Tropical Islands

The hall was built between 1998 and 2000 for CargoLifter, a company developing a large freight airship; it is three hundred and sixty metres long, two hundred and ten wide and one hundred and seven high, one of the largest free-standing halls in the world, big enough to contain the Statue of Liberty standing. The company went insolvent in 2002 and the hall was bought and converted into an indoor tropical resort, opened in 2004: a rainforest with several thousand real plants, lagoons, a beach, water slides, and a temperature held around twenty-six degrees year-round. Part of the roof is a transparent membrane passing ultraviolet light.

History

The site was an airfield, and after the military left it in the early 1990s the Cargolifter company bought it to build airships and put up a construction hall 360 metres long, 210 metres wide and 107 metres high, costing €78 million, at 5.5 million m3 one of the largest buildings on Earth. After Cargolifter failed the hall became the Tropical Islands resort, which holds up to 8,200 visitors a day, and in December 2018 the Spanish group Parques Reunidos bought it (Wikipedia, Tropical Islands Resort).

The main sights

• The airship hall - a 107-metre-high building made for a failed cargo airship.
• The indoor rainforest - several thousand real plants under one roof.
• The constant climate - around twenty-six degrees whatever the season outside.
• The UV roof - a membrane section passing ultraviolet light.

When to go

Year-round; it is open twenty-four hours and people stay overnight in tents and cabins inside. Winter weekends are busiest, when the contrast is greatest.

What to expect

It is a commercial water park, not a nature attraction. Prices are high and extras are charged separately. Weekends and holidays are crowded.

Nearby

The Spreewald lies east; Berlin is north.

Key facts