I recently had a two day period where only my six year and I were around and, with us being in the summer holidays, I was trying to decide what we could do. I decided to try and book a last minute trip for us to El Dorado in Templin as I'd wanted to go there for ages but had been concerned it would be too scary for our toddler. This was the perfect opportunity to go and check it out, just the two of us and that's what we did!
All photographs ©Sarah Winborn
The Westernstadt is accessible by car or train and we took the once hourly Regional Bahn from Lichtenberg station (it also passes through Berlin-Hohenschönhausen) to Templin station. If you decide to go by train yourself, make sure to plan your journey there and back due to the infrequent running of the trains as it will save you a long wait at the stations. I used the ticket machines and bought single tickets, typing in the specific destination we were heading to (Templin) and for one adult and one child (aged 6), it cost around €15 one way. The train journey took around 2 hours, passing through fields, forests and small rural towns.
I had originally planned on getting the bus from the train station to El Dorado but as soon as I left the station, it was clear that we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere with no-one to ask questions to, so I decided to take the easy route and phoned the taxi shuttle company (phone number 03987-3021) that offers pick ups and deliveries directly to the Westernstadt. It's pretty pricey at €12 for the journey (for the journey to El Dorado, you receive a voucher from the taxi driver worth €5 to spend in the Westernstadt, but not for the return journey of course) but they arrived super fast and were very friendly. They also had children's seats ready and were a large taxi for up to 8 people.
Upon arrival there is a large gate and the reception where you pick up your keys if you are staying the night, as we did, or simply pay your day entrance in to the park. You can already hear sure signs of the adventures awaiting you on the other side of the large fence and, as the trip was a total surprise for my son, he was so overwhelmingly excited by this point, he was hopping like a hare!!! If you take the shuttle, you give over your voucher here and they hand you a piece of paper to give to the bank once inside. This gets exchanged for El Dorado Dollars. You can find a map of the cowboy city, a list of the shows and events on and the keys / information for your overnight stay when applicable. Then it's time to enter...
Upon arrival there is a large gate and the reception where you pick up your keys if you are staying the night, as we did, or simply pay your day entrance in to the park. You can already hear sure signs of the adventures awaiting you on the other side of the large fence and, as the trip was a total surprise for my son, he was so overwhelmingly excited by this point, he was hopping like a hare!!! If you take the shuttle, you give over your voucher here and they hand you a piece of paper to give to the bank once inside. This gets exchanged for El Dorado Dollars. You can find a map of the cowboy city, a list of the shows and events on and the keys / information for your overnight stay when applicable. Then it's time to enter...
I was a little concerned that I would be disappointed with the place, having built my hopes and excitement up for it for so long but I needn't have worried. There weren't a huge amount of people around when we arrived but it was such a special feeling, walking through the gate and entering another world. There were cowboys and cowgirls milling around, an old Western bank (where you pick up your El Dorado Dollars. 1 El Dorado Dollars costs €2.50), ye olde shops and a large horse and carriage. We headed to the hotel where we were staying and checked out our room first and put down our bags.
Because of the length of journey to El Dorado and the large amount of things to do there, I chose to stay the night in the cowboy city and went for the hotel option as there was only the two of us.
For families, there are a few different options for overnight stays. There are ranch houses, which feature a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds and a fold out sofa-bed in the living area (with a little kitchen). There is the Presidential Suite of the hotel, this features a double bed and a fold out sofa-bed and there's the Coachman's Residence with a double bedroom for the parents and a bedroom with bunk beds for the kids and for the brave, Native American inspired Teepees, although there is a warning that these can get a bit wet if it rains and you need to bring your own sleeping bags.
For some of the options, It is possible to have an extra bed ordered for your room at extra cost. Some of the rooms come with breakfast incl. for others, you need to book it at extra cost, so make sure to check these details when booking. The Hotel comes with a nice large balcony (that runs along in front of all of the hotel rooms) looking over the town, the ranch houses offer outdoor grassy space directly in front of the cabins for the kids to play on and the Coachman's Residence offers a large bathtub. They all have their own pluses!
