Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen – the pleasure garden open since 1843

Tivoli Gardens opened on 15 August 1843 beside Copenhagen's old city walls and is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world. Its 1914 wooden roller coaster, a pantomime theatre with a peacock curtain and its Christmas season draw more than four million visitors a year.

Tivoli Gardens lies in the centre of Copenhagen, next to Copenhagen Central Station, on roughly 15 acres of the old fortified glacis outside Vesterport, the former western city gate. It is a pleasure garden as much as an amusement park, with historic rides, theatres and a concert hall. In 2024 it had 4.25 million visitors, making it the most visited amusement park in Scandinavia.

01Georg Carstensen and King Christian VIII

Tivoli was founded by Georg Carstensen, who obtained a five-year charter from King Christian VIII. According to Wikipedia, he persuaded the king by arguing that “when the people are amusing themselves, they do not think about politics”. The garden opened on 15 August 1843, and only Dyrehavsbakken in Klampenborg is an older amusement park still in operation. The composer Hans Christian Lumbye was Tivoli's musical director from 1843 to 1872, and the Tivoli Youth Guard, a children's marching band, was founded in 1844.

02Rutschebanen and the Pantomime Theatre

Rutschebanen, the wooden roller coaster built in 1914, is one of the oldest wooden coasters still operating in the world. The Pantomime Theatre from 1874 still stages Italian commedia dell'arte pantomimes with Pierrot, Harlequin, Columbine and Cassander, and its mechanical curtain opens like a peacock's tail. The Moorish-style Nimb building is now a hotel, and the present Tivoli Concert Hall, built in 1956, seats 1,660.

03Summer, Halloween and Christmas at Tivoli

Tivoli opens in seasons. The summer season brings the Tivoli Festival and fireworks on Saturday evenings; in October the garden holds its Halloween season, and in December it opens again for Christmas. Walt Disney said his own theme park would “never be completed” – a description that fits Tivoli, still growing after more than 180 years.

04How to visit Tivoli Gardens

Come in the late afternoon and stay into the evening; ride Rutschebanen, catch a pantomime and end with a concert. The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek lies just south of the park. Read Metro Mode's Copenhagen guide (in Swedish), browse Metro Mode Travel, and find more city guides among metromode.co's destinations.

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