Europe with a non-coaster-geek?

[FLIPDUDE]

A friend suggested we go to Europe together for about 5-6 days or so. Sounds good to me. Now the question remains... To where?

 

 

Our restrictions are these:

1) I definitely want some place with a really big, fun, amusement park(or even water park), that's open in October or November (or the last few days of Sept. at least). Maybe even more than one, but my friend isn't really a coaster geek, so we probably shouldn't hit up more than one major park, maybe two at the most. I really wanna hit up Europa Park but it doesn't seem to be near any big city (except maybe Basel)

2) I love big, modern cities. And I don't mean modern architecture. Classical Europe is beautiful. I mean western-culture cities that have modern life in them(from bizzare tourism attractions, to interesting shenanigans to... whatever. while I can appreciate old historic sites, ruins, and museums, they are not something I'd want to base an entire vacation on, I'd much rather go to a club made out of ice, a restaurant where all the waiters are ninjas, video game museum etc.

This also rules out any place rural. I grew up in a big city and I need that constant buzzing in my ear! No time to rest!

3) This is not a must, but a bonus: Conventions and special events. I'm into comics and candy, he likes booze(I don't), we're both "geeks" and love geeky shows and games.... If there's any convention or special even that has anything to do with those topics, we'd probably be a lot more interested!

4) we'd prefer a place where we can get by okay speaking english. It's not a must. I'm sure, say, paris, is fine, but it's notoriously disrespectful for people who don't speak the language....

 

 

Forgot to mention!

Places we've already been to:

-Brussels

-Efteling

-Rome

-Paris (I havent been but I trust he has)

-Turkey

-London

 

Your advice will be appreciated!

[medoman]

how about visiting Barcelona and portaventura?, its easily accessable by train from barcelona and shambala is a great coaster and its a decent park to go to

 

Thorpe park is easy to get to from london and if your going to efteling then walibi holland may also be doable

[shivtim]

Madrid is a perfect city for a 5 or 6 day trip. Great food, architecture, culture, nightlife and museums. A couple of good day trips like the medieval city of Toledo (just a short train ride away). Parque de Atracciones and Parque Warner are both in Madrid, and both easily reachable by public transit (although PW is out in the suburbs, but there's a train that goes straight there). The coasters aren't the best, but PW has the excellent Superman floorless and a Batman clone, and Parque de Atracciones has a very good spinning coaster (Tarantula) and the unique Abismo, plus an Intamin invert. Both parks are open in October/November, although possibly weekends only.

Not sure about festivals/conventions, but Madrid is a huge city with things constantly going on, so I'm sure you could find interesting things. Also it's not a problem if you don't speak Spanish.

[medoman]

agree above, parque warner was good, the superman floorless is a great coaster and I enjoyed the giant inverted boomerang (the only one in europe)

 

coaster express on the other hand...........

 

parque de attracions was good, agree that tarantula is probably the best spinning coaster I've been on. When I went however it was early spring and the the intamin invert was not running and abismo would only run when there was a full train, so be aware of the season you visit in and not everything may be running.

[ginzo]

If you want excellent parks/coasters in a nice, very English-friendly country give Sweden a thought. You'd be VERY hard pressed to find two parks better than Liseberg and Grona Lund. There's a quick train connecting Stockholm and Gothenburg. I don't believe there is much for your friend in Gothenburg, but Stockholm should be great for him. It's the "Venice of the North". Very pretty town with plenty of standard touristy stuff. The main drawback is you'd have to go in September because the parks aren't open much after that. But you probably don't want to go to Scandinavia in the off season anyway because of the short days.

 

If you do decide to go to Sweden, the most important thing is to not skip either park. They are both essential.

[alexinla]

From middle sept until the first week of October you will have Octoberfest in Munich. Would be a shame to miss...

[simon8899]

^If you want to visit Munich during Oktoberfest plan to spend at least €200 (USD 300) per night at a 2** hotel. I think this is way too expensive.

 

If you've a little time try out Scandinavia on a tour from Stockholm (Gröna Lund) over Göteborg (Liseberg) to Copenhagen (Tivoli, Bakken)- but these won't be open at your time. If only for one city next to Madrid Paris also has two parks to offer: Disney Europe and Parc Asterix.

 

The Netherlands also have nice offerings like Efteling and Walibi Holland plus half a dozen cool smaller parks. And the country is quite small you can easily do all from Amsterdam with a rental car - drive times to Slagharen is about 2-3 hours, and this is the most far out from the city. The smaller parks also might be closed or only open during the weekend.

 

Generally most European parks will be closed in October and November - nearly all on weekdays.

[gisco]

From middle sept until the first week of October you will have Octoberfest in Munich. Would be a shame to miss...

 

There is a lot to do and see around Munich. You don't have to stay in the city.