This year we got to tick off a few places on our travel bucket list. We saw the colosseum in Rome, we visited Pompeii with the children and stood in awe at the Vatican Museums. However Tivoli Gardens at Christmas was the one I was looking forward to the most.

We love the festive period and had a magical time at Disneyland Paris at Christmas last year. We knew it would be hard to beat our first Disneyland experience but Christmas in Copenhagen just looked magical.

Pricing

Visiting Tivoli Gardens at Christmas isn’t the cheapest experience, but in our opinion, it’s worth every penny. We bought our tickets online as there was a 10% discount if you bought in advance. There’s an entrance fee of 130kr (approximately £15) for ages 8 and above, and 3-7 years olds can enter for 60kr. It’s free for under threes. We personally found that to be quite reasonable if you were just wanting to go and enjoy the festive ambiance and weren’t interested in going on the rides.

The rides are where Tivoli Gardens at Christmas can become expensive. Rides range in price from 30kr per ride to 90kr, so as you can imagine it can soon add up. Tickets need to be bought in advance, either individually or as an unlimited wristband. We opted to get the kids unlimited wristbands as it seemed the most cost effective option. It cost 240kr each for our three children to have unlimited goes on the rides. There was the option to pay 295kr each which gave access to ride photos but we decided we weren’t overly bothered about that.

Tivoli Gardens at Christmas: lit up carousel in the dark

Tivoli Gardens at Christmas Opening times

Tivoli Gardens is open for Christmas from the 16th December 2019 to the 5th January 2020, so there’s still time for a last minute trip! From Sunday to Thursday it’s open 11am to 11pm and during the weekend it’s open up until midnight. We would definitely recommend either making a full day of it, or just visiting in the evening to see the gardens at their most magical.

Our Experience of Tivoli Gardens at Christmas

We made our way from our hotel to Copenhagen Central Station and Tivoli Gardens is right opposite the station. We showed our tickets on our phone and made it through the main entrance. We knew we needed to print our wristbands at one of the self service machines and despite locating the machines easily, we had trouble getting the wristbands to print. I asked for advice at one of the nearby stalls and he actually came out to the machines and printed them for us. He was lovely and so helpful, which was our experience of people in Copenhagen in general.

After the wristbands were safely adorned, we started to explore. Words cannot express just how magical and beautiful Tivoli Gardens at Christmas is. There were lights everywhere, festive decorations as far as the eye could see and my kids’ favourite, fake snow! It really added to the festive atmosphere.

Our first impressions, other than how beautiful it was, was just how huge it was! I’d honestly have been quite happy pottering around looking in the little stalls and just taking it all in but the kids were desperate to go on a ride!

There was a good mix of rides for different ages. The more adventurous rides were aimed at children aged 8 and over but there were still plenty of rides our four year old could go on to make the wristband worth the price. Our ten year old loved The Golden Tower, which took riders to the top of it’s 63 metres, before dropping them! Certainly not for the faint hearted!

There are plenty of options when it comes to dining, from a quick bite to a full sit down meal. Our daughter had the biggest portion of candy floss we have ever seen!

Tivoli Gardens at Christmas: little girl in red coat holding large candy floss

We ate upon a pirate ship serving delicious Spanish food. It was a full sit down meal and so was quite pricey but they did offer children’s meals. There’s also an incredible light show at 7.30pm on the lake so it’s worth staying around that area for the best views!

We stayed until late and if we thought Tivoli Gardens at Christmas was beautiful during daylight, it was something else at night! The lights were beautiful and it created such a lovely atmosphere. Despite how busy (and cold!) it was, it somehow felt cosy and welcoming.

Tivoli Gardens at Christmas Summary

Our experience of Tivoli Gardens at Christmas was an overwhelmingly positive one. All five of us absolutely loved it. If you’re looking for things to do with kids in Copenhagen, you can’t go wrong with Tivoli. It seems the perfect Christmas outing whether you’re alone, as part of a couple or group of friends, or as a family like us. We couldn’t recommend it enough.