Playmobil Park – a must visit place with young children

The kids love it when the toys they play with at home come to live and they can interact with them. Places like Disneyland, Legoland are some of the top visited attractions by families with children. But there are others that are as attractive but much less known. So here is my tip a less obvious family trip – Playmobil Fun Park in Nuremberg. For clarity, there are actually 4 parks in Europe but the one in Zirndorf next to Nuremberg is by far the biggest one.

Any parent of young children would be familiar with Playmobil toys. They are colourful, engaging and great fun. If you don’t know them, here are some of their products our kids enjoy. So, when we discovered that there is a Playmobil Fun-Park in Germany, we knew we had to go.

Why did we like the Playmobil Park so much?

We visited the park earlier this year in Spring but it is all year-round destination. In winter, however, the outside areas are closed but the massive indoor play zone is still worth a visit if you are nearby.

The reason we enjoyed the park is that, first and foremost, it has been designed for younger children. I would say up to 10-12 years old. There are no roller coasters here but instead you have all sorts of playgrounds, slides and other play areas you can imagine. They are all organised by themes.

Our children had a lot of fun in the medieval castle as they could go up and down the towers, explore the inside or climb the outside walls. There was even an underground tunnel to explore.

Another great area was the unicorn and fairy section. Which kids would not enjoy sitting on a unicorn and then washing it?

Finding treasures in huge pearls, filled with water was also a fun activity.

There are also few splash and water play areas which come in very handy on a hot day.

In case of bad weather and in winter, you can always use the massive indoor spaces. There are two sections to it. There is a climbing section which is enormous with slides, nets and any other equipment your children can wish for. The other section is more of a Playmobil town with houses you can go into. Our kids really liked playing with these before going outside.

In the indoor section, there is also a stage where regular performances and puppet shows take place.

The biggest advantage of this park is, the fact that you can interact with life-size Playmobil figures everywhere. There are no queues and you can simply spend time having fun rather than waiting to have fun.

 

How to get there

Getting to Playmobil Park is quite easy. First you need to get to Nuremberg which has its own airport with a reasonable selection of low-cost and legacy airlines connections.

More importantly, within 2h drive or train ride you will find two major European airport hubs – Frankfurt and Munich. Munich is also said to be one of the most kid-friendly airports in Europe. (Check our list of children-friendly airports). This is what we have done. We flew to Frankfurt and hired a car there, which also allowed us to visit the beautiful Rothenburg ob der Tauber on the way.

Once in Nuremberg you can take a S-Bahn train to Zirndorf and there are two bus lines to get to the park.

We drove to the park in a hired car (did you see our post on hiring cars?) but we also could see people coming from the bus so it is also a popular option.

 

Accommodation

We stayed in nearby Nuremberg which is full of hotels and apartments to rent. What might be an interesting option for the children, is the Playmobil Hotel. Located next to the park, it is a good option if you are planning to spend more than 1 day in the park.

Tickets

Usually, visiting theme parks is not a cheap thing. In Playmobil park however, you don’t need to worry that the entrance ticket will ruin you. The most expensive option of 2-day ticket in main season is just under….22EUR. Yes, twenty-two for two days.

You can buy tickets online and get some packages and discounts as well.

 

The all important food at Playmobil Fun-Park

The onsite restaurants and snack bars offer good, hearty German fare.  You can find all sorts of traditional options including famous Nürnberger Bratwurst (or sausage if your German is a bit rusty). When we were there, the entry ticket also worked as a discount coupon for the restaurant. Make sure you don’t lose it.

There is also a traditional German beer garden and countless places serving smaller snacks, refreshments and ice creams.

The restaurant in the main indoor area is also serving breakfast. To our surprise it was quite popular in the morning. Clearly the Germans do like to start their day early ?

A word about the food and allergies. In many places in Europe, also in Germany, travelling with food allergies might be a bit tricky. Fortunately, the Playmobil Park is not one of them. You can find all the necessary allergy information on their website – simply click the name of the place here and you will be offered a pdf file with the necessary information. It is also available printed in all the food outlets.

I have to say that, the Playmobil Fun-Park was exactly what is says on the tin – full of Playmobil and fun. Without a doubt, it was one of the places the kids really enjoyed and even recently asked if we can go there again.

HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE PLAYMOBIL PARK? WHAT WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE SHARE!