What's new

Best affordable European coaster trip ideas?

henryjwillis

Mega Poster
Hi, new to posting here although lingered a while so apologies if this is in the wrong place/doesn't warrant a new thread.

Being from the UK, good coaster opportunities are obviously slim with the exception of a few, so despite excitement for Icon next year I was thinking about heading to Europe next summer to try and ride as many great coasters as possible.

So although it's early I was wondering if anyone had any good tips for where to go within a reasonable budget and time scale. Sweden and Germany seem like the most exciting prospects with Taron, Wildfire, Balder and GeForce etc, is it feasible to do both countries on the same trip? Any general suggestions/tips also very welcome

Thanks in advance!
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
I'd be starting with Germany if I were you. Some good stuff there and, for a first time European trip, Germany will almost certainly be easier and cheaper than Sweden.
How big a trip are we talking here? A long weekend taking in 2 or 3 parks, or a 2 week expedition taking in a dozen?
 

henryjwillis

Mega Poster
I'd be starting with Germany if I were you. Some good stuff there and, for a first time European trip, Germany will almost certainly be easier and cheaper than Sweden.
How big a trip are we talking here? A long weekend taking in 2 or 3 parks, or a 2 week expedition taking in a dozen?

Maybe somewhere in the middle, I doubt I'd have the stamina or funds for a huge one but I'd also probably like to make the most of it whilst I'm there as I'm not sure when I'd get back out again.
 

Mysterious Sue

Strata Poster
Haha sorry to confuse you but I'd recommend Sweden first. If you don't mind when you go, you can wait for cheap flights and do a Liseberg/Grona Lund combo via public transport, maybe even over a weekend to avoid time off during the week. If you want to do Kolmarden too then that's a bit more tricky and needs a third day. It can be done by public transport (think Gavin did it?) but is a bit out in the sticks.

Between Helix, Balder, Lisebergbanana, Wildfire, the new B&M, Twister and Insane, that gives a fantastic mix of ride types. Plus Grona is a city park, Liseberg more of a proper park and Kolmarden a zoo park which makes for a really diverse trip. Throw in some evenings in Gothenburg and Stockholm for culture and it's easy to have a really great time. Bit expensive, but then Germany won't be cheap and would probs be a longer trip.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Personally, one of the biggest challenges with making "affordable" trips happen is the availability of flights (be that routes or times). If you live near an airport with plenty of regular flights to all sorts of cities across Europe (thinking specifically of London, but Manchester, East Midlands and to an extent Birmingham and Bristol, to name a few) then it can be fairly easy to sort these kind of trips.

If you're unlucky and live somewhere without good, regular flights to the continent, then that's often the first stumbling block.

Bristol is okay, but if we take an example like the trip we did to Germany at the end of the summer - there were no flights from Bristol to Stuttgart so I had to fly from Heathrow. Once you add the extras for going from London, that actually jacks up the cost of the travelling portion of your trip quite a bit.
  • Travel to/from Bristol - let's say £30 return on the coach
  • Hotel in Hounslow (so you don't have to leave Bristol at 2am, particularly not advisable if you're planning a big first day) - let's say £40
  • Flight - bargain at £70 return
You can see, the total cost of simply getting to Stuttgart and back is nearly double the cost of just the flights. Of course, there's not much you can do about this - I'm just having a whinge about not being able to cheaply jump on all these deals the guys and gals in London can. ;)

That being said, the advice being shared here is correct, and once you've done one trip you'll see it's pretty easy really!
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
In that case, I'd definitely be looking at NW Germany/Holland/Belgium/Northern France sorta region. Short, cheap flights, loads of airports to choose from and a whole cluster of decent to great quality parks, all within reasonable driving/travelling distances from each other.
Coast2coaster.com is your friend - choose a good starting point (Phantasia/Efteling/DLP/Europa) and then see what else is nearby. I usually find these trips end up planning themselves that way. :)
 

Will

Strata Poster
Sweden and Germany on the same trip? Not really; a map could have told you as much - plus Scandinavia is not a cheap place to be.
As has been said above, Liseberg can be done as a day trip, with Gronalund a (rather expensive) train ride away, but as fab as Liseberg is, it wouldn't be my first pick.

