10 best places to relax with a child

Going on vaca­tion with kids? Then you should famil­iar­ize your­self with the rat­ing of the best places to relax with a child, which will remain a vivid mem­o­ry for the kids.

The best amusement parks for families with children

There are many incred­i­ble attrac­tions for chil­dren of all ages in the world — on land and water. Along with enter­tain­ment, chil­dren are offered all sorts of sweets, and in cafes, instead of gloomy wait­ers, fairy-tale char­ac­ters take orders.

Spain, theme park Port Aventura

Vaca­tion­ers on the Cos­ta Dora­da should def­i­nite­ly vis­it the Aven­tu­ra com­plex. It is locat­ed on an area of ​​119 hectares and com­bines sev­er­al water parks, attrac­tions for adults and chil­dren, as well as cafes, restau­rants and swim­ming pools. The­atri­cal per­for­mances take place right on the streets.

The Karibe water park has the high­est free fall slide in Europe, King Kahu­na. Its height is 31 m (that is, it is the size of a 12-storey build­ing). Spec­tac­u­lar shows are arranged by the Du Soleil Cir­cus, which has a con­tract until 2020.

The park is divid­ed into six the­mat­ic zones: Poly­ne­sia, Mediter­ranean, Chi­na, Wild West, Mex­i­co, Sesamo Aven­tu­ra. There are many slides, water activ­i­ties, a golf course, Fer­rari Land park, and 5 hotels are open for guests.

Get­ting to the park is easy. The near­est air­port is 15 km away, where taxi dri­vers guard tourists, pub­lic trans­port from near­by cities and tourist flights run.

Pros:

• Var­i­ous the­mat­ic zones;
• Attrac­tions for chil­dren from 4 years and old­er, as well as for adults;
• Huge ter­ri­to­ry with hotels, restau­rants and fast food estab­lish­ments;
• Chil­dren are enter­tained by ani­ma­tors dressed as fairy tale char­ac­ters;
• Evening shows and per­for­mances;
• Dur­ing high sea­son, the park is open until mid­night;
• There are sou­venir shops every­where.

Minus­es:

• Oth­er zones can only be accessed with a tick­et;
• Expen­sive plea­sure.

You can book tick­ets in advance, but imme­di­ate­ly check what is includ­ed in their price. The more parks includ­ed in the tick­et, the more expen­sive it will cost. You can save about 20 euros by vis­it­ing McDon­ald’s in Salou — they often give out dis­count coupons in Port Aven­tu­ra.

France, Futuroscope in Paris

This park spe­cial­izes in intel­lec­tu­al devel­op­ment and sci­ence fic­tion. All projects are pre­sent­ed in 3D or 4D for cin­e­ma view­ing. There is a height lim­it on the rides — at least 105 cm (that is, chil­dren from 5 years old). Play­grounds for preschool­ers func­tion here, spec­tac­u­lar foun­tains are installed, and enchant­i­ng shows are held in the evenings.

On the ter­ri­to­ry of the park there is a one-star hotel where you can stay. But it is advis­able to book the room in advance — just like spec­i­fy­ing the work sched­ule. Dur­ing the sum­mer sea­son the com­plex is open from 10.00 to 22.00–24.00. In win­ter, it is open only for two days — Jan­u­ary 1 and 2.

Pros:

• Breath­tak­ing 4D movies;
• Vivid per­for­mances;
• Huge ter­ri­to­ry — 110 hectares;
• All projects are pre­sent­ed in the form of vir­tu­al real­i­ty;
• Instead of life-size pup­pets in the form of car­toon char­ac­ters, humanoid robots walk around here;
• The best and most tech­no­log­i­cal­ly advanced rides;
• Water activ­i­ties and out­door play­grounds.

Minus­es:

• Lan­guage bar­ri­er — few peo­ple here speak Eng­lish;
• The only hotel, and even that of a low class.

In addi­tion to the usu­al slides and climb­ing nets, in the Futur­o­scope, chil­dren can play as fire­fight­ers, where they can “shoot” with water pumps and put out a sym­bol­ic fire. School­child­ren will sure­ly enjoy the laser maze, chil­dren’s race track and the carousel “Leonar­do’s car”.

Germany, indoor water park “Tropical Islands” in Krausnick

The largest water park in Europe is locat­ed near the town of Kraus­nik and is an indoor pavil­ion, the size of 9 foot­ball fields (360 m long, 210 wide and 107 high). The inter­nal cli­mate com­plete­ly copies the “weath­er” of the Pacif­ic Ocean: it is always calm here, the sun shines even at night, and the air tem­per­a­ture is main­tained at the same lev­el of +26 °C. The best design­ers of the coun­try worked on the design of the water park.

