Traveling with kids in Germany

I think that the best trips with kids are those that involve a lot of playtime, and what better place than a big amusement park. I visited Legoland in the summer with my nephew, and 5 years later with my children – enjoying this time the Halloween decoration. Every year new attractions and huge lego models are built here and it’s wonderful to come back and be surprised every time by the magic of LEGO!

The easiest and probably cheapest way to get from Sofia to Legoland Germany is by Ryanair flight to Memmingen. From the airport you can take a bus to Memmingen train station that passes at specific times and costs 3 euros per person or if you do not want to wait you can take a taxi for 12 euros in total from the airport to the train station. From there you should take the train to Günzburg, which is not direct, and you should make a connection change in Ulm. It may sound inconvenient, but in this way you can see through the windows of the train the highest cathedral in Europe located there. The train trip itself can also turn into an adventure, as it moves at 250 km/h and the game “I see outside something starting with the letter …” becomes interesting because everything is passed by very quickly and good observation is very important.

Once you arrive in Günzburg you can take the bus in front of the train station directly to Legoland or allow yourself at least one night in the city, enjoying the beautiful German architecture with painted wooden houses. Günzburg is very charming, conveniently located on the banks of the Danube, at the confluence of the Günz River into the Danube, in the German region of Bavaria. In the first century, the Romans erected a military fortification here, which they named Gonti, after the Celtic goddess of the river Günz. In the Middle Ages, the city was Austrian for 500 years, after which in the early 19th century it became part of Bavaria. Here it is worth exploring the old part of the city with the historic market square and the church of Domnkus Zimmermann. Near Günzberg you can play mini golf, kayak on the Danube or, as most tourists with children do, visit the Legoland theme park.

We started our tour of the fairytale Legoland from the holiday village called Legoland Feriendorf, where unique accommodations are connected directly to the amusement park. Here guests can choose whether to stay in themed houses, inspired by the knights, pirates, Egyptians or Formula 1 racers, or stay in a pirate ship, or do as we do.  staying in the fairytale royal castle. Three beautiful castles rise side by side – the royal, knightly and dragon castle. We had the pleasure to stay in a family room for two nights in the king castle and our stay was magical. From the inside, the castle was even more fabulous, with lots of Lego figures.

From the lovely lobby we took the elevator to the second floor, where the spacious and colourfully painted room impressed us. In addition to the many lego figures on the walls, we also had a gift of lego cubes on the beds, and in the children room a whole constructor of lego parts for free play. The room of the pirate ship on our next stay was no less impressive and fabulous. Every hotel in Legoland Feriendorf is an attraction itself, surrounded by many unique playgrounds it takes you to the wonderful world of Lego even before entering Legoland Park.

We entered the park from the back entrance, which connects Legoland Feriendorf with Legoland park, and we started our tour from the Kingdom of the Pharaohs amidst Egyptian pyramids and palm trees. We boarded an underground train, and got armed with laser pistols to target various enemies, collecting points to help us find the treasure hidden by the pharaohs. After a few tours we headed to the rest of the park.  On our right side there was the wonderful playground of Duplo for the youngest – with many houses, slides and animals from Lego, as well as a water play area.

On the left side the Pirate land is situated starting with the extreme attraction – Kanu X-Pedition, where a fast boat descends a waterfall. We boarded a pirate ship and with water cannons we could bombard other ships, and even pedestrians along the coast. There is also a pirate school and an interactive pirate playground. Whistling pirates and numerous Lego figures reinforced the feeling, that we are in a real pirate island.

We continued to the world of Ninjago, where we joined the heroes of Ninjago in their fight against the Supreme Lord. We sat on special cars and explored the world of ninjas by firing fireballs, ice fountains and air blasts along the way. Effects such as light, fog and heat created a perfect 4D illusion.

The next attraction was even more impressive – the sea creatures in Atlantis Legolend. The impressive building accommodates huge aquariums with many exotic and colorful fish. Inside the tanks there are lego figurines, some of which move. Also interesting is the 8-meter glass tunnel passing through the aquarium, where visitors can see sharks and other fish swimming from all sides. At the end of the aquarium, the youngest visitors can touch starfish and other harmless but very beautiful sea creatures.

From the sea depth, we headed to the cinema, passing through many fun water attractions, like the Lego musical instruments that sprinkle water when children play and hop around them. The cinema screen has 3D movies in German and English, with additional elements such as wind, splashes of water and smoke making the cinema look 4D.

With these attractions our day in Legoland came to an end, but on the next day we began a new tour this time starting from the attractions with which we explored the park from above. We rode on lego balloons, as well as on lego-carts, climbing over bridges and buildings.

From the beautiful glazed panoramic platform that rises up to a height of 50 meters of the Watchtower, we succeed to see the whole park, as well as our palace hotel.

The next theme area that I really liked was Miniland, that represents models of cities from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland, made of lego parts. All sights were made to the last details in scale 1:20, and besides buildings, there were also people, moving cars, ships, trains and even helicopters. Very beautiful were the models of the 5 tallest buildings in the world, for which over 400,000 lego parts were used.

​Especially beautiful was the city of Berlin, represented by its glamorous center, including the beautiful Berlin Cathedral, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and others. Impressive was also Frankfurt with its skyscrapers, as well as Hamburg with its many moving cargo ships. We also took many photos in front of the beautiful Neuschwanstein Castle, which was erected by over 300,000 Lego parts.

​Our world tour from Gulliver’s prespective led us to Venice, to the charming Swiss city of Lucerne and also to many mountain trains, as well as to Amsterdam and the Dutch windmills.

Not far from here is the Lego Factory, where children can learn how their favorite toy is made. At the end of the factory there is a store selling lego parts per kilogram!

​I liked a lot the safari in the park, where from jeep-carts we looked at numerous animals in natural sizes all made of lego parts.

My children were impressed from the Lego carting, where they received their first driver’s licenses. In addition to cars, we also drove boats made again of lego parts, but in real size, we rode on a train that runs almost all over the park and there were many, many more attractions that every year are complemented and renewed turning Legoland into a never-ending fairy tale.

Interesting facts about Legoland, Germany

• The amusement park of Legoland, Germany opened in the Bavarian city of Günzburg on May 17, 2002, when visitors had fun at 40 attractions, for which over 50 million lego parts were used.

• Ten years later, Legoland, Germany offers 50 attractions with over 55 million lego parts plus a holiday village to the park.
• Up to this day, it is one of the most popular amusement parks in Germany.
• There are ten Lego parks in the world: Billund (in Denmark since 1968), Windsor (England since 1996), California (USA since 1999), Legoland Germany (2002), Florida (USA, 2011), Malaysia (2012), Legoland Dubai (2016), Legoland Japan (2017), New York (2021), South Korea (2022). Other park will be opened in Shanghai in 2025.