Motorhoming in Spain | Walking with Dinosaurs in Teruel in Northern Spain
Imagine an attraction dedicated solely to the giants of years past in Teruel? Dinopolis is sited in a place that has seen thousands of dinosaurs found within the very earth beneath you. It’s the perfect playground for children with an imagination…
With several acres of Dinopolis to explore, your family might also find yourselves wandering amongst some of the most feared predators ever to walk the planet! Visit 3D/4D theatres, dig for fossils, take rides though history, play in the playgrounds, see dinosaur skeletons in the indoor museum… and so much more!
So how does it fare in terms of price? In general, we’ve found Europe an incredibly family friendly place. Children qualify for cheap travel (usually 50% of the fare) and most attractions offer discounted entry for children (generally for Under 11/12s). Like the rest of Europe, the Dinopolis at Teruel offers reduced prices for Under 11s but it’s not a cheap day out, however it’s great value if you consider the fact you’re almost certainly guaranteed a full days entertainment for all ages (see here for prices)
As most families have a young dinosaur enthusiast in their midsts, Dinopolis is certainly worth considering if you’re visiting Northern Spain. Whilst both of our two children, (aged 9 and 11) were engaged throughout, it was the younger one who couldn’t contain herself. She loved the chance to visit a much smaller ‘Dinosaur Park’ in Croatia but this seemed to hold her attention for much longer…. the entire day to be precise!! Just be wary that it’s all in Spanish with little translation but as it’s so visual, it’s fairly easy to pick up the main themes…
Every family attraction should have Something special
As regular readers will know, we’ve been on the road for 2 years now, visiting over 30 European countries allowing our girls to learn through real-life experiences. We want them to form their own opinions and have confidence in their ability to express these to others. Encouraging our girls to find their own voice is a critical aspect to our trip and we’d rank Dinopolis highly for this aspect. It’s educational, fun and made the girls think about how the world has changed. This type of visit is a great support to our Science lessons (much like the creative writing opportunities at Harry Potter’s Studio Tour or Alnwick Castle visit were for our English lessons)
So what did the Earth get up to during the last 4,600,000,000 years???? Although Dinópolis is a fantastic paleontological theme park for children, adults will enjoy it too as it hosts one of the largest museums of palaeontology in the world. Yet the main attraction will almost certainly be the creative way that Dinopolis has explained the Earth’s journey through the last 4600 million years of history. But perhaps the best place to start at Dinopolis is the boat ride through the last 65 million years of history on the ‘El Último Minuto’. Seeing the extinction of the dinosaurs to the emergence of man past robotic dinosaurs, woolly mammoths and primitive man.
Can your kids get fully hands on at this great family attraction in Northern Spain? If you’re looking to keep active children busy then head for a trip to ‘PaleoSenda’ where your little ones can play at being real life ‘palaeontologist’. They’ll spend hours brushing away at the sand to find a variety of bones or enjoy the adventurous playground and Ammonite maze.
For those who enjoy shows at theme parks, then you’ll happily marvel at the robotic creatures on show including a life-size T-Rex that can move around as part of a story about a palaeontologist discovering the eggs of a T-Rex….. or if you’d prefer, you could head into the areas of Dinopolis (El Utlimo Minuto) that offer fantastic interactive displays that really capture what life must have been like 64 million years ago.
Like ours, most kids will love the activities on offer including a 3D cinema where you can follow the exploits of a scientist lost in a ‘Lost World’ or the impressive 4D simulator that takes you on a wild jeep trip through ‘Terra Colossus’ Dinosaur Park. A ‘Jurassic Park‘ where dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes greet your every turn….
For those who love rides, then look no further than ‘El Viaje en el Tiempo’. Strap yourself into a caged vehicle that takes you deep into ‘Dinosaur Country’ to discover more on the history of the world. It’s not a ‘thrill seeking’ ride…. but then again, nor is the whole park. For those who love that type of thing, you’d be best heading for the 4D cinema ‘ Terra Colossus’where you’ll be thrown left, right and centre as you drive furiously to escape hungry dinosaurs!
Are there things for smaller kids to enjoy? Arguably there’s an area for smaller kids too. Packed into the Sauriopark are a few amusement park rides but these are really only for children between 90 and 120cm high. There’s also one of the two Dinopolis restaurants here and plenty of open space to relax in after a busy morning in the rest of the park.
For us, the highlight of the whole park came towards the end as we ventured into the museum. With over 500 exhibits including the authentic bones of the ‘Turiasaurus Riodevensis‘, it’s one of the largest collections in the world. This immense dinosaur was the largest to have roamed Europe, and was discovered in the province of Teruel where Dinopolis is located.. There are also fascinating life-size skeletons of a brachiosaurus and a T-Rex amongst a host of well organised ‘walk through’ exhibits..
Not only do you see the superbly presented areas of the museum, you can even see ‘real science’ in action as you get the opportunity to walk through the viewing corridor that sits above the palaeontologists work rooms… A truly brilliant idea and one we’ve not seen before across Europe.
If you leave one thing to last, then make sure it’s the Tierra Magna. This park is designed to recreate ‘realistic’ dinosaurs in a variety of poses. Some are skeletons whilst others are created as they would have been years ago. For us, it proved a useful way to gauge the size of the dinosaurs and gives a nice end to the day…
As we left Dinopolis, the conversations started to flow from the girls.
“How many different ways did they make you see, hear, and feel that you have been catapulted back to a long forgotten era……..”
For us, that’s exactly why you take children to places like Dinopolis……to have fun ‘learning by doing’… Not to mention being transported back 150 million years for a Jurassic adventure of a lifetime, when Dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
tercel
so where did we park the bus for the night?
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