For lovers of speed and height, there are slides, one of which is con­sid­ered the high­est in Ger­many — 27 m. The pavil­ion can be appre­ci­at­ed from a height of 52 m on a lift in the form of a bal­loon — it can with­stand the weight of an entire fam­i­ly up to 240 kg.

Play areas will cap­ti­vate kids with trea­sure hunts, auto ral­ly rides and board games. The water park has three main areas for recre­ation: with the Ama­zon­ian forests, trop­i­cal but­ter­flies, tur­tles and fish.

Pros:

• Open all year round, 24 hours a day;
• It is warm here and the “sun” always shines;
• The rich­est botan­i­cal gar­den, and on the ter­ri­to­ry there are fish, flamin­gos and tur­tles;
• Spa treat­ments and jacuzzi for adults;
• Active and board games, as well as a sec­tion for the lit­tle ones;
• Pow­er­ful infra­struc­ture — 12 restau­rants, camp­ing and tent city;
• Near the com­plex there are hotels;
• Chil­dren under 6 years old enter free of charge.

Minus­es:

• Expen­sive, and the tick­et is valid only for 19 hours;
• Some areas do not work all the time.

If you want to get into the Evening Trop­ics and Sauna, then you should know that this sec­tion is open only from Fri­day to Sun­day from 18.00 to mid­night. When order­ing drinks at the bar, the dish­es must be returned to the bar­tender, but not left on the tables or in the park.

The best children’s cities

If adults can relax in amuse­ment parks, then in the “towns” every­thing is sub­or­di­nat­ed to the desires of chil­dren. Themed zones, fab­u­lous build­ings, walk­ing car­toon char­ac­ters — every­thing that will be of inter­est to young vis­i­tors.

USA, Disneyland in Orlando (Florida)

The rat­ing opens the well-known Dis­ney­land, where every child on the plan­et dreams of vis­it­ing. Such towns are avail­able not only in Flori­da — they are in Chi­na, Japan, France, Turkey. But the Flori­da com­plex is con­sid­ered the largest and annu­al­ly receives mil­lions of tourists.

Fairy-tale build­ings, huge Mick­ey Mouse, Don­ald, chip­munks, Cin­derel­la’s cas­tle, a mag­i­cal king­dom and favorite car­toon char­ac­ters — that’s what awaits lit­tle vis­i­tors at Dis­ney­land.

There are two water parks on the ter­ri­to­ry, cir­cus and enter­tain­ment shows, car­ni­vals are held, sou­venirs and sweets are sold. Car­toon char­ac­ters invite chil­dren to dance, to a cheer­ful round dance, and you can also take pic­tures with them. 24 themed hotels have been built in Dis­ney­land, and a chil­dren’s train rides between the zones of the park. An inter­est­ing fact is that every night the streets of the town are treat­ed with steam.

Pros:

• Fairy-tale set­ting, unusu­al build­ings and cas­tles;
• A lot of enter­tain­ment and the­mat­ic zones;
• Fun­ny car­ni­vals and show pro­grams;
• Shops with sou­venirs and books;
• Sweets and ice cream in the cafe;
• Huge shop­ping and enter­tain­ment com­plex;
• Hotels on the ter­ri­to­ry;
• Friend­ly and fun envi­ron­ment.

Minus­es:

• You need to care­ful­ly read the valid­i­ty of the tick­et before buy­ing;
• High prices for sou­venirs and prod­ucts.

In the park you can meet Jack Spar­row and the Black Pearl team, take pic­tures with the princess­es and Snow White. There is an instal­la­tion of Toy Sto­ry in mini and maxi size, and you can also ride a huge Spi­ral­ka dachs­hund.

Denmark, Legoland in Billund

Legoland is locat­ed in the heart of Den­mark, where all the expo­si­tions, build­ings, ani­mals and even birds are made of minia­ture build­ing blocks. The stat­ues are not just stand­ing — they move, glow and make var­i­ous sounds. There are only 7 such parks in the world and each is vis­it­ed by mil­lions of tourists.

Dan­ish Legoland is divid­ed into 8 the­mat­ic zones: Dup­lo, the worlds of Minia­tures of Imag­i­na­tion and Adven­ture, the city of Legore­do, the Land of Pirates, the King­dom of the Knights, Lego City. Here, not only all the ele­ments are made in a spe­cif­ic style, but also the kitchen is appro­pri­ate.

In the King­dom of the Knights they cook medieval food, in the mini­land — piz­za and pas­ta, in the World of Imag­i­na­tion — ham­burg­ers. There is a hotel for tourists on the ter­ri­to­ry, and at the exit from the park there is the largest Lego store in the world.

