Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen is a miniature Disneyland! We recently visited the Gardens during the Christmas celebrations, and we were not disappointed. When I asked my friends where should I visit in Copenhagen, one place that kept coming up was the Tivoli Gardens. I had also heard of the Tivoli Gardens after watching Rick Stein’s Long Weekends TV show where he visits the gardens and takes a ride on a quaint wooden rollercoaster.

I had originally thought that Tivoli was just a nice park with gardens, and it wasn’t until I did more research that it turns out it is, in fact, an amusement park! Originally opening in 1843, Tivoli is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world! As I mentioned, there is a wooden rollercoaster which was built in 1914, and still, operates today.

When we got there after cycling from our hotel, we were a little put off by the prices of admission, but nevertheless, we thought we might as well. One of my first thoughts was WOW! It was like we had walked through C.S.Lewis’ wardrobe and onto the other side, that just happened to be Christmas land. It looked like Santa’s Grotto, times 10 – there were so many decorations and wonderfully cute little wooden huts with things for sale. Whilst I am a massive fan of Christmas, some of the things on display were a little creepy, as I’m sure you’ll see in the photos below. Besides that, it was lovely to be in a place that was devoted to Christmas and definitely got us in the mood (despite it not even being December when we were there…).

After some exploration and looking around the various shops, I managed to persuade Malek so take a ride on the roller coaster: the Demon! (A big shout out to Malek who hates rides!) I love roller coasters, and sadly for me (but thank goodness for Malek) the ride only lasted 1 minute and 46 seconds! But boy was it fun. It was just myself, Malek, and this little Danish boy who had obviously had an unlimited ticket as he rode this ride at least 3 times before we went on, and another 3 afterwards! One ride we didn’t go on was the vomit inducing Vertigo, which turns you upside down whilst rotating you round and round – something I was happy to avoid.

Overall, we had a nice time in Tivoli and I would love to visit it in the summer. Here are just a few pictures from our time in the magical Christmas world that is Tivoli in December.