Efteling’s Roller Coasters Ranked
KAATSHEUVEL, NL — The Efteling is generally known as a family-friendly theme park in the Netherlands, with more than sixty different attractions offering something for everyone. While the overwhelming majority of these attractions are accessible to younger, shorter or more timid guests, a handful of them offer a more thrilling ride experience. As of 2026, thrill-seekers and coaster enthusiasts can get their fix with eight unique ‘coaster credits’ across the park…and with our having now visited the park multiple times with variable weather conditions across the different seasons of the year, we feel that there’s not a single bad roller coaster experience in the park. All the same, it’d be a lie if we said we didn’t have our favorites…so without further ado, we’re going to rank them from worst to best!
8. Python
At first glance, Python’s design aesthetic might remind enthusiasts of a classic coaster manufactured by the now-defunct Arrow Dynamics. While this short, double-loop-and-corkscrew coaster originally utilized trains from that manufacturer when it first opened in 1981, the track was developed by then-rival manufacturer Vekoma. By 2018, the original trains had been replaced by the quieter, smoother Vekoma trains which rumble through the course today. This ride offers a thrilling, but not overly-intimidating layout that is ideal for first-time riders. We do not rank this roller coaster as the ‘worst’ because we think it’s a bad attraction - on the contrary, it’s quite good! Simply put, one of these coasters had to come in last, and there’s nothing exceptional about Python’s ride experience. Additionally, out of all the coasters in the park, Python is the only one to almost completely forego theming.
7. Max & Mortiz: Moritz
Max & Mortiz are racing (powered) family coasters designed by Mack Rides, which offer tandem experiences for riders of all ages, heights and kinetic persuasions. The two interwoven attractions initially share a single queue, and that queue offers impressively interactive touch elements that are sure to draw the attention of the youngest riders in the bunch - as well as the attention of children at heart like ourselves. Both rides feature onride soundtracks, effects and reactive animatronics (though if you blink, you might miss them!), already making them a cut above the lifeless and templated family attractions that we often see developed for U.S. parks. Of the two, however, Moritz seems to be a little more sluggish on any given day.
6. Max & Mortiz: Max
The slightly more energetic of the dueling family attractions manufactured by Mack Rides, Max follows a similar interwoven route to that of Moritz. However, whether by design or by coincidence, Max always seems to pull into the station just a smidge ahead of his ne'er-do-well brother. Additionally, while both Max & Moritz offer two quick, tight helix-heavy circuits around the combined layout of the attraction(s), only Max offers the added element of a proximity-sensitive geyser near the end of the course. We’re not the biggest fans of getting wet on a roller coaster, but anything amounts to something when trying to rank eight attractions that are all genuinely terrific against each other.
5. Vogel Rok
Vogel Rok is an indoor, lights-off roller coaster that effectively serves as the Efteling’s answer to popular attractions like Space Mountain. A 1998 original from popular manufacturer Vekoma, this Efteling attraction is one of the hardest to explain to a non-rider, as much of the experience occurs in complete darkness and even the riders themselves don’t always know which way they are twisting, rolling or dropping. While this roller coaster does not invert and might appear quite tame in direct comparison with more exciting layouts, we’ve always found that drops and helixes under the cover of darkness tend to up the thrill considerably - simply by adding the element of the unknown. Onride music helps to increase the overall intensity of the ride as well, the music of the attraction being carefully mapped to each turn and dive of the actual ride. Vogel Rok also rocks some pretty impressive theming elements onride and in-queue, the biggest and grandest off which is the true-to-size giant Vogel (bird) facade just outside the show building. All of these elements combine to make it worthy of a mid-tier rank…but on a personal note, we also have a special place in our hearts for Vogel Rok as our first-ever international coaster credit.
4. Joris en de Draak: Fire
As we move to the upper tiers of our list, it should come as no surprise to regular riders that Joris en de Draak (George and the Dragon) holds two of our top four spots. Where Max & Moritz offers an interwoven dueling experience for all riders, Joris en de Draak offers an interwoven dueling experience for only the bravest and most thrill-seeking of explorers and adventurers. This wooden racing coaster was manufactured by Great Coasters International (“GCI”), one of only three dual-tracked roller coasters that the manufacturer ever created. The queue splits riders into ‘Fire’ and ‘Water’ trains, which then deploy simultaneously and race against one another. Both tracks received the coveted Titan Track update(s) in 2022 making the whole coaster faster, louder and wilder than ever - though, in our deeply-biased opinion, one track remains notably better than the other. While the ‘Fire’ track may not hit the same notes that the ‘Water’ track does, it does offer some amazing views of the park and of the massive draak (dragon) animatronic that sits within the spiraling layout of the attraction itself…and it is still an incredible ride experience.