Pros:

• There is a hotel to stay;
• Deli­cious var­ied cui­sine;
• Sou­venir shops and the largest Lego shop;
• 8 the­mat­ic zones;
• Chil­dren’s dri­ving school with real traf­fic lights and mark­ings;
• Lit­tle vis­i­tors are allowed to play with the new build­ing sets.

Minus­es:

• Expen­sive hotels.

In a dri­ving school, chil­dren are pho­tographed, giv­en a car, in which they dri­ve around the streets of the zone for 30 min­utes, observ­ing traf­fic rules. At the end of the ses­sion, the chil­dren are giv­en a license with a pho­to of the young dri­ver.

Singapore, Universal Studio

The park opened not so long ago — in 2010, but has already man­aged to attract the atten­tion of tourists. The com­plex has 7 the­mat­ic zones and 24 attrac­tions. Par­tic­u­lar atten­tion is paid to stage pro­duc­tions and spec­tac­u­lar spe­cial effects. Dancers and actors roam the streets, and the scenery comes to life and imme­di­ate­ly freezes. In the City of the Future, there are 3D attrac­tions “Trans­form­ers” and “Bat­tle of the Galax­ies”, where full illu­sions of bat­tles with robots and high-speed races are cre­at­ed.

In the Lost World and Ancient Egypt park, mum­mies come to life every now and then, and dinosaurs move and growl. The show with water stunt­men is impres­sive, but after the game, tourists are left with a “tar­nished” rep­u­ta­tion, because the actors shoot at them with water can­nons. In the zone of Mada­gas­car and the Thir­ti­eth King­dom, you can meet your favorite car­toon char­ac­ters: King Julian, pen­guins, Shrek with Fiona and Puss in Boots.

Pros:

• Spec­tac­u­lar shows;
• A wide choice of attrac­tions;
• Inter­est­ing the­mat­ic zones;
• Meet­ing with your favorite car­toon and movie char­ac­ters;
• There are reg­u­lar musi­cals and stage pro­duc­tions;
• Each zone has shops with relat­ed sou­venirs;
• “Live” dinosaurs and mum­mies;
• 3D and 4D cin­e­mas.

Minus­es:

• Some rides have a height lim­it for the child;
• Long lines.

You can avoid crowds and queues for attrac­tions by arriv­ing dur­ing the non-tourist sea­son. The park oper­ates all year round, but clos­es at 19.00. By this time, you need to have time to go around all the zones and take pic­tures with your favorite char­ac­ters.

Italy, Leoland

Designed for young chil­dren and vis­i­tors with dis­abil­i­ties. There are 6 the­mat­ic zones and about 40 attrac­tions on the ter­ri­to­ry. Heroes of pop­u­lar car­toons par­tic­i­pate in the musi­cal pro­duc­tions: Masha and the Bear, Smurfs, Pep­pa Pig, masked heroes Scoop, Cat­boy and Geko. Chil­dren will be able to play pirates or cow­boys here, dressed in the appro­pri­ate cos­tume, and even vis­it a pirate ship.

The park has a farm with live­stock — ani­mals are allowed to be fed. There is also a cozy place for moth­ers with babies — they are equipped with feed­ing rooms with chang­ing tables and bot­tle warm­ers. You can rent a stroller (for a fee).

Pros:

• Sev­er­al the­mat­ic zones;
• Attrac­tions for chil­dren and adults;
• Music and enter­tain­ment shows;
• The com­plex is suit­able for chil­dren with dis­abil­i­ties;
• There is a zone for young moth­ers;
• Deli­cious food and var­ied menu.

Minus­es:

• The char­ac­ters only speak Ital­ian;
• There is a height lim­it for ski­ing.

Both chil­dren and adults can have fun here. But the great­est atten­tion is paid to kids and spe­cial chil­dren. The com­plex has spa­cious streets, many bench­es for relax­ing, bright slides, trains, boats in the pools. Near­by there are five hotels of dif­fer­ent lev­els.

The best museums for kids

Muse­ums are not only bor­ing, with ancient arti­facts and paint­ings by famous artists, but also those where even younger stu­dents will not be bored. Sto­ries from fairy tales and car­toons come to life in them, it is allowed to study expo­si­tions, touch every­thing with your hands and play.

UK, Harry Potter Museum London

The sto­ry of the young wiz­ard has been known for more than 17 years, but inter­est in it does not sub­side, and the char­ac­ters are still pop­u­lar. Up to 5.5 thou­sand vis­i­tors come to the muse­um every year to see the attrib­ut­es of the School of Mag­ic and the majes­tic dec­o­ra­tions of Hog­warts.

