Tropical Islands Resort,
Staakow,
Brandenburg,
Tyskland

Visited in July, 2013. Rating 3 out of 5

Visited Tropical Islands resort in the second week of July, a few days before the Germans start their own holiday, so the place seemed really spacious and inviting. So for starters, allow me to advise for going here before the German vacation season, as I have seen others complain that the place is crowded during this season.

We came here as 2 adults with 4 children, aged 3, 7, 10 and 13, and it is safe to say, that everybody had so much fun! The South Sea is a long beach, offering a child-safe area (water depths of around 30cm) and a teen-age/grown-ups “sea” at 135cm depths. Four levels of sun chairs, palms a a stretch of sand makes this the equivalent of any European beach during summer. This is a plus 🙂

We ended up staying mostly at the Lagoon, as this pool offered a more varied depth, ranging from about 10cm to 135cm, also offering 2 water slides, 2 jacuzzis, a strong-current area (really fun for the bigger kids) and water falls. The Lagoon also offers a smaller patch of sand with a selection of sun chairs.

The dressing areas hinted, that this place is capable of serving thousands of people, so we were only happy that we stayed here at this time, at only a fraction of maximum capacity.

You do not use cash money inside Tropical Islands. Instead, you get an arm band with a chip and an ID in it, and you pay using this arm band. Grown ups have a limit of €150 and the kids arm bands carry a max of €45. This is not a daily limit, so the limit can be carried over to the next day, but do remember how much you have spent. If you want to reset the limit during your stay, you can pay the current bill at the reception area, thus resetting your limit. They accept VISA card.

Apart from swimming and playing in the waters, there are plenty of other things to do as well. Airbrush tattoos, Segway riding, hot air balloon roundtrip, kids play area and plenty of restaurants.

Now, regarding the restaurants.

I hope, that our experience is only due to the fact, the we were still officially out of season. The food was horrible! And expensive, too.. We paid about €15 for a cheese burger menu – the burger was oven heated while the fries was fried. I’m sorry, but you do not cook that way! The only positive thing I can see in this setup, is that you can cut down on people behind the counter. Rubbish. Complete and utter rubbish. We also tried the steak house – slightly better, except the service did not know the difference between a rib eye and spare ribs. Rookie mistake, and forgivable.

All in all, this is a wonderful place. Brace yourself for paying very expensive, very bad food, and hold on to your belongings! We had a selection of inflatable swimming toys as well as drinks stolen from us on the last day we were there.

So do come to Tropical Islands. It will be a visit you and your kids will never forget!