Brits who enjoy swishing down slopes and crashing into waves won’t have to travel far to experience Europe’s best water ride.
Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach Resort, in Lancashire, is home to Valhalla.
The attraction has officially been named Europe’s Best Water Ride at the European Star Awards for the fourth time.
Valhalla sees riders sit in 12 longboats, which can hold up to eight people each, and take a journey to the Viking afterlife.
Those brave enough to ride will battle extreme elements – fire, ice and lots of water – along the way.
The attraction features state-of-the-art special effects and passengers are warned, ‘You will get wet, you may get soaked’.
It has been dubbed ‘the UK’s wettest ride’ and first opened back in 2000. In 2023, Valhalla underwent a re-imagining project that cost £4million
The Blackpool Pleasure Beach ride beat other strong contenders including Chiapras at Phantasialand in Germany and De Vliegende Hollander at Efteling in the Netherlands.
Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach Resort, in Lancashire, is home to Valhalla.
Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach Resort, in Lancashire, is home to Valhalla
The attraction has officially been named Europe’s Best Water Ride at the European Star Awards for the fourth time
The winner was decided by a panel of 32 industry experts from around the world and the award was presented at PortAventura World in Spain.
Pleasure Beach Resort’s director of operations, Andy Hygate, was present at the ceremony and collected the award.
He described it as a ‘huge achievement’ and mentioned another ride would be coming to the resort – Aviktas – next year.
Andy said: ‘Winning this award is a huge achievement, especially with so many other fantastic rides in the category.
‘We’re incredibly proud to be home to the Best Water Ride in Europe.
‘With the exciting arrival of our new ride Aviktas in 2026, our future is looking brighter than ever – but it’s fantastic to see our current line-up continuing to set the standard and bring home top industry awards.’
It isn’t the first time Valhalla has bagged a prize, back in 2023 it was named Best Water Ride in the World at the Golden Ticket Awards, which it has won seven times.
Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort also won four awards at the UK Theme Park Awards just last week.
The winner was decided by a panel of 32 industry experts from around the world and the award was presented at PortAventura World in Spain
Pleasure Beach Resort’s director of operations, Andy Hygate, was present at the ceremony and collected the award
The park was awarded Gold in the Best Seaside Park and Best Re-Imagined Ride categories; Silver for Best Use of IP; and Bronze for Best Theme Park for Thrills.
It comes after the UK’s theme park of the year was recently crowned – and it’s not what you might expect.
Paultons Park in Hampshire was voted best in the UK Theme Park Awards 2025. It’s a family favourite – because it’s home to Peppa Pig World.
Paultons Park, which sits on 65 acres on the New Forest’s edge in Hampshire, is also home to Ghostly Manor – a £3.5 million ghoulish interactive gameplay ride.
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Europe’s best water ride has been named – and it’s in the UK
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