Christmas Theme Park City Breaks


It's come to that time of year where those of us whose local parks close for the season are twiddling our thumbs and trying to figure out what to do with the next four months or so. The John Lewis Christmas ad has also invaded our lives once more, officially marking the start of the insanity of the Christmas season, meaning we can legally talk about it without too much backlash (I see you, Christmas-haters). So for this post I've decided to combine those two phenomena and crack out a fabulous list of theme park/city breaks where you can get your dose of Christmassy goodness with a theme park fix on the side!

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I've sadly only ever visited Liseberg in the summer myself, but there's definitely something festive about this Swedish city park even if you do choose to visit in the warmer months. There is a butt-load of Christmassy activities to clamp your festive jaws into at this park. There's traditional Christmas markets, beautiful twinkly lights to Instagram, fun Christmas meet-and-greets with characters for the kiddies. Plus, if you're a foodie there's a Christmas themed buffet to sample!

Annoyingly the park haven't updated their attractions list since 2016 as Kanonen is still available, but from the looks of things a fair amount of  attractions are open to enjoy including Mechanica and all of the kiddie rides.

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After Efteling & Phantasialand Christmas, Tivoli Gardens is top of my 'parks-to-visit-at-Christmas' bucket list! Similarly to Liseberg, the beautiful architecture of the park has something of a Christmassy vibe about it anyway, even in the summer, so I can't imagine how magical the place would feel to visit in the winter season. You can enjoy a tour of the twilight gardens on the elf train, visit a traditional Christmas market and maybe even nab the elusive Jule Expressen cred which sometimes operates during the winter period.

Again, not all attractions may be available but there's more than enough ice skating and Christmas-light-gazing to keep you occupied instead!

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Phantasialand's Wintertraum event has the perfect balance of high-octane thrills and Christmassy magic for all tastes. Unlike many other European parks over the winter season, the majority of Phantasialand's attractions remain operational, with even the like of Taron continuing to operate in even the bitterest of temperatures! Only River Quest, the park's rapids ride, is listed as a guaranteed closure, everything else is pretty much down to the weather.

And then on top of that you've got ice-skating, the pyrotechnic/projection mapping show in the area surrounding Chiapas, winter night time spectaculars and all the other little seasonal touches inbetween to really differentiate Phantasialand for the festive season and add an extra touch of magic.

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Honestly I was a little shocked when researching for this post to find that this park operates the whole year around. Yep, you can jump on a place to Madrid in December and still get all the creds if needs be! According to their website, Parque de Atracciones only closes their water rides during the winter period, everything else is good to go! You can meet Santa, engage in some festive craft-making, enjoy some live Christmas entertainment as well as taking in all of the decorations too.

But perhaps best of all, you can meet the Nickelodeon characters in their Christmas outfits! I want a selfie with Spongebob Santa and I don't care how many kiddies I have to push past to get it.

Of course, there are plenty more parks in Europe open for the Christmas season too if you don't wish to double up as a city break! So, no excuses. There's more than enough to do and if Christmas isn't an excuse to get out there and try something new then I don't know what is.

Talk later xoxo,

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