Difficult to advise without knowing if you're driving or public transporting (I'm crap with the latter, but plenty of people here aren't) but the standard South Germany (EP, Tripsdrill, Holiday Park, Phantasia) or Holland (Efteling, Toverland, Walibi etc.) - or both on the same trip, if you're feeling strong, would be my recommendation.

And while I'm not the place's biggest fan, Port Aventura's worth a shout - loads of coasters there and budget package holidays available with very little fuss.
 

TilenB

Strata Poster
As is the 'nearby parks' button on RCDB.
Not really useful if you're a Brit planning a trip to continental Europe. :p
That's only useful if you are already somewhere and decide to check if there's anything nearby that you've missed in the planning stages (though in Germany it might equate to just a bunch of Alpine Coasters and Butterflies...). :p
 

Will

Strata Poster
^
It's useful in the planning stages - pick a park you're interested in and it will tell you what's within reasonable distance of that park. You don't have to already be at a park to find out the information. Though I WILL agree it'd be useful if there was a way of excluding butterflies and other non-creds off the list - 4 of the parks RCDB states being closest to Phantasialand (for example) are utterly useless.
 

TilenB

Strata Poster
^
It's useful in the planning stages - pick a park you're interested in and it will tell you what's within reasonable distance of that park. You don't have to already be at a park to find out the information. Though I WILL agree it'd be useful if there was a way of excluding butterflies and other non-creds off the list - 4 of the parks RCDB states being closest to Phantasialand (for example) are utterly useless.
Whoops, I thought Sue meant the 'what's nearby' part of the page. I totally forgot nearby parks is also an option. :p
But yeah, it takes a while to sort out the crap from it and also cross out the parks that are harder to reach without a car (well, at least for me). Coast2coaster is directly on Google maps and you can quickly check if the park you might be interested in is near some sort of a town, reachable with a train, etc.
 

Sandman

Giga Poster
You could quite easily hit other Scandi parks like Tivoli/Bakken in the same trip as say Liseberg, Kolmarden & possibly Grona Lund. Germany is pretty easy to tie in with some of the Dutch parks as others have pointed out. Both very easy options.
 

Smithy

Strata Poster
I'm going with Sweden first.

Likely to be cheaper if you can get good flights, it's piss easy to get to Liseberg (just a bus from the airport) and there's a mountain of accomodation nearby.

The German parks tend to be more expensive as a whole, and require slightly more complex but still completely manageable train journeys and transfers.
 

henryjwillis

Mega Poster
Cheers for all the advice!

I am able to rent a car so going between parks in Germany would be manageable (although driving on the wrong side of the road does scare me a bit). Germany does seem like the obvious choice but the temptation of Helix and an RMC is throwing a bit of a spanner into the works. I have heard that Sweden is a lot more expensive in general though so it may not be the best option.
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Obligatory vote for Liseberg.

I have heard that Sweden is a lot more expensive
Nah.
With good timing car and hotels should be comparable.
Use Max and local supermarkets for your food needs.

Don't have beer or coffee or whatever people drink these days.
Don't have £20 sandwiches from tourist traps.
 

Will

Strata Poster
(although driving on the wrong side of the road does scare me a bit)
For the most part (don't stay in hotels in city centres) it's really not that bad - my first time doing that was driving from Calais - Rust and it was mostly fine, and I'm not the world's most confident driver!
Also, do have beer/coffee whatever people drink these days. It's a pretty **** holiday without, unless you're really cutting costs!
 

henryjwillis

Mega Poster
For the most part (don't stay in hotels in city centres) it's really not that bad - my first time doing that was driving from Calais - Rust and it was mostly fine, and I'm not the world's most confident driver!
Also, do have beer/coffee whatever people drink these days. It's a pretty :emoji_poop: holiday without, unless you're really cutting costs!

Yeah I wouldn't have an excessive budget but cutting out beer is a step too far. Food & drinks prices were what I've heard are pretty extortionate in Sweden, I heard pints can be €7-8+.. or £20 at the current exchange rates.
Yeah I'm sure it would be fine, my only experience driving abroad was on narrow bumpy roads in Croatia with steep drops on either side so I'm sure decent roads would be ok.
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
It's a pretty :emoji_poop: holiday without, unless you're really cutting costs!
Priorities man. Bail on Sweden cos you cant go a couple of days without a drink?

Point is don't be put off by places being 'pretty extortionate' as a generalisation. Find out exactly what it's for and do what you can to get around it.
 
Top