Few weeks ago I fell victim to the marketing strategy ‘buy two packs of Dinosaurus biscuits and get free child entrance to Dinopolis’. Well, we indeed received two entrances to Dinopolis in Teruel worth 44 euros for getting biscuits (some 8 euros spent), 
which we buy anyway, just maybe not four packs at a time. So far sounds like a good deal, right? However, this supposed saving meant that we had to drive 300km to get to Teruel, book a hotel for two nights and still pay for adult tickets (28 euros each!), not to mention eating out, etc. But I can’t say we regret it! It was a great weekend that transported us to Jurassic.
Dinopolis is not exactly an amusement park with the roller-coasters. First of all it is a paleontological museum with various dinosaur bones and fossils. It also has some shows, 3D and 4D movies, a playground and small rides for little kids. I would personally say tha
t the entrance price is not adequate to what you get inside. But who am I to judge because our little explorers said that it is the best dino park ever! Indeed, regardless of apparent lack of entertainment (for us, adults) we have spent the whole day in the park and our exploresaurus still wanted more.
We saw two shows, which both were really entertaining, especially ‘Cara a Cara’ featuring ‘life’ interaction with the dinosaur on the screen. The 4D ride is only for kids abo
ve 120cm so Elin could not join us though I have to say that it was not scary or extreme and I would believe that the restriction is too high. On the other hand Tilius was not allowed on two rides for smaller kids where the maximum set was 120cm. So all in all they were equal. We all loved palaeontology museum with numerous fossils and reconstructions of skeletons. And we all hated the food. But I guess it is a standard in this type of establishments:).
Apart from Dinopolis Teruel is a nice little town worth to spend half a day. We were lucky to visit it during the weekend when it was celebrating local fiesta of San Fernando. So we got to see some bulls walking around the main square and the procession of giant sculptures.
If you are in the region, you must absolutely visit Albarracin which is 35km from Teruel. It is a gorgeous little village set on the mountains with the houses just hanging from the cliffs. Though our explorers are not very much into visit
ing towns and looking at the buildings, they loved the place. Actually later, in Cuenca which is famous for its hanging houses, they said that it is just a copy of ‘that other little village’.
Finally, you shall not miss a visit to Ciudad Encantada (Enchanted city). It is a natural park of strange and interesting stone formations. Though it is not very big, give yourself plenty of time for visiting as your little ones will want to climb every rock and explore every cave or gorge. We had only two hours before the park was closing (at 20h) and we had to rush it through.
I have just noticed that with Oceanix biscuits you receive a free entrance to Valencia’s Oceanografic. I think I am getting some mo
re biscuits…