Planning an Escape Room Trip Abroad

 A few months ago, we published a blog full of hints and tips on planning the best escape room road trip for your team.

Now, we’re taking things to the next level… by hopping on a plane! Here, we’re going to explore all the best tips to consider when it comes to planning an overseas escape room adventure. Grab your passports, keep reading, and let’s see where we end up!

Find the Best Trips

When you’ve got a whole world’s worth of escape rooms to explore, it can be hard picking where to go first! So, how do we break it down?

Well to start, where do you actually want to visit? If you’re planning on getting a spot of sightseeing in-between games, you’d best start by considering your top holiday destinations and build the escape rooms in around that. New York? Rome? Copenhagen? The wanderlust-inducing options are endless, we know!

Next, consider what you want to get out of your escape room trip. Are you looking to play one particular room – such as Molly’s Game in the Netherlands or The Toy Factory in Antwerp – that you’ve been hearing about for ages? If so, get that booked in first, and you can plan the rest of the trip around it.

Alternatively, you might be more inclined to find a destination where you can play loads of top-rated rooms at once. In this case, we’d consider cities such as Barcelona, Athens, or Hamburg, where countless world-class games can be found in one spot.

For inspiration, we’d always recommend you check out review sites such as Escape the Review, or even the epic awards list composed by the Top Escape Room Project (TERPECA). You can even check out escape room group posts on social media for ideas, or ask your local escape room owners for advice – they’re sure to have played many worldwide!

Once you’ve settled on a spot, decided your games, and had a friendly travel agent book your flights and accommodation, you’re well on your way.

But first, keep reading for a few more hints and considerations to bear in mind, based off our own traveling escape room experiences…

Consider Locations

Do you recognise the escape room name “The Dome”? It’s widely regarded as one of the top must-play games internationally. Many people will tell you it’s located in Amsterdam, a great travel destination and awesome spot for an escape room mini break!

However, what teams may not realise is that the venue actually lies about 40 minutes out of the city, or over an hour if you’re travelling by train. Especially if you’re planning various rooms in one day, it’s important to factor in travel times and logistics between each place. You may be good at completing escape rooms on a strict timeframe, but you don’t want to be cutting it down to the wire when navigating a new city!

We’d always advise you try not to pack too much in to your trip, and take time for general sightseeing and touristy activities. Like we described in our earlier blog post, you’re likely to come across other activities you want to experience while you’re away, so make sure you’ve left gaps for eating, sleeping, and general exploration in-between jam-packed days of international escapes. Trust us on this!

Language Barriers

Unsurprisingly, if you’re playing an escape room in Madrid, it’s going to be in Spanish. If you’re in Paris, it’s going to be in French. It’d be wrong to expect every escape room company to cater for each language, so definitely do keep the possibility of language barriers in mind.

Now, don’t get us wrong, many overseas games will be accessible to those who speak just English, especially the high-profile names or those found in key tourist areas. However, not all will.

Sometimes this won’t necessarily be a problem – for instance with puzzles that rely on numbers or visuals rather than writing – however in a lot of cases you might need to reconsider your chosen game. If you’re really wanting to play a particular room that doesn’t advertise itself as English-speaking, be mindful of how much help the hosts can offer you, and that your experience will more than likely differ greatly from that of other players. Basically, just be mindful of what you’re doing!

Other Considerations

When you’re booking an escape room in the UK, you can usually be assured that your team will be the only ones completing the room at that time. However, did you know that in many sites around the world, this isn’t the case?

In a lot of US escape rooms, guests only book a space in each room per time slot, rather than the room itself. This means that if you’ve got two in your party, you may be paired up with other couples to fill up the game. If you’re up for making friends and working as a team, great! However, if this is something you may be uncomfortable with, it’s worth checking the business’ policy before you book.

Furthermore, remember that some themes and other elements to escape games may be viewed differently in different countries and cultures. If you’re sensitive or dislike particular genres, it might be worth double-checking the content warnings on some games before booking.

We hope you enjoyed reading these tips, and that we have inspired you when booking your next escape room adventure.

If you’re looking for even more inspiration, be sure to stay tuned to the blog, as we’ll be posting our own trip review of an international escape very soon!

Written by Madeleine Lily

To book your next escape room adventure in Manchester or Rawtenstall, visit lucardo.com. For any queries, you can call us on 01706 551600. Be sure to also stay tuned to our Facebook and Instagram, as well as the blog, for many more fun insights, news, giveaways, and more!