The com­plex is divid­ed into pavil­ions: one con­tains a mod­el of the cas­tle, cre­at­ed by 40 design­ers. More­over, the spe­cial effects depart­ment locat­ed here shows how var­i­ous “mir­a­cles” for the film were cre­at­ed.

Most of the cos­tumes of the main char­ac­ters are col­lect­ed in anoth­er room — acces­sories and the Sort­ing Hat are also stored there. The muse­um has full-fledged rooms with scenery and man­nequins: the kitchen of the Weasley fam­i­ly, the refec­to­ry of Hog­warts, Hagrid’s hut, the Potions class.

Pros:

• The halls are ful­ly con­sis­tent with the scenery of the film;
• Man­nequins in the cos­tumes of the main char­ac­ters of the film;
• Attrib­ut­es are allowed to be touched and pho­tographed;
• There is a gallery of “talk­ing” paint­ings;
• Shop of sou­venirs and “mag­i­cal” gifts.

Minus­es:

• Late­com­ers are not allowed into the halls — you need to arrive 20 min­utes before the start of the tour.

Walk­ing through the zones of Hog­warts, you can plunge into the atmos­phere of mag­ic and mir­a­cles, and at the exit from the muse­um you can buy a wand and oth­er attrib­ut­es of a wiz­ard. For­tu­nate­ly for tourists, the exhibits are allowed to be touched and pho­tographed against their back­ground. Togeth­er with the pur­chase of a tick­et, you can order a Russ­ian-lan­guage tour.

Austria, Zoom Museum Vienna

The com­plex is spread over an area of ​​1600 m² and offers inter­est­ing expo­si­tions. The chil­dren are intro­duced to the sci­ence of cre­at­ing car­toons, music, stag­ing dances. Kids can try them­selves in the role of par­ents, grand­par­ents, learn the fea­tures of the cho­sen pro­fes­sion. In the scenery of the ship, chil­dren are allowed to play, climb the nets, turn the steer­ing wheel and catch fish.

All expo­si­tions are inter­ac­tive and tru­ly mag­i­cal for chil­dren. The muse­um is actu­al­ly a giant devel­op­men­tal cen­ter, which will be inter­est­ing for kids from 8 months to 12–15 years old. The play­room for kids includes a mir­ror tun­nel, water mat­tress­es, toys and blocks.

Pros:

• Devel­op­ing halls are divid­ed by sub­ject;
• There are stu­dios of dance, music, cin­e­ma, art of paint­ing, etc.;
• Chil­dren are invit­ed to take part in the lessons and try their hand at cre­ativ­i­ty;
• Birth­day vis­i­tors are giv­en gifts and dis­counts;
• Give out all mate­ri­als for cre­ativ­i­ty;

Minus­es:

• There are age restric­tions;
• At the entrance to the muse­um you need to change into a change of shoes.

The muse­um is aimed at devel­op­ing the sens­es, motor skills, it also helps chil­dren decide on a pro­fes­sion and learn some­thing new. Young artists will like the paint­ing room — they give out paints and paper, and the guys study graph­ics and design.

Spain, CosmoCaixa Museum in Barcelona

Anoth­er sci­ence cen­ter for child devel­op­ment, where you can learn about the inno­va­tions of sci­ence. On the ter­ri­to­ry of 42 thou­sand square meters. meters there are halls with dif­fer­ent themes. There is a swampy for­est with an appro­pri­ate cli­mate and liv­ing organ­isms, some­times there are even trop­i­cal down­pours. In anoth­er zone, a geo­log­i­cal map of the Earth is pre­sent­ed — a plan­et in a sec­tion, which shows tons of min­er­als and rocks.

There is a room ded­i­cat­ed to the study of mat­ter, space and time. It is also impos­si­ble to ignore the plan­e­tar­i­um of the com­plex with real pho­tos of plan­ets and celes­tial bod­ies.

Pros:

• Themed rooms for chil­dren from 3 years old;
• Huge ter­ri­to­ry;
• Inter­est­ing exhibits;
• Plan­e­tar­i­um with 3D sys­tem;
• Real min­er­als and rocks of the earth­’s crust;
• Game Rooms Click and Flash;
• Inex­pen­sive cafe on the ter­ri­to­ry of the insti­tu­tion;
• Believ­able wax fig­ures of prim­i­tive peo­ple.

Minus­es:

• There is no Russ­ian-speak­ing guide (they only speak Span­ish or Eng­lish);
• A huge area that can not be bypassed in one day.

At the entrance, tourists are greet­ed by wax fig­ures of Ein­stein and Dar­win — a bit of an unex­pect­ed phe­nom­e­non, but they are allowed to take pic­tures with them with­out a flash.