Ten water park and lagoon days to build a holiday around

A great water park day sits somewhere near the summit of childhood: the smell of chlorine and sun cream, the racing of siblings down parallel flumes, the wave pool klaxon. But water parks vary wildly — some are worth crossing a continent for, others barely worth the taxi. The ten below are the former: destinations in their own right, from a Thai-themed masterpiece on Tenerife to a geothermal lagoon under Icelandic skies. Book each one properly and you have the anchor day the whole holiday gets arranged around.

Routinely rated the best water park on the planet, and the crown is deserved: the Tower of Power drops brave souls through a shark tank, the wave pool produces genuine surfable waves and the Lost City keeps younger children occupied for hours. It gets busy by eleven, so arrive at opening and do the big slides first. The premium towel-and-locker packages are skippable; the fast pass in high season is not.

The world's largest water park sprawls beneath the Atlantis hotel on the Palm, with over a hundred slides including the Leap of Faith's near-vertical plunge and a mile of rapids river that never quite lets you off. Under-twelves get an enormous splash kingdom of their own. Stay at Atlantis itself and entry is included for the whole stay — often better value than two day tickets. Visit November to March; summer tarmac here could fry an egg.

An hour south of Berlin, inside a former airship hangar large enough to contain the Eiffel Tower lying down, sits a permanently 26-degree indoor tropics: a rainforest with real flamingos, a lagoon, Germany's tallest waterslide tower and a beach with an artificial sunset. The surreal masterstroke is staying overnight — you can sleep in tents on the indoor beach — which turns a wet-weather backup into the strangest, best night of the trip.

Slovenia's biggest thermal resort is the affordable sleeper hit of this list: a dozen outdoor pools fed by warm springs, wave pools, pirate-ship play islands and slow rivers, plus indoor thermal pools that keep the whole operation running in winter. Families stay in the on-site apartments, mobile homes or an actual Indian village of teepees. Prices are a fraction of western Europe's, and Zagreb airport is only forty minutes away.

An ancient-Greek-themed park where the slides have names like Fall of Icarus and the lazy river winds past temple columns — gloriously silly and consistently well run. It sits on the edge of Ayia Napa, so families can stay in quieter Protaras and drive over for the day. Cyprus's long season is the real advantage: the park runs from April into early November, making it ideal for shoulder-season half-term trips when the sea is warmest.

Not a water park but an experience no child forgets: floating in milky-blue geothermal water at 38 degrees while cold Icelandic air nips at your ears, silica face masks optional but universally applied. Children under fourteen enter free with a paying adult, though under-twos aren't admitted. Book the first morning slot online well in advance — the lagoon at 8am is a different, calmer place — and slot it in en route to or from Keflavík airport.

Europa-Park's indoor Nordic water world applies the same obsessive craft to slides that its parent park applies to coasters — you queue through a Norse village, not a corridor — and the water stays warm whatever the Black Forest weather is doing. Toddlers get their own lagoon; teenagers race the multi-lane mat slides. It works brilliantly as day two of a Europa-Park stay, with discounted combined tickets for hotel guests. Book online ahead, as daily capacity is capped.

Half an hour from Munich sits the world's biggest thermal bath complex, and its Galaxy slide world alone — more than twenty-five flumes, from toddler-gentle to near-vertical — would justify the trip. Parents alternate between lifeguard duty and slipping off to the warm outdoor pools, steam rising in winter. A vast retractable glass roof means it works in any weather. Combine it with a Munich city break, and go midweek in term time for blissfully short queues.

Budapest's grandest baths look like a baroque palace that has sprung a magnificent leak: steaming outdoor pools open year-round, at their most theatrical in winter when the water sits at 38 degrees under falling snow. Children adore the whirlpool current in the outdoor activity pool and the sight of locals playing chess half-submerged. Keep younger children to the outdoor swimming and activity pools rather than the hot indoor thermals, and arrive at opening to beat the crowds.

Universal's water park is built around a two-hundred-foot artificial volcano and one clever idea: the TapuTapu wristband queues virtually on your behalf, so children float the lazy river or dig on the beach instead of standing on hot concrete stairs. Slides run from toddler splash zones to the Ko'okiri body plunge, which drops through a trapdoor. Bolt it onto a Universal Orlando trip — early admission for hotel guests matters, as capacity caps by mid-morning in summer.