For families, there are a few different options for overnight stays. There are ranch houses, which feature a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds and a fold out sofa-bed in the living area (with a little kitchen). There is the Presidential Suite of the hotel, this features a double bed and a fold out sofa-bed and there's the Coachman's Residence with a double bedroom for the parents and a bedroom with bunk beds for the kids and for the brave, Native American inspired Teepees, although there is a warning that these can get a bit wet if it rains and you need to bring your own sleeping bags.
For some of the options, It is possible to have an extra bed ordered for your room at extra cost. Some of the rooms come with breakfast incl. for others, you need to book it at extra cost, so make sure to check these details when booking. The Hotel comes with a nice large balcony (that runs along in front of all of the hotel rooms) looking over the town, the ranch houses offer outdoor grassy space directly in front of the cabins for the kids to play on and the Coachman's Residence offers a large bathtub. They all have their own pluses!
The city runs on both El Dorado Dollars and Euros. The El Dorado Dollars are used towards the little additional entertainments options scattered throughout the park, such as the balloon shooting range, axe throwing, quad biking, rodeo bull riding etc. Euros are used for any food, drinks or other items you purchase and they accept cash or EC Cards in the majority of the places. Some of the extra entertainment is only for older children such as the shooting (for 6 year olds and over), axe throwing was for kids older than my own, over 8's I believe and quad biking was officially for 10 year olds and over but my son was allowed to go on the quad bike with the guy running that attraction (and I saw a younger boy allowed to go on with his dad). The prices vary from one El Dorado dollar per attraction upwards. Be prepared for extra daily costs though if your kids are likely going to take part with these.
If you have younger kids, don't worry, there is plenty for them to do too, including pony riding, a petting zoo with goats, a large cowboy-themed playground, a mini Native American village with teepees, a fort to play on, a Gold-Washing Station, a Well to pretend you've fallen down and generally lots of fun hanging out with cowboys and cowgirls! What isn't to love?!!!
Alongside all of these entertainment options, there are a number of spaces where you can see what businesses looked like in Cowboy times such as shops, an apotheke, a jail etc. Sadly these don't feature people really working in them but they are fun and interesting to visit all-the-same.
An obvious highlight for us, beyond all of these already fun features, were the live shows. There are a number of them throughout of the day and I have been told they change somewhat between seasons to mix things up a bit. Performed by stunt men / women and actors, these show feature the cowboys, cowgirls and Native Americans that you see through the day, wandering the Westernstadt. This added an extra element of amazement for my son as he was thrilled to see that a cowboy he had talked to earlier in the day was then taking part in a gunfight right in front of him! The shows we saw included a stunt show, showing how stunts are created for film and TV...
A show about good Vs. evil….dum dum DUUUUUUUUM...
Two shows looking at traditions of the Native Americans in their clothing, songs and weapons...
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And our favourite show of the lot, a truly amazing stunt show set in the middle of the Western City, featuring the goodies, the badies and a number of the towns folk...
The shows are of course in German (although they are so visual that it wouldn't really matter too much if you didn't understand what they are saying) and they feature a lot of slapstick humour, explosions, gun shooting and are of course loud and sometimes dirty, especially the main show running through the main street of the town as the horses galloping by bring up a lot of the dirt from the ground as you can see in the pictures.
My son found the Native American show a little slow and got a bit bored but I found it fascinating. He loved the other shows though and I particularly enjoyed the final show of the day on Main Street. I recommend you sit opposite the Town Bank for the show for the best view of all the action. When it rains, the shows are still performed but inside the Saloon.
My son found the Native American show a little slow and got a bit bored but I found it fascinating. He loved the other shows though and I particularly enjoyed the final show of the day on Main Street. I recommend you sit opposite the Town Bank for the show for the best view of all the action. When it rains, the shows are still performed but inside the Saloon.
