Markus Anecdotes - Efteling

Written by Markus

July 2020

The Efteling in The Netherlands, a world full of magic

When thinking of theme parks, one quickly thinks of exciting rides, roller-coaster and many shops. This often based on movies or other large “money-making” projects.

And theme parks that are old, are often just run down, boring and often dangerous places.

Not so the Efteling in the Netherlands. This magical place, often skipped by tourists, opened its doors in 1952 and was designed by Anton Piek, now a famous artist, whose focus was on creating dreams.

The park is split in several areas, where the noise from roller-coasters is kept far away from where the magic really happens. And this experience is based on strolling through the forest, living the old fairytales that are sometimes scary, but always inspiring.

Build in a lush forest, spread over 72 acres, you can spend the entire day here. Each attraction, during average days, has a queue of around 15 minutes, so the whole park can be done in a day if you run from activity to activity.

But this is exactly what you should not do. Instead, what you should do, is slow down and relax.

Take a seat on one of the many benches in the fairytale forest, where the 50’s and 60’s come to live again. And different from most old parks around the globe, here everything is kept in pristine condition. With a glass of wine in one hand and whatever you want in the other, it is here where you can hear the trees talk, mushrooms make classical music and watch children getting there first impressions of the big bad wolf and the dancing shoes, in a setting when times were simpler.

This is why this park, though frequently visited by children, is for adult couples, who want to regress back to their youth in a magical and romantic setting.

Seen this is not a tourist destinations and international crowds are rarely seen, make sure you DIY this into your travel schedule when visiting the Netherlands. Even if you’re not a “theme park-person”, this park transports you back to when you were a small child from the moment you walk in.

Visit https://www.efteling.com/en to check out more.