Playmobil FunPark, Malta's Playmobil play park

The Playmobil FunPark gets more searches than almost any museum in southern Malta, and a good share of them ask about a factory. I’ll start there so you’re not disappointed. What you’ll find in Ħal Far is a Playmobil play park with a shop and a café, designed for children to play with the figures and sets, and it’s a cracking plan if you’ve got little ones in tow.

Is there a Playmobil factory you can visit?

Not on any source I can point to. The park’s website, run by Playmobil Malta Ltd, offers birthday parties and school outings but no factory tours, and I haven’t seen a single official source that mentions one. I won’t tell you whether or not there’s a plant on the island, because I couldn’t confirm it either way. What I can say is that nothing is published for visitors, so don’t build your trip around it.

What’s inside the park

Two play areas plus the facilities. The indoor one is air-conditioned, 369 m², and split by age, with a 123 zone for babies and one for children aged four and up, a knights’ castle, a police station and a helicopter hanging from the ceiling. In a Maltese summer that air-conditioned hall is worth its weight in gold, and it doubles as a rainy-day option. Outside is the pirate zone, with a ship, a tree house and a rope bridge. The website gives two different figures for its size, so I’d rather not publish either.

There’s also a 148 m² shop with the current Playmobil range and a 120-seat café that you can only use with a park ticket. There are baby-changing facilities, the indoor area is wheelchair accessible and pets aren’t allowed. The park highlights its ISO 9001:2015 certification and says it was one of Malta’s first attractions to receive the Malta Tourism Authority’s Quality Assured seal.

Visit Malta lists it among its family days out alongside the national aquarium, Esplora and the Mediterraneo Marine Park. If you’re travelling with children, I compare all of those, with prices, in Malta with kids.

Which ages is it for?

The park’s own layout gives it away. The 123 zone is for babies and the other for children aged four and over, so in my view the sweet spot runs from about two to eight or nine. Beyond that the sets start to feel small quite quickly. The park also runs birthday parties and school outings, which tells you a lot about its usual crowd, local families rather than tourists. With children in that age range, I’d set aside a whole morning and not look at the clock.

Prices, hours and avoiding the queue

This is the best bit. Children of 1 to 12 pay €5 and everyone from 12 upwards pays €3, adults too. Babies under one and EU Disability Card holders don’t pay. You pay at the door, no booking. For that money, if your children are the right age for Playmobil, you get hours of play.

It opens 10:00 to 16:00 Monday to Thursday and 10:00 to 18:00 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Watch the capacity, though. The park warns that entry is first come, first served, and at busy times you may have to wait if it’s full. I’d go first thing, or on a weekday, bearing in mind that weekday closing is 16:00.

One thing I’d factor in with small children is the heat. The outdoor pirate zone is great in spring and autumn, but on a July or August afternoon I’d lean on the air-conditioned hall and save the pirate ship for the cooler morning hours.

How to get to the Playmobil FunPark

The park is at HF 80 on the Ħal Far industrial estate, and its website describes Ħal Far as a village in the south east of Malta. The MTA’s listing puts Birżebbuġa in the address. For buses, the park lists two from Valletta, the 82A and 82B, and one from the airport, the 119. There’s a public car park across the road. To combine it with something else, the nearest visit is Għar Dalam in Birżebbuġa, where the dwarf elephant bones tend to go down well with children.

If you’ve hired a car, you’ll be on the left just as at home, so read up on driving in Malta first.