30 September 2026
Europa Park is one of the largest and most action-packed theme parks in Europe. Home to over 100 attractions spread across 21 themed areas, 18 of them dedicated to European countries, there’s an endless amount to see, do and experience. They opened back in 1975 and welcomed over 250,000 guests in their very first season; more than 50 years on, that figure has grown to over 6 million guests each season. Europa Park is more than just a theme park too, with the Rulantica water park nearby, Eatrenalin’s unique dining experience, YULLBE virtual reality and six themed hotels.
Europa Park is located in Rust, Germany, and there are plenty of ways to get there. For our visit, we flew from Gatwick to Basel and picked up a hire car. From there it’s a few hours’ drive to the resort. There’s no shortage of places to stay either, from apartments and hotel brands to the on-site options, but on this occasion we stayed at Hotel Colosseo, which included free parking.
There’s always plenty going on at Europa Park all year round, and our visit fell right at the end of the summer season as the park moved into autumn. During this period the park opens at 9am and closes at 6pm, with the possibility of later closing on busier days. Ours was an extremely sunny Saturday and the park stayed open until 8pm, with it being reasonably busy and queues hitting 60-75 minutes for some of the major attractions.
In this review, we highlight some of our favourite moments from the start of the Halloween season, the new additions since our last visit and the new Halloween additions for this year.
Thrilling Coasters
Europa Park is home to so many incredible and thrilling coasters, 14 to be exact. The newest is Voltron, which opened back in 2024 and was running brilliantly in the morning. We managed to get on it as soon as the main park opened at 9am, then again shortly after using the free VirtualLine fast track system. Before Voltron, we’d already ridden Wodan and Blue Fire thanks to the early entry hotel guests get from 8:15am. Super handy if you’re looking to get on some great rides with no queues.
As the day went on, we used single rider on the CanCan Coaster and walked straight on, compared to a 30 minute queue towards the end of the day. We also rode Silver Star, which has had a little glow-up as part of its new rethemed area, Monaco.
It was also our last opportunity to ride Euro-Mir, as this coaster is set to close at the end of the year to make way for a brand new coaster coming in the near future. It’s been a firm favourite, with its quirky design and funky soundtrack that so many people know and love.
That’s just a handful of the 14 coasters on offer, and getting them all done in a day is certainly a challenge!
New Additions for 2025 & 2026
There’s always so much added to Europa Park each season. Sometimes the changes are only small, while other times they’re major attractions. Starting with what’s new for 2026, they’ve added Monaco, a retheme of the Silver Star coaster area. It was previously French themed but has now branched out on its own, with the indoor area redesigned and new artwork and theming throughout. It was a nice refresh and looks very fancy and sleek.
2025 marked their 50th anniversary, and they launched the film Grand Prix of Europe, starring Ed and Edda. In the park, this brought a new dark ride based on the film: a shooting attraction where you board the ride and shoot at multiple screens showing scenes from the film. The attraction is packed with screens, and while it was a shame not to see more external theming like similar ride models have, it was a lot of fun and great to try for the first time at Europa Park.
They have plenty more shows and smaller additions that we sadly didn’t have time to check out, but it’s always worth keeping an eye on what they add, adapt and expand each year!
Halloween inside Europa PArk
Europa Park always goes big for its major seasonal events, and Halloween is one not to miss. While they run a separate Halloween event, Traumatica, Europa Park itself adds plenty too. For 2026, there’s Pumpkin Village, a new area aimed at the younger audience with seasonal treats, fun games, a spooky disco and other fun extras. Magic Forest was an illuminated walkthrough in the castle gardens, and there was even Pumpkin Boulevard over in the Austria area.
One of the more significant changes was Tartaros, a daytime maze in the queue line of Poseidon. This was a simple and small addition that changed from previous years, but as a free extra it’s well worth checking out as a family. They also had attraction overlays on the teacups and the Feria Swing kids attraction, which we didn’t have time to experience but are a spooky, fun addition for the family based on past visits.
There are extra shows too, including a new theatre show called The Dark Wedding for 2026, with mystical storytelling blended with acrobats and illusions. There’s also the popular parade with its Halloween overlay, which we just managed to catch a glimpse of.
As you can see, there’s so much to see and do for Halloween alone. Make sure you plan around what’s best for your group, as with everything else the park normally offers, you’ll need several days to enjoy it all.
As you can see, Europa Park has a lot going on since our last visit, on top of its seasonal entertainment and extras. Even with the hotel early entry giving us a bonus 45 minutes, plus the park staying open until 8pm, we only made it to around 7pm as we were heading to Traumatica. Still, we were really happy with how much we got done despite how busy the park was.
If you’re unable to get over for their Halloween season, they also run a HalloWinter season in November before moving into the winter and Christmas season. It’s a unique chance to experience both seasons during a quieter time at the resort.
A huge thank you to the team at Europa Park for inviting us. They provided us with 2 tickets to the theme park in return for our honest comments, review and media.
Europa Park is honestly a park you need to visit, whatever the time of year. Tickets and hotel packages can be purchased directly from their website, where you’ll also find offers and travel assistance. We look forward to seeing what’s new in 2027 and beyond!
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