When your eldest child goes away to sleep over camp for a week, it's only fair to find fun things to do with your youngest! And when temps in Bavaria reach the low to mid 90s and no one has air conditioning, you hit up the coolest and nearest water park... Kristall Palm Beach!
It's a waterpark, so obviously I didn't get a TON of pictures. But maybe I can provide a few tips to the next person about how it might differ from other waterparks. But first... a picture of my buddy Grant at the entrance!
It helps if you know ein bisschen Deutsch before you go to Kristall Palm Beach. The people at the front desk where you pay don't speak any English. Which was fine, I got through that with no problem. They will ask you if you want to purchase the extra package for the Sauna (just listen for the word Sauna, it translates.) Just say nein! It was about 38 Euros for Grant and I to go for the entire day. He wasn't a huge fan of the slides, so we probably could have gotten away with the four hour package, but you never know. When you get your ticket it, scan it, go through the turnstile and an employee will direct you to the locker room (before giving you the run down of the days activities, all in German!) I just responded with, "Gut, danke!" When you go into the locker room, you will need your ticket to get a (free) locker. Enter it like this, then lock your stuff up and take the wrist band key with you.
The wave pool was one of our favorites. At 30 C, even I would get in this! In fact, nothing here was so cold that I wouldn't get in. Which was great, because I don't know what Grant would have done otherwise! The wave pool is kind of the heart and soul of the park, and the waves run for about 5 minutes on the top and bottom of every hour.
We rode a couple of the slides, hung out in the wave pool, and enjoyed the outdoor 32 degree C pool (it's like bath water! Heaven!) before we went outside for some lunch near the 29 C pool. Uh oh Kristall Palm Beach. You're starting to scare me with your "cold" pools. Lunch wasn't bad - some currywurst and some pizza.
This pizza was massive and he ate all but one piece of it. How does he do that???
Behind us there were trampolines, places to play in the sand and a big playground. He loves jumping (I even call him my little jumping bean!)
After lunch, we did some swimming out in the 29 C pool (not as bad as I thought it would be) because it was one of those "crazy river" pools that they love so much here in Europe. It's basically a big whirlpool, and you get caught up in the quick currents. We had the best time and laughed so hard at how fast it was and how often we got separated!
Then we came back to the wave pool and.... what the... is this spring break in Cancun?!?
"Mommy, take a picture! I'm covered in soap!"
We went one more time back to the slides (which I didn't get any pictures of because phones and water slides don't mix.) In the slide area (not pictured), there are some slides for younger kids (Voyager, Explorer and Black Hole) and then some faster slides for older kids. While the younger kid slides are pretty decent, there isn't enough water running through them to push a human being, and they aren't sloped enough for gravity to do the trick. So unless you're somewhat strong to manually move yourself along, you're likely to get stuck.
Grant was very frustrated that he kept getting stuck in these slides, so I convinced him to go on Saturn with me. I know, I know... we broke the rules when we rode the slide together -- and we paid for it when he bonked his head on the inside of the slide. But this slide was GREAT! I enjoyed Saturn and it's three slides in one feature. If you lay back and get a good head start, it was really fun. It was the last slide of the day for us, unfortunately. Grant wasn't having ANY of it! Next time, I'll bring my fearless daughter Natalie who will ride all the slides with me!
But we still had a lot of fun in the wave pool! And the outdoor crazy river pool! And the really warm outdoor pool!
A suggestion if you plan on going here: Leave your larger bags in the locker room, but just inside the entrance to the wave pool area, there is a section of smaller lockers. Your large bags won't fit in here, but if you want cash and your phone nearby, I suggest you get one of these smaller lockers. Unfortunately, Kristall Palm Beach is not "up with the times" in that they don't have wrist bands that allow you to charge to an account. You need to pay for everything in Euro. But how does someone who has been in a pool all day keep Euro on them? That's where these small lockers come in. Leave your locker key, phone and cash in the small locker for easy access. Meanwhile, you can leave your towels, sunglasses and shoes by the chair you select.
Allegedly, the largest rock crystal in the world at 7500 kg. It was purchased by the sister company of the German Gemstone Society in Stein (the town this water park is located in.) from the Minas Gerais part of Brazil. I literally can't find anything to back up this claim, but it certainly is big! And you know I love superlatives, so I'll just pretend this is true! This just sits in the lobby area, so if you want to see it, you don't even need to pay for a ticket to enter the water park.
Finally, at about 4:45, we decided to call it a day. We had spent over 6 hours there, and if you aren't riding many slides, that can be enough! Even Grant admitted he missed his sister today (wait, Mommy isn't fun!?!) I can't wait to go back with the whole family!
Until next time, Kristall Palm Beach!
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