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Tivoli Gardens

From: Copenhagen, Denmark

ABOVE: Mini-trams in Tivoli Gardens. INSET BELOW: Copenhagen's City Hall above Tivoli's treetops, and a couple enjoying an evening in the gardens.

By Durant Imboden

In a world where amusement parks spend millions on high-tech roller coasters and movie-theme rides, Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens are a delightful anomaly: a park where you can enjoy carnival thrills, eat pølser sausages under the trees, swill øl in a beer garden, dine in an elegant restaurant, attend a symphony concert, enjoy free pantomime theatre, or sniff the 115,000 flowers that bloom during the park's season.

Tivoli opened in 1843, after a Danish architect named Georg Carstensen talked King Christian VIII into leasing him a site for a park modeled after the now-defunct Parisian Tivoli and Vauxhall Gardens in London.

Tivoli's charter required that 75% of the site had to be open space, and that rule--still observed--is one reason why Tivoli feels more like a public garden than a theme park. A buglike roller coaster whirls through the treetops; a Ferris wheel overlooks park benches and flower beds; small motorboats make circles on a scenic lake. While teenagers play games in video arcades, their younger siblings enjoy a clown show or wave at the costumed king and queen (both of whom are children) in the Tivoli Guard parade.

Business people wheel and deal over expense-account meals, and lovers cuddle on benches as 110,000 bulbs create a romantic glow from dusk until closing time.

Music is always popular at Tivoli. In Danish Quality Living: The Good Life Handbook, Ed Thomasson wrote:

There is music everywhere. Some 150 concerts--in all genres, 100 free--are held in Tivoli Concert Hall and other stages roundabout during the 4-1/2-month park season.

The concert hall, which has its own off-season entrance, is open year round. Here such greats as Sibelius, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff have conducted their own works. Here Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Elton John have delighted their audiences. Tivoli's own symphony orchestra gives concerts all year, with well-known guest conductors and soloists.

In fact the park invests over a quarter of its income in free events such as concerts, circus acts, pantomime performances and magnificent nightly fireworks displays.

Planning your visit

ABOVE: The main entrance of Tivoli at night.  (Fireworks are by the Barfoed family, which has supplied pyrotechnics to the park for six generations.) INSET BELOW: Tivoli at Chrismas, the Nimb Hotel's Moorish-style building, and a chef at Nimb Brasserie.

Season and hours

Tivoli operates daily from late April until late September. The gates open at 11 a.m., closing anwhere from 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. depending on the day and season.

Tivoli is also open in early October for a Halloween celebration, and it has a Christmas Market from mid-November until tearly January. See the official Web site (listed below) for details.

Prices

Tivoli isn't cheap: In August, 2024 (when this article was last updated), the standard entrance fee for adults and children of 8+ years is DKK 160 to 180, depending on when you visit. Kids from 3 through 7 years of age pay half price, and children under 3 are free.

Individual rides require one to three tickets, which are needed by anyone over 1 year of age. You can buy an unlimited multi-ride ticket with your admission or at any ticket booth in the park.

Tip: Most of Tivoli's rides are pleasant rather than thrilling. You might want to save most of your ride budget for Bakken, a 400-year-old amusement park north of the city that has one of Europe's highest roller coasters.

For more information on discounts and special packages, see Tivoli's Web site (link below).

Food and drink

Tivoli has dozens of restaurants, cafés, pastry shops, snack bars, and food stands.

For a pleasant meal in an authentic Danish atmosphere, try Grøften near the Pantomime Theatre. Its family-friendly beer garden is delightful after dark, when the tables are illuminated by lanterns in the shape of hot-air balloons.

We also recommend the Brasserie of the Nimb Hotel, in a mock-Moorish castle facing the Tivoli gardens.

Getting money

It's easy to empty your wallet at Tivoli, and park businesses will happily accept dollars, euros, British pounds, and Scandinavian currencies. Fortunately, the park has several cash machines. See our article on European ATMs and currency exchange machines for advice on using your ATM card overseas.

Web links

Tivoli
The official Tivoli Web site has everything you need to know about the park, including an interactive tour page and listings of concerts and other events.

Copenhagen europeforvisitors.com
From Europe for Visitors, an illustrated 27-page city guide with Web links.

More photos

Tivoli's main entrance doesn't look mobbed in this photo, but be prepared to stand in line interminably at the ticket window during high season--unless you're carrying the Copenhagen Card, which will let you bypass the ticket line. (Just show your card to the ticket collector at the park gates.)

Tivoli has gardens, lakes, bandshells, fountains, and streets like these (which are hybrids of a village and an amusement park).

A diminutive Dane enjoys a boat ride at Tivoli.

Morten Bjarnhof took this picture of a Ferris wheel whirling above Tivoli's visitors and treetops.

The thatched-roof restaurant Faergekroen overlooks a lake.

The Chinese Tower is another restaurant on Tivoli Lake. It serves a Chinese buffet and Danish dishes, and its Chinese chefs come from Hong Kong.

Nimb, in a Moorish-themed building formerly known as The Bazaar, opened in 2008 as a boutique hotel and restaurant.

Take time out from eating and amusement rides to watch the daily Tivoli parade, featuring a children's drill team and a pint-sized version of the royal family.

About the author:

Durant Imboden is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European cities and transportation.

After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors in 2001. The site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The Washington Post.

For more information, see About Europe for Visitors, press clippings, and reader testimonials.

2nd inset photo copyright © Christian Alsing for Visit Copenhagen.

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