Sorry for the radio silence, but we had our first school holiday and life took over a little bit. Also my non-Finnish friends requested if I could change the language to English so that they too could catch up on what we have been to up to and I thought why not? I might actually be easier and could potentially increase the number of readers from like five to ten! 😉

For the first school holiday we decided to stay in our new hometown and do some exploring. Also friends from Helsinki came to visit and the number one destination on everybody’s list was Tivoli.

WHAT IS TIVOLI?

Tivoli is one of Copenhagen’s “Must sees”, an amusement park located directly in the centre of the city. It is 176 years old, but strangely only the second oldest amusement park in the world. Have a guess where the oldest one is located? Also in Denmark, about 30 mins drive from Tivoli in a place called Klampenborg (the park is called Dyrehavsbakken). So the Danes have always valued fun and enjoyment in life, a key for Danish happiness?

Tivoli is the second-most popular seasonal amusement park in the world after Germany’s Europa-Park, but it has got to be the most beautiful. There are rides to cater all ages, but to me the thing about Tivoli is its charm, beauty and quintessential Danishness.

Tivoli used to be open only during the summer period, but today Tivoli has four “Seasons”: Summer, Halloween, Christmas and Winter. During the different seasons the park is decorated to fit the theme and there is special program for visitors. The Tivoli experience includes rides and games, live music and weekly firework displays.

There are 23 restaurants, 14 fast food outlets, 5 bars and 2 cafes, so you can just go and enjoy your evening without going on a single ride – my kind of amusement park!

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

You have to pay an entrance fee (130 DKK (17.50€) for 8 years and over / 60 DKK (8€) for 3-7 year olds/ children under 3 get in for free) and a tour pass costs 240 DKK (32€). You can also buy single tickets for the rides (30 DKK/ 4€), but most of the bigger rides cost 2 single tickets (60 DKK/ 8€), so it only takes 4 rides to get to the cost of the tour pass.

If you buy tickets online 3 days in advance you can save 10% and if you buy tickets less than 3 days before your visit you don’t save money, but you don’t have to queue to get in. However a small word of warning here, you get tickets sent to your phone with a bar code and the ticket machines inside the park are really bad at reading the bar code. It took us literally half an hour to get our tour passes printed. Next time we’ll only buy the entrance tickets in advance to avoid the queue, but buy the tour passes straight from the machine inside the park.

Locals can buy a yearly entrance ticket with unlimited access to the park. Then you can just go and enjoy the atmosphere, listen to a concert or pop in for dinner without going on any rides. We might do that when boys are older, but this year is the year of the Zoo for us.

HOW TO GET THERE?

Tivoli is located right in the centre of Copenhagen, so it is super easy to access. Copenhagen Central Station is right next to Tivoli, so you can take the train or the metro (M3). The best way is of course with bike, and there is plenty of “parking” for bikes in front.

WHAT KIND OF RIDES?

There is a handy tool on the website to check how many and what kind of rides there are for the kids. My boys are five and about 110 cm tall so there were 13 rides available for them. And best of all, they could go on the rides without me, hurray!

We all loved Tivoli and we stayed for about six hours enjoying the Halloween atmosphere (more beautiful pumpkins than scary skeletons),rides and lunch. The next season is Christmas and it starts in two weeks time! We will visit again over Christmas holiday, so report to follow on the next Tivoli season.