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Trip Planning: Information, advice and questions!

TPoppy said:
Hi.

I'm hoping for a bit of help.

We are planning a trip to europa park at the beginning of July from the south West of the UK and trying to work out the easiest (and at a reasonable price) way to get there. We are 2 adults and 2 older teens.

We will be aiming to stay in Rust in an apartment or a budget hotel and can see a lot of good options on booking.com.

Is there anywhere that someone would recommend?

Otherwise, my main issue is working out how to get there. The train is looking a bit costly and long (it will take us 4 plus hours to even get to london and then it looks like 8ish hours from there) so I think it will need to be flights. There just seem to be several options and I'm getting confused trying to work out where is best to fly to and how to then get from the various airports to Rust. We don't really want to drive.

I thought it would be useful to get some guidance from someone who has done a similar trip so if anyone has some advice, that would be brilliant.

Thanks.
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I haven’t made the journey but in planning to visit this year I have done plenty of research!

Depending where you actually are it would seem your best option could be to fly directly from Bristol to Basel. You can then take trains though it would be significantly quicker to drive, be that yourself or in a taxi, the latter of which unfortunately would be very expensive.
 
The advice in the first post of this thread is still pretty spot on. There is a rapidly expanding amount of accommodation in Rust; using booking.com with its reviews along with your preferred location to the park is your best bet.

In respect of travel, it really does depend on your specific dates and preferences as to what would work best for you. We’d generally go for flights to Basel and hire a car. It’s often quite reasonable to do so, but again depends on specific dates and prices vary daily. There is it course the option of buses/trains from all local airports.
 
Best airports to fly into are Basel or Strasbourg, both well connected by train to Ringsheim and then you have the shuttle bus to Rust. I've heard Karlsruhe - Baden Baden is good too though I've not ever landed there myself. Other airports you're likely to have a more complicated onward journey.

I live in Bristol but have never actually flown out to EP from there, cheaper direct flights are much easier to come by from either Birmingham or the London airports (there is a new Strasbourg route from Gatwick although it isn't daily). If you don't mind connecting you may have more options - my KLM flight from Basel to Bristol via Schiphol recently actually worked surprisingly well.
 
Soprano187 said:
Any other cool places to take the kids (and me) driving distance from EP (max 2 hours)?

Other than Funny World, Tripsdrill and Holiday Park?
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Fraspertuis City over the border into France, think it's maybe 90 minutes drive from Europa. Really quaint (read small) theme park, everything amazingly well themed. Home to Timber Drop, think Mumbo Jumbo but better profiled, and Golden Driller, an Intamin drop tower with sit down/sit down tilt/stand up/stand up floor less options. Plenty of other rides, most of the parks wild west themed, with a small portion themed to pirates.
 
For me I tend to always fly, unless planning on doing other theme parks on the way.

Usually in to Basel and then a hire car from there is only an hours drive and is really easy. It is also doable by public transport but I’ve never done that.

You can fly to Basel from Manchester, Gatwick and Stansted quite easily.
 
djtruefitt said:
For me I tend to always fly, unless planning on doing other theme parks on the way.

Usually in to Basel and then a hire car from there is only an hours drive and is really easy. It is also doable by public transport but I’ve never done that.

You can fly to Basel from Manchester, Gatwick and Stansted quite easily.
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That's what I'm doing in May, Manchester to Basel then hire car to the hotel. Free parking and gives us options if we need to get any snacks or anything, plus also gives us options for our departure day as our flight is late evening.

In preparation for my trip I've got a few questions below;

1. Does Europa offer any form of digital photo pass? If not, how much are printed photos and are they worth it?

2. Do the EP Express, Monorail and Panorama Train operate for a period after park close to help guests leave the park, or do they close once empty after park close like everything else?

3. Does the EP express always stop at the hotels station or do you have to request it? And does the hotels station only open at certain times or does it open and and close with the park? If we arrive in time to utilise the last hour ticket on our arrival day, I was thinking that one option is to get the EP express to the Greece station and ride Voltron.
 
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EP Express always calls at all stations during (and slightly after) park hours

It is then requestable for usage between the main entrance and hotels out of hours, not sure on exact times.
 
