Luisenpark — Attraction in Mannheim

This is no ordinary park. We came here on a Sunday August afternoon with our three kids nearly 6, 4, and 2 years old. We were surprised to have to pay for admission but I now understand why - it is WELL worth the minimal cost (we only had to pay for my husband and I, as kids under 6 were free). Once you have a map in your hands (unfortunately I could only find them in German, but easily translated it with my phone and circled the places I wanted to go), you see that there is so much more than just grassy areas and a stream. There must be 10-15 play areas for kids, not to mention enjoyable sights and interactive areas for adults. The area is not all that big but somehow feels enormous, though not overwhelmingly so. We entered near theFernmedleturm (after having parked directly next to it at the Hans-Reschke-Ufer 2 Parking lot and gone up the tower), then went straight to the gondoletta, which we took one way to the other side of the park. That took about 30 minutes and my kids LOVED watching the fish, ducks, geese, flamingos, herons, etc that were in abundance along the way. Once we exited the boat, we went to the sensory/barefoot park which was neat but a little lackluster compared to others we've been to, but nevertheless fun for my kids. From there we went to the Chinese Tea Garden but were disappointed with their food options so we walked through the garden and continued on to the massive playground on the green (frezeithaus) and then to the luisenpark bistro, which had sausage and nuggets and pizza (not terrible but not worth the high price). My kids played at the mud playground and we toured the barn and bird cages and then went around through the park to hit the castle playground, dwarf playground, then the water playground. I wish we could have stopped at all the restaurants but we just didn't have enough time. The Seerrestaurant in particular looked wonderful, and I would have liked to have just tea at the Chinese tea garden but that's not enjoyable with kids. There were SO many seating areas with awesome surprisingly comfortable metal seats that reclined and benches and grassy areas that just begged to be lounged on. We were there about 3 hours and my older two kids walked the entire way, while I wore the toddler about half the time. They absolutely loved it, as did we. If you plan on going to the water playground, definitely bring swimsuits, as it is nearly a pool. There is a lot of shade in the park but many sunny areas as well, so I recommend sunscreen or covering yourself well. A few things cost extra money, like the trampoline park (which we didn't do), the mini cars, and of course the food. We needed cash everywhere we went, as everyone said their credit card machines were down, but I got the impression they just don't like taking cards. I was amazed it was so enjoyable being such a hot weekend day, and I definitely plan...

Nice park with reasonable entrance fees: 21€ for two parents and two kids.

We wanted to go for snacks/quick restaurants to continue our visit. We were not very successful. Snacks/restaurants inside are overpriced and very long waiting time (one very long queue to order, then you can go to another queue for getting your meal (already 40 minutes queueing), then you need to join a third queue after your meal to get the deposit (pfand) for your plates another 10 minutes.... wow, what an over-engineered queuing process!!!

Plan money for extra as not part of entrance fees, indeed activities inside are extra: boat (also long queue), mini carts, ...

We entered with a kids minibike (exact same size of a laufrad). No one told us it was not authorized (maybe because same size of a laufrad) until the end by a park agent on a .... bike. This is for a kid of three years old. Don't get why it s more dangerous than a laufrad. Anyway, we got a very nice lessons fron the park officer :) .

So it was nice to see once but probably we won't come back. So many alternative in the area with more pleasant...

Great park... Unfortunately it's not free and it's difficult to find your way around it. Finding the toilets was really difficult. There are signs everywhere however these signs never say how far something is away from where you are and are terribly misguiding.

You can get lost easily because, despite there are physical maps (which are inaccurate btw) on display everywhere, in our increasingly digitalised world, any self-respecting business has to have an app. They don't. A digital GPS capable map app of the park or, at least, a Google Maps integration could help customers to find their way around the park which is huge btw. It took me 30 minutes to find a toilet and 20 minutes to find the main exit. You are practically lost when you go there for the first time and this was not my first time and I was still lost. It is a maze!

But, all in all, it is a great park with loads of activities you can do, restaurants, cafes and attractions. I liked my stay there and I recommend this park, despite the negative points mentioned above. It is very clean and well...