WILDLANDS Emmen Tickets: Prices, Rides & Visiting Tips

Inside WILDLANDS: what you’re paying for

WILDLANDS Adventure Zoo Emmen opened in March 2016, with King Willem-Alexander at the opening, as the successor to the old Dierenpark Emmen, and it was built from scratch as an “adventure zoo”: instead of cages and paths, you travel through three themed worlds, with rides mixed in. It sits right in the centre of Emmen, in the south-east of the province of Drenthe, close to the German border.

Your WILDLANDS tickets cover all three worlds:

• Jungola — a covered jungle world. Take the Rimbula river boat ride past the Asian elephants, walk the Jungle Trail, see the Olifantenvallei (elephant valley) and the Tropical Butterfly Temple, and look for sloths, pythons, birds and apes.
• Serenga — the savanna, home to rhinos, giraffes, zebras and camels. Ride the Serenga Safari, see the lions at the Leeuwenberg, and walk through the Dogon village. Tweestryd is a family roller coaster themed to an old mine, and the Visitor Center has an indoor play world for younger children.
• Nortica — the polar world, with polar bears, sea lions, seals and Humboldt penguins you can watch under water. Arctic 1 is a flight-simulator-style ride, and the world also has raccoons and beavers around Raccoon Creek.

Jungola also has a new animal area, introduced with a sloth called Yunka as its star. For lunch, Rimbula Restaurant in Jungola and Momma’s Restaurant in Serenga are the main sit-down options; several outlets offer gluten-free and vegetarian food, and visitors with other dietary needs can contact the front office in advance.

Who it suits: families with children from about 3 to 12 get the most from it, as the rides and play areas break up the animal walks. Couples and older visitors who enjoy immersive design will like the theming. For a safari-park day by car, look at Beekse Bergen instead.

Timing is everything

WILDLANDS is busiest on weekends, during Dutch school holidays (summer holidays are staggered by region) and during German school holidays, since the border is only a short drive away. Weekdays in term time are noticeably quieter, and a grey weekday outside the holidays is often the calmest day of all.

In late October the zoo was open 10:00–17:00. Hours vary by date, so check the calendar for your visit.

Don’t assume every ride runs all day. On a typical low-season day, the Rimbula River boat ran from 10:30 to 16:30, but the Serenga Safari only from 12:00 to 15:30, Tweestryd from 12:30 to 15:30 and Arctic 1 from 15:00 to 16:30. Check the daily programme for your date and build the day around those windows:

• Morning: start in Jungola with the Rimbula River boat while the queue is short, then catch the keeper talks there — on the day checked, a Meet the Keeper session at the Birdy Bush at 11:15 and the elephant presentation at 11:45.
• Midday: move to Serenga for the Serenga Safari, Tweestryd and the lion and baboon presentations in the early afternoon.
• Afternoon: finish in Nortica, with the polar bear and penguin presentation, the seal presentation and Arctic 1 before it closes.

Keeper presentations are short (around 15 minutes) and run at fixed times in each world, so they’re easy to fit between rides.

Insider tip: If the forecast is wet, keep Jungola as your fallback. It’s covered, warm and humid, and the Rimbula River boat ride is entirely under cover — the best place to be when a Drenthe shower passes over the outdoor worlds.

How to save on tickets

• Book online and pick your date. Prices depend on the date, and online tickets start at €25 versus €26 at the cash desk. Check a few dates if you’re flexible.
• Compare with the partner price. Third-party tickets can match the official online price, so check both for your date and choose the one with the easier refund or change rules.
• Under-3s are free. From age 3, the day-ticket starting price is the same as for adults, so budget per head for families.
• Annual pass maths. The WILDLANDS-pas costs €77 a year for adults and €53 for ages 3–17, or €7.50/€5.50 a month. It pays for itself in about three visits.
• Gift card for the extras. Gift cards from €5 work at the entrance and in all shops and restaurants.
• Budget for parking. There’s no WILDLANDS car park, so municipal parking rates apply — arriving by train saves this.

On Tiqets, WILDLANDS Entry tickets were listed from €25 at the time of checking, rated 4.6★ from 601 reviews — matching the official lowest online price.

Getting there without the hassle

WILDLANDS is at Raadhuisplein 99, 7811 AP Emmen, in the town centre.

• By train: regional trains run to Emmen station, for example from Zwolle. From there it’s about a 15-minute walk, or two stops on bus 3, 4, 21 or 44 to Centrum-Emmen.
• By car: use the A37, N381 or N34. Groningen and Zwolle are each roughly an hour away, and the German border is a short drive east, so the zoo is an easy day trip from Emsland too. Set your satnav to Ermerweg 28 for the P-Zuid car park and follow the P-WILDLANDS signs. The car park has 15 accessible spaces.
• Facilities: lockers are available at the Expeditie souvenir shop next to the entrance, subject to availability (€5 rental plus a €20 deposit). Pets are not allowed, and there’s no kennel.

Accessibility: shows, presentations, restaurants and shops are reachable by wheelchair, and every attraction has an alternative entrance for visitors who can’t use the standard queue. Most ride vehicles take a wheelchair; Tweestryd is the exception, and the Rimbula River boat takes all but electric wheelchairs. A care companion pays a reduced €6 at the cash desk with valid ID and a statement that independent visiting isn’t possible. Return borrowed wheelchairs and buggies 15 minutes before closing. Accessible toilets are at the entrance and in each world, with baby-changing facilities at Rimbula Restaurant and Momma’s Restaurant.

Make it a trip

Emmen works as a base for a north-eastern Netherlands weekend:

• Attractiepark Slagharen, a Wild West–themed family park, is about half an hour’s drive south-west — a good rides day after a zoo day.
• The Hunebedcentrum in Borger, about 25 minutes’ drive north-west, explains Drenthe’s prehistoric dolmens (hunebedden), several of which you can visit in the surrounding countryside.
• Families heading west can add Walibi Holland in Flevoland for bigger coasters.

See all options on our Netherlands destinations hub and compare animal parks on the zoos and aquariums hub.