Farup Sommerland

Farup Sommerland sits in pine plantation a few kilometres behind the dunes at Blokhus, which gives it shade and a forest floor between the rides, unusual for a theme park. The coasters are threaded through the trees rather than built over open tarmac, and the collection includes a wooden coaster running among the trunks and a launched steel one, along with a large set of family attractions and a water park covered by the same ticket. The park opened in 1975 and has grown steadily since without losing its low-rise, wooded character. Like all Danish summer lands it is seasonal, with full daily opening only through the summer holidays.

History

Fårup Sommerland was opened on 21 June 1975 by the Kragelund family, who had been in wholesale trade in Aalborg for 90 years when Anders Kragelund decided to sell up and start an amusement park in the popular holiday area of North Jutland. It began small, with a handful of children's rides, and its visitor numbers grew many times over by 1983; a water park was added in 1989, and five roller coasters have been added since 2001. The park, with its trees and a lake separating the rides from the water park, now draws about 600,000 visitors a season and has the largest water park of any amusement park in the country (Wikipedia, Fårup Summer Park).

What you'll find

• The wooded coasters - rides threaded between pine trunks instead of over open ground.
• The water park - slides and pools included in the entry ticket.
• The family rides - a large section aimed at younger children.
• The forest setting - shade and pine floor across most of the park.

When to go

Full daily opening runs through the Danish summer holidays, roughly late June to mid August, with weekend and partial opening in spring and early autumn. The holiday weeks bring the longest queues by a distance. Being in a forest, the park copes better with heat than most, but rain still closes some rides for safety.

What to expect

The season is short and the opening dates outside July catch people out every year. Tickets are expensive and food inside adds up fast. Queues for the main coasters run long on dry summer days, when the whole west coast holiday population turns up at once. There is no useful public transport, so a car is effectively required.

Nearby

Blokhus and its drive-on beach are minutes away; Rubjerg Knude and Lokken are along the coast.

Key facts