Water Park Aquavelis
Do you think you are too old for a water park? No, you are not! When I was a teenager 30 years ago I used to visit every water park in the area, and loved it. But today?
In Velez-Malaga there is the Aquavelis water park next to El Ingenio Shopping Centre. Some slides you can see from the motorway, but I always thought "looks small, only for kids, not for me".
When our friends Marielle and Harry invited us to go to Aquavelis I thought "Really? Are you sure? But why not. Give it a go". We went middle of August. On arrival at 11 am there were queues and queues of Spanish families and I almost panicked. I am not good with large crowds, especially families with lots of toddlers. But because of Covid, the capacity is reduced to 50% and as soon as we got our shady space underneath a tree, and got our sun-loungers for 4 Euros each it was fine. If you follow our "The great Spanish Sun-Lounger Test" the sunbeds were just 5 out of 10 points, no mattress, but okay-ish.
Ok, water slides, here we come. I still wasn't sure what I am doing, nor if I like it. But I survived Canyoning earlier this year, did not drown at Sup Yoga, and enjoyed the huge Torrox slide . I thought: 'I manage these water slides'. We walked up to the first slide. Got ready. The first second I was scared. But then. Hell, not! That was fun! Fun! Fun! The 'easy' slides became boring in no time, and we continued on the 'medium' slides.
Although the park was busy with 50% occupation there were no long queues at the slides, apart from the tunes slides. There are 2 slides you need a ring/donut to sit in and you queue twice: First to get a donut, then walking upstairs and queue to slide. Later on, we found out that you can hire these donuts all day for 7 Euros and a 5 Euros deposit. Knowing this in advance we would have done it, as we stood in line for almost an hour. But once we went down the slide: Whoo-Hoo! The Rio Rapido was well worth it. Would have loved to do it again, but queue was too long all day.
After 2 hours sliding, walking up again, sliding, walking, queueing..... we were exhausted and hungry. We had prepared what all Spanish do: A picnic. Salads. Hummus. Cous-Cous. Crips. Bread rolls. And some Cava, the Spanish Prosecco. By the way: Lots of rubbish bins are available. Staff was continuously sweeping the grounds. Clean (!) toilets and showers = very good maintained water park. 10 out of 10 points.
After lunch and a break, we went again with much more confidence and excitement. The afternoon aim was the KAMIKAZE slide, the red slides on the right. Steep. Fast. Kamikaze! But we started slowly on the yellow and blue medium slide to warm up.
Tipp: Just make sure that your all your bikini is in place after sliding when you get out of the water ;-) I was wondering why teenagers starred at me until I noticed my bikini top was NOT in place anymore #oops
Then.
Kamikaze was on!
With a bit of a heart rate and pulse when standing at the starting point but then..... loooooved it!!!! WhooHoo!! We did the Kamikaze slide 4 times, I think (or even 5). Absolutely loved it!
I highly recommend the Aquavelis water park not only for families. When you are a bit sportive and like a bit of adventure, that's your place to go. The entrance fee is around 20 Euros all day. Kids and Seniors paying less, and watch out for vouchers (we got some at a petrol station) and online options. Aquavelis is open from 11 am until 7 pm from June until September.
They have several slides: easy ones, medium, Rio Rapido, 2 tube slides, 1 disco slide completely black inside with disco lighting and you have no idea where you go = brilliant! They have a wave pool, kids' pools, and even a spa pool (long queue, that's why we didn't go). We are thinking of going back again in September, when kids are back in school it will be much quieter. 10 out of 10 for the fun! https://www.aquavelis.es/