Our Top 5 Theme Parks in Europe

Europe is full of incredible theme parks, which has made trying to decide on our five favourites a difficult task. However, after much deliberation, we have been able to finalise and order our ranking of our five favourite theme parks in Europe.

5. Energylandia 

Energylandia, located in the small town of Zator in Southern Poland, is one of the fastest growing theme parks in the world. For European travellers, the park is very accessible as it is located only 50 kilometres from Krakow, a beautiful city and an increasingly popular tourist destination. The park opened in July 2014 and at the time had only 3 roller coasters. Since then, the park has added an incredible 12 roller coasters. This makes EnergyLandia the park with the most coasters in Europe.

In 2021, the park will open another 2 coasters in a new area called Aqualantis. The stand out attraction of the park is the RMC coaster, Zadra, which opened in 2019. Zadra, alongside Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa, is the tallest hybrid coaster in the world. In our opinion, Zadra is the best rollercoaster in Europe and a must do for any coaster enthusiast.

As well as rollercoasters the park has a great selection of flat rides, both thrilling and family friendly, and some awesome water rides. The only thing, in our opinion, lacking at Energylandia is a world class dark ride. However, with the parks plans for expansion unlikely to slow down over the next five years, even with the impacts of the pandemic on the theme park industry, we can only envision that this park will move closer to taking our number one spot for best theme park in Europe.  

4. Efteling

Efteling is a fantasy-themed park located in the Netherlands. The park is relatively old having opened in 1952, but still remains the third most visited theme park in Europe. All of the park’s attractions, including 6 rollercoasters, reflect elements from ancient myths, legends, fairy tales, fables and folklore.

The park is beautifully maintained and the staff are incredibly friendly. The overall atmosphere created at Efteling is special and not replicated by any other park we have visited. The major attraction at Efteling is the fantastic trackless-dark ride, Symbolica. Symbolica opened in 2016 at a cost of 35 million euros. As one would hope with such a high cost, it is a truly world class attraction which boasts some of the greatest moments in any dark ride world over. It may be the Disney parks which are most famous for being home to the best dark rides in the world, but Symbolica is a true rival to any of these attractions.  

3. Disneyland Park

The main park at the wonderful Disneyland Paris is the most visited theme park in Europe receiving, on average, over 5 million guests a year. With the brand’s notoriety, and with it being the only Disney Resort in Europe, you may be surprised to see that we only consider this park as the third best in Europe. We are huge fans of Disney theme parks, having visited them all but the one in Hong Kong, and have visited Disneyland Paris more than any of the other parks on this list.

We believe the park in Paris is the prettiest main Disney Park in the world and even consider some of  the versions of iconic attractions at Paris, such as Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean, to be the best versions of these attractions anywhere in the world. However, the major reason as to why this park doesn’t rank higher is that, in our opinion,  the park always feels slightly less magical compared to the Disney Parks found in Asia and America. The exact reasons for this are hard to pinpoint and come down to a variety of small issues with the park rather than one big problem. We must also say that despite the lack of big additions to this park in recent years, it has been improved significantly by the Disney company putting an emphasis on refurbishing older attractions and increasing their reliability. 

2. Phantasialand

Phantasialand, located in Bruhl Germany, opened in 1967 and is now home to 32 attractions including 7 roller coasters. The park is incredibly well themed and offers some of the most highly themed coasters and flat rides in the world. The stand out attraction at the park is the multi launch steel coaster, Taron. Taron opened in 2016 and quickly became a huge fan favourite with its combination of incredible theming and an amazing coaster experience.

This year Phantasialand was one of the few parks to open a major new area and attraction despite the impacts of the pandemic. Rookburgh, a steam-punk themed world, opened in September and is home to the world’s first flying launch coaster, F.L.Y. We were able to experience this new coaster in September and absolutely loved it. With Taron, F.L.Y and the incredible water ride Chiapas, we believe that no other park in Europe can compete when it comes to discussing the top 3 attractions at each park. When you combine this with the amazing theming of the park, the array of unique attractions and the variety of dining options in the park, we believe that Phantasialand is the second best theme park in Europe and the most under rated out of all the theme parks in Europe.

1. Europa Park

Europa Park in Rust, Germany is the second most visited theme park in Europe and home to 13 roller coasters. The areas of the park are beautifully themed to different European countries. Europa Park has a huge variety of attractions and offers the greatest number of attractions out of any park on this list.

In 2020, the park opened the brand new Piraten in Batavia, a replacement of the old ride by the same name which was destroyed in a fire in 2018. The new version of this water dark ride is wonderful and a definite rival to the famous Pirates of the Caribbean attraction found at Disney Parks around the globe. The park is also home to 6 resort hotels and the incredible water park, Rulantica. It is the combination of the park, its hotels and Rulantica which, in our opinion, make it the best destination for a theme park fan in Europe. We are not alone in this belief as the park has won the Golden Ticket Award for world’s best amusement park since 2014. 

What are your favourite theme parks in Europe? 

Click here to check out our review of Efteling.