Located just outside Poitiers in western France, Planète Futuroscope is a giant 53 hectare-theme park (131 acres) with a difference. With 3-D cinemas, giant screens and interactive attractions, the park offers visitors numerous exhibits and shows using the latest audio-visual technologies. Opened in 1987, this space-age park, which features futuristic architecture including silver spheres and crystal cubes, has more than 20 high-tech attractions. These include Plongeurs sans Limite, a chance for visitors to journey down to the great depths of the blue sea with professional divers Pipin Ferreras and Umberto Pelizzari, and Le Tapis Magique (flying carpet), located in a cathedral-like structure, allowing visitors to watch natural delights pass before their eyes in a giant audiovisual display; a particular highlight is a chance to watch the 3000km (1364 mile) journey undertaken by Monarch butterflies migrating from Canada to Mexico. The park is at the cutting edge of information technology and is an educational day out for adults and children alike where they can discover the wonders of earth and space through innovative interactive displays. The park is one of Europe’s biggest moving image parks, offering sophisticated entertainment including the nightly Le Miroir d’Uranie nightly show with spectacular light, water and music displays and the Kinémax attraction which, at 35m-high (115ft) and enclosing a 450-seat cinema, is the largest rock-crystal structure in the world. There are many new attractions for 2002 including Métropole Défi interactive 3D game, Destination Cosmos’s journey into space and Sur les Traces du Panda, retracing the expedition made by Ruth Harkness in 1936 to save the Giant Panda in China.

Planète Futuroscope, BP 3030, 86130 Jaunay-Clan, France
Tel: (020) 7499 8049 (from the UK) or (05) 4949 3080 (from France). Fax: (05) 4949 3025. E-mail: contacts@futuroscope.fr
Website: www.futuroscope.fr

Air: Poitiers-Biard Airport. Rail: Train: TGV Futuroscope Station (journey time: 80 minutes from Paris). Road: Bus: Shuttle service from Poitiers Station to the park. Car: Autoroute A10 (exit 28) (from Paris).

Daily 1000-1800 (low season); daily 0900-1900 (mid season); daily 0900-end of nightly show Le Mirroir d'Uranie (high season). Closed 7 Jan-1 Feb 2002. Times may vary according to the day of the week or the season and guests are advised to contact the park directly before their visit.

Low Season: EUR21/FFr138 (adult), EUR16/FFr105 (child 5-12), free (child under 5). High season: EUR30/FFr197 (adult), EUR22/FFr144 (child 5-12), free (child under 5). Two-day passes available.

France