Trip ideas · Theme parks

Theme Park Road Trips in Europe: Winter Dates 2026 and One-Week Routes

Checked 13 October 2026 against each park's own opening calendar · skynomad

Each date below comes from the park's own calendar, linked in the last column. 9 dates sit on 2 one-week routes: a loop from the Channel Tunnel to the Dutch and German parks, and a fly-and-drive from Barcelona.

Theme Park Dates, Winter 2026–27

Theme Park Road Trips

Seven nights each, with the driving hours, the cost to drive the week and the rules on the way. Park tickets are not in the cost.

Loop from Folkestone · 7 nights · 1,724 km

Efteling, Phantasialand and Europa-Park in winter

Best in December, also good in November

Winter Efteling: 16 November 2026 – 31 January 2027

• Longest day about 4 h 45
• To drive the week €480–€630
• Countries United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany

Use this route in my plan Day by day, costs and rules

Fly to Barcelona, loop from there · 7 nights · 404 km

PortAventura, Tarragona and Girona

Best in October and December, also good in November

Halloween at PortAventura Park: 19 September – 15 November 2026

• Longest day about 2 h 10
• To drive the week €30–€70
• Countries Spain

Use this route in my plan Day by day, costs and rules

Driving costs only: fuel at each country's average price (5 to 8 litres per 100 km), the cheapest vignettes for your days, the tolls and crossings whose price is published. Not hotels, food, parking or a hire car.

Before You Drive to a Theme Park

The rules on these routes that catch drivers out, from each city's or country's own page.

• Cologne is a low-emission zone (Umweltzone): a green sticker on the windscreen, foreign cars included; Brühl and Rust are not zones (all year). Source · Efteling, Phantasialand and Europa-Park in winter
• Driving in a German Umweltzone without a sticker is fined €100 (all year). Source · Efteling, Phantasialand and Europa-Park in winter
• Phantasialand is closed on 24–25 December and 1 January, and Europa-Park on 24–25 December: plan the park days round them (Christmas 2026 and January 2027). Source · Efteling, Phantasialand and Europa-Park in winter
• Tarragona low-emission zone (ZBE): weekdays 07:00–19:00, camera-checked; a car with no DGT label is restricted, and a foreign plate gets up to 12 days a year (working days, all year). Source · PortAventura, Tarragona and Girona
• Barcelona low-emission zone (ZBE): weekdays 07:00–20:00 inside the ring roads; a Spanish hire car with a DGT label drives in freely (working days, all year). Source · PortAventura, Tarragona and Girona
• The AP-7 through Catalonia has had no toll since 1 September 2021 (since 2021). Source · PortAventura, Tarragona and Girona

Disneyland Paris by Car

Disneyland Paris is 317 km from the Channel Tunnel: the drive from Calais, the toll and the fuel. What each park charges to park, and where campervans go: theme park parking in Europe, on our sister site ParkingInEurope.