TIVOLI GARDENS

In 1843, Christian VIII had this park built outside the city walls, on the model of London's Vauxhall. The king commissioned Georg Carstensen, an entertainment entrepreneur. The name was borrowed from the JARDINS TIVOLI in Paris. Allow around 3 hours for a tour of the park, which boasts one of the world's oldest roller coasters, manually controlled by an operator. You'll find all the usual fairground attractions: old-fashioned rides, Ferris wheels and other heart-pounding attractions! And off you go for a ride!

Welcome to an enchanted world. A world of sweets and fairytale settings, with light shows, multicolored flowerbeds and water effects. Tivoli's authenticity comes from its long history: for 160 years, generations of nostalgic children and adults have come here to have fun. Just imagine! The park has welcomed some 300 million visitors since its inauguration. The current figure is 4.5 million per season, 60% of whom are Danes. What's all the fuss about? Where does the magic of this vast garden come from? No doubt its slightly old-fashioned ^19th-century funfair atmosphere. It starts at the entrance. A pavilion reminiscent of a maharaja's palace, brightly lit with garlands of light bulbs! Then come the ticket inspectors, dressed like palace porters or circus ring boys. White gloves, red caps and gold-buttoned suits. Once past the checkpoint, you enter the wonderful world of laughter and play. The aisles wind between pavilions inspired by otherworldly architecture: a Chinese pagoda, a castle from the Thousand and One Nights, a pirate ship... On all sides are rides, some traditional, others ultra-modern: bumper cars, ghost trains, glass mazes, duck fishing, shooting galleries... just like the good old days. As for the slot machines, which until the late 1990s only offered vouchers for ice creams or carousel tickets, they now give lucky winnerstokens that can be exchanged for hard cash, up to a maximum of 300 DKK!

400,000 flowers. Green spaces are very much part of Danish life. Not a day goes by without a trip to a garden. Tivoli is very busy and rather quiet during the day: people come here to stroll and entertain their children. There's a puppet theater for the little ones, and a supervised playground near the lake, free until 6pm. You can also feed the ducks, have lunch, admire the water features and (in fine weather, of course) the 400,000 flowers, a third of which are replanted each season. When night falls, the garden takes on a magical aspect that even the most jaded can't resist! Lanterns by the thousands, lamps of all shapes and colors illuminate a setting that becomes almost unreal. A fairytale world opens up at dusk! This is Andersen country, where fables and fairy tales are part of everyday life! And let's not forget the power of the Orient to attract the imagination of ^19th-century Europeans. The New Orleans jazz band and the Tivoli Guard, made up of young musicians aged 9 to 16, give concerts on the open-air podium on Saturday afternoons. Every weekend at 5.30pm and 7.20pm, they parade through the park.

Pantomimes and other shows. Another magical venue is the Chinese theater, whose stage curtain opens and closes like a peacock's wheel. The Pantomime Teater, built in 1874 by Vilhelm Dahlerup, was the park's first building. Every evening, a pantomime show perpetuates the tradition of comedia dell'arte. If you like music or dance, the park also boasts a concert hall: Concerthus, preceded by a rotunda, and Glasshalen, the Glass Hall. Revues, ballets and concerts are programmed here. Among the major events, the Copenhagen Dance Festival welcomes ballet troupes from all over the world. Likewise, the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra gives some 50 concerts a year. Last but not least, there's the world's largest saltwater aquarium!

Halloween and Christmas at Tivoli. With attendance down in recent years, Tivoli has set out to win back a younger audience by opening its doors until midnight or 1am (on weekends) and programming pop and rock concerts on Friday evenings. The aim is to offer constantly renewed entertainment. For example, the park opens for the All Saints' Day and Christmas holidays. All themes are respected.

Practical info: Visitors who have pre-purchased their admission ticket can enter Tivoli directly through the various gates installed around the perimeter. Copenhagen Card holders, on the other hand, are obliged to use the ticket office at the main entrance. The entrance ticket does not include access to the attractions, which are not free! The site is open at certain times of the year: from April to the end of September, for the All Saints' vacation and the Christmas vacations. Numerous restaurants offer on-site dining.