An indoor children’s playground with a café in the Tissot Arena sports and shopping center is a place to keep in mind for autumn and winter rainy afternoons. The area is divided into several parts and children of all ages can have a lot of fun here.
Getting there
The Joypark is located in Tissot Arena in Biel. Btw. did you know that Biel/Bienne is the biggest bilingual town in Switzerland? The Tissot Arena itself is a place where sports (hockey fans know :)) and cultural events take place. Here, besides the shopping center, you will also find the Joypark.
2504 Biel, Švýcarsko
2504 Biel, Švýcarsko
As the Joypark is located in the shopping center, you can park comfortably in front of Tissot Arena or in the underground parking lot (parking is 1,7CHF/hour). Or you use the local public transport: trolleybus, line 1 (the terminate stop Stadien/Stades).
Opening hours & prices
The Joypark is open all week round. Admission is valid for children of all ages: a full-day entrance fee is 12CHF (for children aged 3-12) or 6CHF (0-2 years). You can also pay for one hour only, or take advantage of the discount for the last half hour of opening hours. More info here.
Important: You can not enter the playing area barefoot or in shoes, socks are obligatory!
For children
Joypark is a place where children can relax and run their energy off – you can find a bouncy castle here, trampolines or a big climbing labyrinth.
In this labyrinth with a slide, our boys could crawl by themselves, but climbed here with our littlest one, to reveal possible pitfalls. I did not find anything like that, so I left her alone in the care of her older brothers. I sat down on one of the prepared sofas – which is a great idea. But I would appreciate if the sofas were also available in the area for small children.
For the littlest
Just behind the café, there is a fenced area for toddlers and smaller children. Here you will also find a plastic climbing frame with slides but, of course, smaller ones. I found quite fine a separate pool with plastic balloons.
Other activities
A few things (such as a carousel, electric cars, foosball, etc.) cost extra – so make sure you bring cash.
Café
In addition to hot and cold beverages and various goodies (chocolate bars, chips etc.), snacks such as hot dogs, fries, toasts, or even pizza are also available. What pleasantly surprised me were the prices that were “normal” like everywhere else (I wrote a post on about how it is with the prices in Switzerland).
My impressions
Joypark is an indoor playground – do not expect the emphasis here on intellectual stimuli and mental development 🙂 Also do not expect a peaceful conversation with your friend over the coffee. Well, if you have children of 5+ you can leave them unsupervised, but for the younger, you just have to be with them in the playing area and watch them. Be prepared to climb the boxes, so wear something comfortable.
I would appreciate – or it’s more of a tip for the operator – if the children were given a stamp on their hands (or a sticker on a shirt, etc.), the staff wouldn´t have to ask them again and again if they had already paid the entrance when they come to buy something to drink or to eat.
Suma Sumarum is Joypark a good place for children on a rainy afternoon. It’s just a shame that you can not mute the sound 😉