3. De Vliegende Hollander
Standing between the dueling experiences offered by Joris en de Draak is a hybrid dark ride/water coaster experience that edges out the lesser track of Joris en de Draak for us - if only by a hair. De Vliegende Hollander, which translates to ‘the Flying Dutchman’, is an incredibly immersive experience constructed by Dutch manufacturer KumbaK Coasters which tells the story of a ship that leaves port and encounters a massive storm at sea, sending its crew to a watery grave to face off against the cursed crew of the Dutchman itself. The queue sets the bar quite high with an incredible degree of world building and set design, along with a chipper seafaring tune that seems to convey a message of “everything is fine, we’re going to have a lovely time”. The dark ride portion of the attraction quickly turns that expectation on its head by drifting riders through a curtain of fog and a graveyard of ship wreckage, before the “boat” unexpectedly drops onto a set of rails and is chain-lifted up a steep hill to prepare you for the most thrilling part of your voyage. While the roller coaster leg of the experience only amounts to about a third of the overall attraction and isn’t wildly thrilling on its own, we are theme park enthusiasts first and coaster enthusiasts second…and De Vliegende Hollander checks too many boxes to be anything less than incredible. A warning, however to all who approach from the front and aren’t able to see the splashdown before joining the queue - there is a high probability of stepping off this attraction a little damper than you were when you stepped on!
2. Joris en de Draak: Water
Racing fans - no matter the vehicle, no matter the terrain - will surely agree that the racer on the inside almost always has the advantage over the racer on the outside when coming around a tight turn. Race victory isn’t the end-all, be-all of the experience offered by Joris en de Draak, but the same concept can also be applied to a vehicles’ ability to retain its speed and continue building on its momentum as it winds around a compact course. This is the primary reason why we believe that the “Water” track of Joris en de Draak is the superior track. Both paths are lined with Titan Track, both paths feel like they’re gliding over the rails on the straightaways and holding on for dear life around the turns and both paths will twist your stomach and flap your cheeks with their accumulated velocity - but only one path remains tight all the way through and gets a little faster with every peak and valley. Of course, the distribution of rider weight across each train also impacts these metrics…so, in the end, the difference between these two interwoven layouts might be negligible. All the same, we have locked our favorite track in based on the experiences we’ve had thus far, and we stand by it!
1. Baron 1898
If you’re surprised to hear that Baron 1898 took first place on our list, it can only be because you’ve never ridden it! The ride experience is not all that long, with only two minutes between dispatch and return to the station and a layout featuring only 501m (1644ft) of track. Despite this, Baron is easily the most intense and thrilling of all the attractions and experiences at the Efteling with a drop height of 37.5m (123ft) and a sharp drop angle of nearly 90 degrees into the misting tunnels below your feet. Moreover, the mechanism of a ‘dive’ coaster - manufactured by industry darling Bollinger and Mabillard (“B&M”) - is an innate thrill unto itself, as the train falters for a few moments at the top of its steep lift hill and dangles riders’ feet over the gaping chasm below, literally suspending them in time so that they can review their life choices. The overall attraction experience features two pre-shows, an intricate animatronic of Gustave Hooghmoed, the baron who is sending you to your fate, an onride projection scene, onride soundtrack and two sweeping inversions in addition to the overwhelmingly intense drop. Like De Vliegende Hollander before it, Baron 1898 opened in the summer of 2015 as an attraction that offered the whole package of story, immersion, thrill and adrenaline. It’s not the tallest, the longest, the steepest or the most exciting of its ride type, but - nonetheless - it may just be the best!
This our definitive ranking of the coaster lineup at the Efteling as of early 2026, but the thing about the Efteling is that the park is always changing, growing, evolving and revisiting attractions. As recently as this past year, Baron 1898 received some accessibility updates such as English subtitles during pre-show and bag storage on the station platform. In 2023, De Vliegende Hollander reopened after a long refurbishment to introduce an entirely new show scene and the removal of a finicky water curtain effect that left many riders drenched before the splashdown even occurred. And, of course, there was the 2022 update that brought Joris en de Draak its refined Titan Track and revitalized the animatronic dragon at the attraction’s base. Who knows what the years ahead might bring? Perhaps we’ll see our rankings shift based on whatever new life is breathed into the existing attractions - or perhaps we’ll even have a ninth coaster credit to claim at this amazing park one day. We’ll just have to wait and see what the powers that be within Efteling’s creative and design teams have in store!