If you stay overnight, you have two days entrance to the Adventurepark included in the price. After checking out of your room/ranch house whatever, you are able to re-enter the Western City. We used the most of both days and spent lots of time wandering around.
One of the things that surprised me was how quiet the place was in the evenings. The majority of the place shuts down come 5.30pm (when the last show of the day begins) and then there is only one official option for buying a very limited option of dinner food (at the Beaver Lodge). There was a tasty looking grill on that evening but I was told we had to book ahead to eat that, although there was no sign of this that I could find on my reservation. I was quite shocked at how all the restaurants and shops were shut so early so please be prepared for dinner options and don't get caught short like we did.
The official line is that you aren't allowed to bring your own food to El Dorado Templin and a "Shopping List" is made available after booking, of items you can order through them (best to order up to 3 days before you arrive) if you want to grill your own food. A grill is also available to rent from them. Children's and adult birthday party options are available.
One of the things that surprised me was how quiet the place was in the evenings. The majority of the place shuts down come 5.30pm (when the last show of the day begins) and then there is only one official option for buying a very limited option of dinner food (at the Beaver Lodge). There was a tasty looking grill on that evening but I was told we had to book ahead to eat that, although there was no sign of this that I could find on my reservation. I was quite shocked at how all the restaurants and shops were shut so early so please be prepared for dinner options and don't get caught short like we did.
The official line is that you aren't allowed to bring your own food to El Dorado Templin and a "Shopping List" is made available after booking, of items you can order through them (best to order up to 3 days before you arrive) if you want to grill your own food. A grill is also available to rent from them. Children's and adult birthday party options are available.
All the adult and children's cowboy / cowgirl / Native American costume items both cheap and expensive are of course available to purchase there should you wish, you are also welcome to bring your own with you and it will likely cost you less to buy it outside of El Dorado.
I'm personally not a huge fan of my children playing with guns and always feel uncomfortable with the idea, however, there was something so wonderfully childlike about this place and it felt so far removed from real life that it felt like the perfect place for a child to live out that natural inner fantasy of playing the role of a cowboy or cowgirl. After all, how often do you have to apologise to the cab driver you are calling on the phone, that they can't hear you because there are a bunch of cowboys having a gun fight just down the street from you?!
At one point, a woman joined us with her pet pig Paul! Utterly amusing and strangely perfect for the setting. The place is loud, it is crazy and when I take my toddler, I will be bringing along our noise reducing headset in case he finds the gun firing too scary. We will be going back though and hopefully before the end of this summer break if we can squeeze it in. I have been missing the place ever since I left and my boy can't wait to return either.
El Dorado Templin is open between April - November each year and they are open on both weekdays and weekends during the school holidays and just weekends the rest of the time.
Here are the rest of the basic details you need along with a few more pictures from our time there. Enjoy.
El Dorado Templin
Address: Am Röddelinsee 1, 17268 Templin
Season: April - November
Website (in English and German)
I'm personally not a huge fan of my children playing with guns and always feel uncomfortable with the idea, however, there was something so wonderfully childlike about this place and it felt so far removed from real life that it felt like the perfect place for a child to live out that natural inner fantasy of playing the role of a cowboy or cowgirl. After all, how often do you have to apologise to the cab driver you are calling on the phone, that they can't hear you because there are a bunch of cowboys having a gun fight just down the street from you?!
At one point, a woman joined us with her pet pig Paul! Utterly amusing and strangely perfect for the setting. The place is loud, it is crazy and when I take my toddler, I will be bringing along our noise reducing headset in case he finds the gun firing too scary. We will be going back though and hopefully before the end of this summer break if we can squeeze it in. I have been missing the place ever since I left and my boy can't wait to return either.
El Dorado Templin is open between April - November each year and they are open on both weekdays and weekends during the school holidays and just weekends the rest of the time.
Here are the rest of the basic details you need along with a few more pictures from our time there. Enjoy.
El Dorado Templin
Address: Am Röddelinsee 1, 17268 Templin
Season: April - November
Website (in English and German)
All photographs my own / ©Sarah Winborn
