Futuroscope Poitiers, France – review
If you’re looking for a fun trip out in western France and are traveling through the area near Poitiers with kids, or even without, then Poitiers Futuroscope is well worth a visit. This is a great French theme park and one packed full of family-friendly activities.
*AD / This post contains affiliate links & as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We may also have been compensated in this post either financially or with products / stays. To read more see our Disclosure Policy.
Futuroscope Poitiers, France – review
Futuroscope is a fantastic, fun-filled, jaw-dropping day out for the whole family, whatever their ages.
We arrived to a very friendly greeting and given a map which outlined the attractions ‘not to be missed’.
The park is huge, and it soon became clear that we weren’t going to be able to do everything in a day.
Our first stop was to pick up translator sets. These are free (you leave ID and drop them off at the end of your day). If you don’t have your own headphones you can buy sets for just one Euro.
So, duly equipped, we headed into the park itself.
The Futuroscope audio guide
The headphones translate the film commentaries (much of the attractions are accompanied by 3 or 4D films). But almost all the staff spoke very good English at the park.
If you don’t speak French you don’t miss out.
To me, Futuroscope was beautiful.
True, it was a lovely, sunny day. But the spacious, clean layout, full of futuristic buildings housing many of the attractions left it with a relaxing, welcoming feel.
It didn’t have the slightly crazed feeling many amusement parks can give.
This may have been helped by the time of year we visited. We went right at the end of August, a time when many French families have headed home from their holidays.
The park wasn’t crowded at all.
We spent almost no time in queues, apart from the heavily advertised ‘Raving Rabbids Time Machine’ (children loved it, parents left faintly bemused).
But even on the ‘not to be missed list’ queues were short, so time could be spent having fun.
Eating at Futuroscope Poitiers
As usual our thoughts quickly turned to food, and Futuroscope has many places to eat.
There is a creperie, a restaurant with a lovely setting by water, and even, according to the website a restaurant offering a ‘molecular experience’ evening meal.
You can even have a go on the ‘Aerobar’ which takes you 115 feet in the air. But we wanted to get back quickly to the fun and headed for a hot dog.
One thing worth being aware of with food at the park: we had pledged to go back for something more interesting in the evening, but when we were ready to eat some of the places had closed. Or didn’t open for hot food at the time we needed it.
So if you want to eat somewhere in particular, check the times.
The food we had at lunchtime and in the evening was good value: there were choices for children and adults, and reasonably priced.
Futuroscope, the rides
So, on to the fun part, the ‘rides’. These weren’t rollercoasters or swinging pirate ships in the traditional sense – it was much better than that.
We went to the ‘Arthur’ 4D ride. This was in a cinema, and we were strapped in, while the chairs moved and we were played an amazing film of a ride through a fairy tale land.
We felt as if we were flying but you never leave the ground.
My seven-year-old daughter would never be persuaded onto a roller-coaster but had the time of her life. And this is the attraction of Futuroscope for me.
Days out to theme parks can sometimes mean our older children running off on rides while we wait with our daughter. But here everyone could happily join in.
We saw a beautiful 3D film of the ‘The Little Prince’, a fascinating 3D film on the Hubble Telescope and another about dinosaurs that lived under the sea.
There was also quite wonderful live magic show (in French, but this was really no barrier to understanding what was happening), and sat in a robot arm that danced to music.
We also rode bikes on the water, sprayed each other with water on the boat ride, and spent some time having fun in the fabulous children’s play area.
Still, we didn’t get around all of Futuroscope. There is more to do on a return visit, and new attractions opening next year.
This was all topped off by the spectacular night show, a holographic light show on the water with a lovely storyline and special atmosphere.
Our conclusions
I love days out like this with the family that is sincerely for all of us to enjoy, and have fun together. I would really recommend the Futuroscope for this.
There is a hotel on the park, and several hotels are all about 10 minutes walk from the park itself, with a shuttle bus service.
We stayed in a nearby hotel (see our review of Hotel Alteora, Poitiers here). This meant that we could happily stay and watch the night show, and not rush off.
It also meant that there was less pressure on our day. As we headed off to our hotel, our children were planning their next trip to Futuroscope.
Our ten-year-old was even talking about taking his kids there one day.
What better recommendation could there be?
Find out more about Futuroscope Poitiers here and don’t forget to check out our review of Hotel Alteora a great Futuroscope hotel in Poitiers.
Enjoyed this post? Find more related content here:
The best family holidays in northern France
Why not click here to sign up for our newsletter to be the first to hear the best in family travel news.