Parc Astérix and La Cité Suspendue Hotel, nr Paris, France

During a recent long weekend we headed across the Channel and drove to a theme park we’ve had our eye on for a long time – Parc Astérix. Located around an hour north of Paris, and 2.5 hours from Calais, it is possible to take a daytrip from the UK. However, we didn’t need to rush so we arranged tickets for two days, and an overnight stop in one of the on-site themed hotels.

Astérix

A quick mention of Astérix, as I’ve been surprised at the number of people who have never heard of him. Well, his theme park is 30 years old this year! I remember him in comics when I was a child. At primary school my headmaster tried to teach us French using some of the stories. Astérix and his sidekick Obelix are Gauls living in 50BC in a village that is resisting Roman occupation. The stories tell of all the adventures they go on. It’s very successful – the comics have been translated into 111 languages, and 13 films have been made.

The characters are, well, full of personality and they are very unique. If you’ve not heard of Astérix, look him up.

Our Journey

We left the UK, on a Eurotunnel train, late the previous evening. Having driven for an hour or so into France, we stopped at a motel for a good sleep. We still managed to reach the hotel reception of La Cité Suspendue before 10am, when the theme park opens. Having checked in, we left our bags in our car, and walked the unique boardwalk to one of the park entrances; I’ll talk about this in more detail later. The hotel was a 10-minute walk to the park entrance, where you walk through scanners and have your bags checked. Once that was done – we were in!

Pass Rapidus

We had arranged, for our first day, to have Pass Rapidus … ‘fast passes’ allowing us to jump the queue on eight of their most popular high-adrenaline rides (only once per ride though). The children, particularly, loved these as it meant they could dash between all the popular rides and ride them without having to queue.

Pass Rapidus cost €25 each, on top of the entry ticket … but it’s worth it. The queues for a few of the rides were close to 45 minutes long. Without the fast passes, the number of rides you could tick off during your day would be limited.

Parc Astérix

As with most large theme parks, there’s a lot more to Parc Astérix than just fast rides. There are shops, seating areas, lots of restaurants and fast-food concessions along with theatres and auditoriums, picnic and play areas and a dolphinarium. The rides are themed around periods of times – Gauls, Romans, Egyptians, Greeks – and there’s a good mix of rides for all ages. However, as my children are tall 10- and 12- year olds … they only did the fast ones! So, let’s talk about them. In fact, they can tell you about them, as they went on them!

The Rides at Parc Astérix

Parc Astérix is known for it’s rollercoasters, and there’s quite a few. I took some video clips of the rides the children went on, so take a look at this first to get a taste of the action:

Tonnerre de Zeus (wooden rollercoaster)

“It was very fast. There were lots of drops from different heights, tilting, spiralling. And some underground tunnels!”

Goudurix (steel, multi-looping rollercoaster)

“This was the biggest ride on the park. Very thrilling but quite short-lived. You get thrown around in your seat and I banged my head a few times.”

La Trace du Hourra (bobsled roller coaster, with speeds to 80 km/h)

“I had to sit on Millie! You go right up on the side of the walls as you turn corners. It was very fast!”

No photos because it was all enclosed!

Menhir Express (log flume)

“It was a bit boring at first, as it just went round the route, but then you come to the big drop. We both got soaked!”

Romus et Rapidus (water rafting ride)

“We had a whole round raft to ourselves. It went under the Pégase Express ride. It was fun.”

Oziris (inverted rollercoaster)

“This was my favourite (Millie) but I thought I was going to lose my shoes. The ride is very fast and you feel you get really close to the floor.”

Oxygénarium (spinning water ride)

“This was a bit weird. I didn’t really understand it. It was quite short, and it wasn’t very exciting. You did get splashed in the face though!”

Discobélix

“This was really fun. It was like sitting on a little motorcycle, and you are pinned in by your back. Your back does hurt a little. It spins a lot!”

La Galère (swinging ship)

“This kind of hurt. When you go down, the metal bar pushes down on your belly and you are pushed forward … it really hurt!”

Pégase Express (steel roller coaster that also goes backwards)

“My favourite (Toby); it goes backwards!”

Grand Splatch (large water flume)

“This was boring. The big splash at the end was good.”

Food

There are a variety of food concessions as you make your way around the park. There are five themed restaurants that you can pre-book. If you forget to do this, there’s plenty of fast food options – croissants, chips, burgers, pizza, hotdogs … all at affordable prices (especially if you do the meal deals). Or you can bring a picnic.

L’Aérolaf reminded us of the Flying Cup in Dubai, where you can enjoy drinks and snacks while being lifted high into the sky!

Shows

We didn’t get chance to visit any shows – they run at various times throughout the day, but we managed to mis-time them! However, judging from the cheers coming out of some of the theatres, it sure did sound fun!

There is also a dolphinarium within the park. I’m afraid we cannot comment on the dolphin show as we chose not to attend (we don’t like seeing dolphins in captivity). This was popular though.

