Water World Lloret

When Water World opened on 12 July 1985, it was one of the very first water parks built anywhere in Spain — years before the format became a fixture of Spanish coastal tourism. Four decades later, it still holds European records rather than having been overtaken by newer, flashier competitors.

A pioneer that never got overtaken

Spain’s now-familiar coastal water park has become such a standard fixture of summer tourism that it’s easy to forget the format had a beginning. Water World was part of that beginning — among the country’s earliest large-scale water parks, opening with a handful of slides and pools that have since grown into 16 water slides spread across 140,000 square metres of pine-shaded grounds. What’s unusual is that forty years on, it hasn’t been quietly surpassed by later, more modern rivals: the park still markets record-holding attractions, including the Rafting River, billed as Europe’s highest water attraction, and Water Mountain, Europe’s largest water coaster at 250 metres of drops, turns and pitch-black tunnels.

Built for an international crowd from early on

According to reporting on the park’s visitor base, roughly 60 percent of guests come from outside Spain — an unusually international split for what is, at its core, a local amusement facility. That balance reflects Lloret de Mar’s own identity as one of the Costa Brava’s most tourism-driven towns, and it has shaped the park’s approach: multilingual signage, a Fast Pass system built around the queues that international package-holiday crowds generate in peak season, and an attraction lineup deliberately pitched at both thrill-seekers and small children rather than one audience alone.

What sets the setting apart

Unlike water parks built on flat, exposed concrete, Water World sits on genuinely hilly, pine-shaded terrain — a detail visitors mention often, for better and worse. The shade takes some of the edge off Mediterranean summer heat and gives the grounds a more natural feel than most theme parks manage, with picnic areas tucked among the trees. The trade-off is a layout that involves real uphill walking between attractions, something worth planning around if visiting with young children or anyone who tires easily in the heat — comfortable, closed-toe water shoes are widely recommended, since the paths can get uncomfortably hot underfoot by midday.

Frequently asked questions