Bowser said:
Depending where you actually are it would seem your best option could be to fly directly from Bristol to Basel. You can then take trains though it would be significantly quicker to drive, be that yourself or in a taxi, the latter of which unfortunately would be very expensive.
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Flown to Easyjet Basel a few times when visiting Europa Park and then taken to train up to Ringsheim. Easy enough to do. Although depending on the flight times we have in the past had to stay a night in Basel and then get the train the following morning. There’s a Ibis/Novotel not far from the train station we usually use.

I think there’s a group ticket you can purchase for the train which reduces the cost. Download the DB Navigator App.

There’s plenty of accommodation options in Rust if you don’t wish to stay at the official hotels. I’d recommend searching on booking.com and then contacting the accommodation direct as they usually do it for cheaper as booking.com take a cut of the booking. We’ve stayed at Pension Marianna a few times.
 
RE 7 train direct from Basel Bad Hf to Ringsheim is the train you want if you are in a group or budget conscious.
Solo you purchase the cheapest bwEINFACH ticket for any train on the day you travel (tickets are not train specific).
Groups can get a Baden-Wurttemburg Ticket. It’s €27 + €9 for an additional person (up to 4). Valid on all regional trains for the entire day.
All purchased on DB website or app.

In Basel the zone ticket you need for the bus to/from the airport will also cover changing tram to/from Basel Bad Bf outside of Basel SBB station, it lasts for 2 hours.
 
golgactic said:
RE 7 train direct from Basel Bad Hf to Ringsheim is the train you want if you are in a group or budget conscious.
Solo you purchase the cheapest bwEINFACH ticket for any train on the day you travel (tickets are not train specific).
Groups can get a Baden-Wurttemburg Ticket. It’s €27 + €9 for an additional person (up to 4). Valid on all regional trains for the entire day.
All purchased on DB website or app.

In Basel the zone ticket you need for the bus to/from the airport will also cover changing tram to/from Basel Bad Bf outside of Basel SBB station, it lasts for 2 hours.
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Worth noting also if you do stay over in Basel, your accommodation gives you a BaselCard on check-in that entitles free public transport in Basel during your stay.
 
The EP Express operates after park close, the Monorail and train do not - they effectively only do a final lap around closing time. The EP Express hotel station does not open until 1pm and the monorail train stops there every cycle after that time.

There is no photo pass - photos are between €4-6.50. They either have no photo case (from electronic machines) or generic photo cases when ordered from tills. Are they worth it? It’s entirely subjective.
 
venny said:
The EP Express operates after park close, the Monorail and train do not - they effectively only do a final lap around closing time. The EP Express hotel station does not open until 1pm and the monorail train stops there every cycle after that time.

There is no photo pass - photos are between €4-6.50. They either have no photo case (from electronic machines) or generic photo cases when ordered from tills. Are they worth it? It’s entirely subjective.
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Thanks venny, that's good to know! I see the EP express is included in the hotel early access, does the hotels station open for that or do you have to use the Spain station?
 
Skyscraper said:
Thanks venny, that's good to know! I see the EP express is included in the hotel early access, does the hotels station open for that or do you have to use the Spain station?
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I've never done the EP Express in ERT, because well, better things to do if you are doing ERT! But I'd imagine you use the Spanish station.
 
I think the idea of EP Express being open for ERT is to allow hotel guests to easily get to the front section of the park where Voletarium, Gheisterschloss etc are advertised as forming part of the ERT (even if in reality they are open to all).
 
Rob said:
I've never done the EP Express in ERT, because well, better things to do if you are doing ERT! But I'd imagine you use the Spanish station.
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Yeah I probably won't use it in ERT, because as you say there are better things to do, but was just wondering. Will start make plans once the 2025 lineup is confirmed though.
 
Poisson said:
Different accommodation options appear on different sites. Also hotels will show, unlike AirBnb
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Slightly random but i've been going through accommodation on Booking.com and have noticed none of the apartments have curtains or blinds in the bedrooms! Is this a local quirk? As we'd be visiting in late May that seems like it would be rather annoying with sunrise before 5am.
 
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