After a long day of walking between rides, shopping in all the themed stores, etc, at the end of the day all we wanted to do was get to our hotel room and collapse. So now let’s discuss La Cite Suspendu.

La Cité Suspendue

Parc Asterix has two on-site hotels – Les Trois Hiboux and La Cité Suspendue (The Hanging City). We spent a night in La Cité Suspendue … a wooden city of crooked buildings on stilts, surrounded by trees, and joined together by boardwalks. There are three ‘districts’ in the The Hanging City – Potters, Druids and Artists. Each district is identified by the statues and features surrounding the buildings, but they are also ‘colour coded’. All the buildings in Potters were brown …

… Red for Artists …

… And green for Druids …

Potters was located closest to the main building, restaurant and car park. Our room was located in the Druids district – closest to the theme park entrance, but furthest from the reception, car park and dining room. This does need to be kept in mind when booking … It’s great that the park is so close, but it’s quite a trek to the car (carrying your bags), and to check out, and to have breakfast … Try to get a room in the Artists area – half way between hotel buildings and the park!

Our Room

Our room was a family room in the Druids area – we decided it was probably the closest room to the park (which was still around a 5-minute walk away). The wooden theme carries through into the room, with heavy furniture and bed frames. Every room has a balcony, which is good. However, there’s no furniture on the balcony so you don’t really use it. I do like the addition of bird feeding stations outside – the birds seem to appreciate them too!

The children had their own section of the room – their own bunked bedroom in fact. Good-sized beds, even for a tall teenager.

There’s a window that looks through to the main bedroom. Here, there’s a large double (or maybe kingsize) bed, with a really comfortable mattress.

There’s also another single bed here.

I know we had done a lot of walking, but wow did we sleep well that night! The main room had a TV too (only French channels).

The bathroom was particularly nice. It had a very unique stone sink, and the most wonderful walk-in rain shower. It didn’t seem to matter what time you showered, the water was always nice and hot and the jets powerful. Towels were plentiful, and there was a hairdryer.

Hotel Reception and Restaurant

To say the wooden theme runs through the hotel from the moment you arrive is an understatement! The main reception, which leads through to the bar and the restaurant beyond, is wood, wood, wood, cowhides, and more wood! Just look at these photos …

We had breakfast at the hotel; it consisted of a substantial buffet that offered a range of continental and hot food. Plenty for all tastes. Nice machine coffees too.

After breakfast, there’s an opportunity for the children to meet some of the characters.

Planning a Visit

Parc Astérix

We loved Parc Astérix as a theme park. There’s definitely a lot of fast rides to keep adrenaline junkies happy! The grounds are nice, even if you’re not one for the rides – it almost feels like walking through parkland at some points. It’s a fabulous place for people watching too! Do remember to wear very comfortable shoes, because there’s a LOT of walking involved, even if you are staying onsite.

The Pass Rapidus was well worth the expense – it guaranteed that we could try out the main rides in one day.

La Cite Suspendu

Our hotel room was very comfortable. However, there were times we wished it wasn’t such a walk to get to the main building, and the car park. Because of the distance, and of our tired aching legs, we decided not to dine at the hotel in the evening; luckily, we had snacks in our picnic bag to see us through until the morning. Breakfast was definitely worth the walk though, on fresh legs!

Staying at the hotel also means that you can get access to the park 30 minutes before everyone else in the morning. The children made full use of this during our second day, where they rushed to go on the non-Pass Rapidus rides that had long queues the day before.

Personally, I couldn’t see us visiting for a day, from the UK. The walking exhausted us, let alone all the driving! Definitely stay overnight so that you can make every minute count. The park hotels provide the nearest rooms to collapse and rest in – so do consider staying in one!

Current Offers and Deals

Day tickets start from 43 euros for adults and 40 euros per child (3 to 11 years). The prices vary depending on whether you book the tickets 7 days in advance with a specific dates or not. Flexible tickets are at 51 € per adult and 43€ per child. There is a premium ticket too which can be booked 2 days in advance and only available on specific dates, it includes queue jumps for 8 attractions, car parking, lunch at Restaurant du Lac, special seats at the shows for 149€ per adult and 99€ per child.

There is also a special group price, when you purchase between 5 and 9 tickets; the tickets are 41€ per person (adult and child) and from 10 to 15, the tickets are 39€.

A Pass Rapidus, offering fast track to 8 key attractions is €25 per person per day.

Promotion May: from 8 May to 2 June, adults pay the same price as children (43€ instead of 51€)

Hotel

1 night + 1 day pass at Parc Asterix costs from €81.50 per person at Hotel les Trois Hiboux

1 night +1 day pass costs from €86.50 per person at La Cité Suspendue

Includes breakfast.

Disclaimer

We were invited to visit Parc Astérix and to try their rides using their Pass Rapidus ‘fast passes’. Our overnight stay and breakfast was also arranged for us, in return for an honest review. This is a genuine review, not influenced in any way.