I was planning on being discrete anyway, but I'll play it by ear just in case.

Good to know about the bars, thanks. I can see Buena Vista is only open Friday/Saturday evenings, but we can give it a try. Pianists might be a bit too fancy for us, we'd be more likely to go to the supermarket and buy alcohol there for the room!

Poisson said:
Can recommend the all you can meat buffet
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Thank you, and knowing there's no time restriction on the table is useful as I fear my partner will be there all evening. We're planning on doing that one on arrival day so after surviving on airport and railway station food this should be enough to revitalise us!
 
Really?! My partner is a smoker so I'm sure I'll survive for a drink or two. I know Germany has (sort of) legalised cannabis as well, but I don't think the park would count as a permitted place, but I'm no expert.
 
On that note, what I would say is that there can be smoking or vaping in queues sometimes. Not often, but I saw it at times during my trip there 2 years ago.

I'm not sure if Europa explicitly allows it, but I definitely saw the odd cigarette or vape around in the queues here and there. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing in Germany, but it did seem a little more prevalent than it is in the British parks.
 
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