21 June 2026
Step into the dunes and find a theme park hidden in the forest. La Mer de Sable is a theme park located in the Ermenonville Forest in France and has been calling this place home since 1963. Covering over 20 hectares with a natural sand dune environment, it offers a truly unique setting for a Wild West theme park hidden away in the woods. The name itself translates to “The Sea of Sand,” celebrating this distinct natural feature.
The park was founded by French actor and entertainer Jean Richard, and it has seen a few different operators over the years. Between 2005 and 2015, Compagnie des Alpes took the reins before selling it to Looping Group, who currently owns and operates the destination today.
La Mer de Sable is open between April and November each year, with the 2026 season ticket prices set at €32 for ages 12+ and €27 for 3–11 year olds. Under 3s get in for free, and you can find the latest offers and discounts via their official website. They also run a number of events throughout the season—for example, June is Mexican Fiesta time!
This charming theme park is home to three themed lands with over 25 attractions spread across them. The worlds include the New Mexico Desert, the Canyon of Colorado, and the Valley of the Mississi’ptits. They offer a great range of coasters, live entertainment, a farm, and all the family charm you would expect from a classic French theme park.
Wild Buffalo – New GCI wooden coaster for 2025
Wild Buffalo is the latest addition to La Mer de Sable, having opened last year during the 2025 season. This marked the start of the park investing in modernization, bringing in new attractions for the family market to continue growing its visitor numbers. The coaster is manufactured by Great Coasters International (GCI) and is actually the very first GCI coaster in France!
You can find Wild Buffalo as soon as you enter the park, just north of the entrance gates in the New Mexico Desert area. It features a large sign with a bull at the entrance, leading into a lightly themed queue line that includes some fun comedy elements.
The ride itself is great fun and a perfect fit for a park of this size. It stands 14.8m tall and features a 22.6-metre drop. With its fast pace and a top speed of over 41mph, it pulls up to 3G in G-forces, delivering a fun-packed ride for the whole family.
Live Entertainment for 2026
For 2026, the park has a completely refreshed entertainment program known as Les Légendes de La Mer de Sable. This includes three brand new shows combining stunts, special effects, and equestrian acrobatics, all inspired by iconic figures of the Wild West. These three shows are Le Secret de la Mine d’Argent at 1pm, known as an explosive burlesque comedy; La Légendaire Attaque du Train at 3pm for high tension action; and finally, La Grande Chevauchée de l’Ouest at 5pm for equestrian dressage and acrobatics.
We managed to check out two of these three shows during our visit. The first show at 1pm was hosted against a saloon backdrop. It had a relatively large cast, and even though there was plenty of dialogue in French, it featured enough action and slapstick comedy to keep us highly entertained despite the language barrier. We saw pyro, stunt falls, gunshots, and a large water effect.
The second show at 3pm was in a different location, featuring a massive sand dune backdrop with a small stage setup near the front. While it looked very basic at first glance, you wouldn’t expect a large train to be used, let alone even more stunts and horses! Each show provided something completely different from the next, and each location brought its own unique elements to the performance.
The rest of La Mer de Sable
Outside of the shows and the new coaster, there is plenty on offer at the park to keep you busy. They have another three coasters: Silver Mountain at the top of the park, Tiger Express (a Wild Mouse-style coaster in bright red), and Bandidos, a child-friendly spinning coaster. They also have two great water rides, a log flume and a rapids, which were fantastic on a hot day. The longest queue of the day had to be the log flume, but we managed to get on it early with a minimal wait. The park also features a unique dark ride called The Bayou of the Chikapas, where all of the moving parts and characters are operated by strings like puppets, with the mechanisms clearly visible throughout.
We even enjoyed a train ride that includes a stop halfway through to take you to Lilly Bell’s ranch. This is the park’s farm area, which is home to a number of animals like goats, horses, and pigs. It was a nice little addition, and the experience is timed perfectly so you get to stay just long enough to enjoy it all before your train arrives to take you back.
For our first visit to La Mer de Sable, it was thoroughly enjoyed. It was a lovely, hot day, and getting to see a theme park based on the Wild West in a forest location in this heat just helped make the day even more memorable. We love the new attraction, Wild Buffalo, and how the park’s future looks to be coming together. The stunt shows were much better than we thought they would be for a park of this size; they managed to create distinct, high-class performances that are much better than what we typically see in larger UK parks. That, coupled with the rest of the attractions, the farm, and the coasters, made for a full day of entertainment for us.
A huge thank you to the team at La Mer de Sable for inviting us to visit and check out their latest additions. They provided us with complimentary entry in return for our honest review and content.
We highly recommend a visit when you’re in the area, which is pretty close to Paris, just to the northeast of the city.
@thrillnation Do you want to visit La Mer De Sable? 🎢🔥 #themepark #lamerdesable #paris #france #stuntshow ♬ Fighters - OctaSounds
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