When it comes to theme and water parks in Madrid, Bono Parques seem to have the monopoly. We had first planned to go to Warner Beach on our recent stay with family, however, the Tripadvisor reports were less than glowing about price, queues and no shade. We therefore opted to go to Parque de attracctiones as it was nearer and had a number of water rides.

Visiting a theme park isn’t cheap, but I am glad to say that it wasn’t on the scale of Merlin attractions. After a hunt on the Internet my brother in law managed to get an online discount and got our tickets (3 adults and 2 children) for 112 euros.

The downside was that the park didn’t open until midday. With the heat getting pretty unbearable around 4.30 that doesn’t give you long there. If we had been by ourselves we would have probably gone for a rest at this time and then re entered the park in the evening as it doesn’t shut until midnight.

There are rides for every age and as mentioned earlier, queues were pleasantly short. No longer than 10-15 minutes at most. A welcome relief to the queues you find in Merlin parks over the summer.

We drove to parque de attracctiones. There is ample free parking but beware. As you drive in there are official looking people blowing whistles and showing you where to park. Apparently they don’t work at the park, but will ask for a voluntary car park payment and give you a ticket for your car. It is intimidating and confusing especially if, like us, you don’t speak Spanish.

Some of the rides were extremely tame but these were perfect for my young nephews. Again, if we had been by ourselves we may have skipped Nickelodeon Land purely as the rides are mainly aimed at pre schoolers. However, there is a good battle galleons type ride which is Spongebob themed as well as a small splash area and worth a stop off at with older children if the heat is too much.

One of the favourite rides for our family was the mine train. Fast and smooth. Perfect for young adrenaline seekers.

There were some pretty good looking rides for adrenaline junkies too! Unfortunately, tired children meant that the adults didn’t get a chance to do these.

My advice for eating in the park would be to eat before you go in and then get dinner in the park if you are staying all day. We had lunch at a Dominoes hut which was lovely if pricey (and that was with a 20% discount from my brother in laws annual pass.)

We were sad that the tidal wave ride wasn’t running but the log flume was fun and again had short queues.

If you have kids and are visiting Madrid then parque de attracctiones is a good option, just look online for a discount code first. Going to theme parks abroad is not something I would have considered on a city break before, but it was a lovely day for the children and as a theme park fan, I loved the fact that the queues were short.

Have you been to theme parks when you have been away? What ones would you recommend?