The Best Rides at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark

Last Updated on May 19, 2023

When it comes to theme parks and ‘extreme sports’, I’m the equivalent of a plane spotter. Not only do I love a good kick of adrenaline, but I’m a sucker for the stats; height, speed, depth, inversions, g force etc etc but AGE isn’t normally something that comes up very often. Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark is the 2nd oldest amusement park in the world! Here’s a look at some of Tivoli Gardens best rides!

Best Rides Tivoli Copenhagen

🎢Tivoli Gardens Rides: 32 (9 Extreme)

Rutschebanen

‘Rutschebanen’ is a classic wooden roller coaster. In 2014 it turned 100 years old and is the 2nd oldest rollercoaster in the world! It may not be the most adrenaline fuelled coaster, but it brought smiles to mine and my sister’s faces every time we rode it (yes, we went on it multiple times!)

Tivoli Gardens Copenhagen — Best rides in Tivoli Gardens: Rutschebanen

It is one of the only roller coasters left in the world that have a brake man sat in the train to slow it down manually on the drops! (Another, closer to home in the UK is the Roller Coaster at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach.) For Rutschebanen’s anniversary, there were plans to restore its landscaping back to how it looked when it first opened in 1914!

The Star Flyer

The Star Flyer is 80 metres high and is a giant version of the typical fairground ‘chair-o-plane’ ride (there’s a regular swing carousel at Tivoli too for the younger guests)! This style of ride is becoming more popular as they act a little like observation towers too. The Star Flyer at Tivoli has views across the whole park and over Copenhagen. Just make sure your shoes are on tight!

The Demon

Tivoli Gardens Copenhagen Denmark — Tivoli best rides: The Demon

The Demon is a modern style rollercoaster with a 360 degree inversion. Many rollercoasters around the world are converting to VR coasters where riders have the option to pay extra to wear a VR headset. I still don’t know what I think of these, as wearing a VR headset on the ground makes me feel sick so I can’t imagine how it would feel with the added movement too! I rode it just regularly. The harness is a bit of a brain shaker but other than that, it’s a decent small scale coaster.

Vertigo

Unfortunately Vertigo closed in 2021 and was replaced by Aquila

Vertigo is EXTREME. You get strapped into a little plane attached to the end of a long arm and go into a 360 degree vertical rotation at 60mph. It rotates 17 times a MINUTE and riders experience 5Gs. Even just watching it spin this many times in a short duration is crazy! Most rides don’t exceed a G-force of 5, this is around the maximum that an average person can handle, without passing out (many roller coasters average around 4G).

When you’re at the top of the rotation, you are completely underside down before heading back towards the ground face first. I rode it but my sister decided to sit it out. Vertigo has been named one of the best thrill rides in Europe.

The Gold Tower

Tivoli Amusement Park Copenhagen — *(The Golden Tower on the far left)*

I LOVE drop towers! The Gold Tower at Tivoli stands at 63 metres. It’s such a simple concept, lifting you up to the top of the tower and then just letting you drop. Many use electro-magnetic forces to slow the cars down. I’ve got in the habit of whenever I go on a ride like this, I like to hold my arms and legs directly out in front of me so I lift out of the seat…just make sure you still keep your head back against the head rest so you don’t get whiplash or anything!

Visiting Tivoli Gardens

The ‘old school’ atmosphere definitely makes Tivoli a special place. It first opened in 1843! Unlike other amusement parks, Tivoli is still lit with thousands of individual light bulbs at night, rather than using neon like other parks. There’s a really interesting mix of older attractions and newer ones.

Some amusement parks can be a pain to get to due to the size of the land they need to operate, but Tivoli couldn’t be any easier to reach, it’s RIGHT opposite the Central Train Station.

There is an entrance fee to get into the park (155DKK) and then a multi-ride wrist band (from 169DKK) or tickets can be purchased separately OR *tip alert* buying a package online for entrance, a multi ride wristband and a meal voucher (539DKK), making a basic meal just a little extra on the gate price of the entrance and wristband price. Not bad for an expensive city!

You only need to go on 3 of the bigger rides to make the wrist band a worthwhile purchase and there is something for both young and older visitors. The package also gives you free downloads of ride photos to your phone.

For anyone not interested in the rides, there are side shows, the gardens, plenty of food and drink outlets and during peak seasons; live music (more ‘well known’ bands on a Friday!), a ballet and the closing fireworks.

I visited on a Saturday afternoon in June and ride queue times were small compared to major theme parks around the world.

For more information: http://www.tivoli.dk/en/

Hotels near Tivoli

CABINN City

We stayed at CABINN City which is a 5 minute walk from Tivoli. We found the economy room perfect for our stay. The rooms are very small, in the style of cabins that are typically found on ships. Many rooms only have a bunk bed (great for my sister who hates sharing a bed with me…), but they include a private bathroom/shower, TV and tea and coffee making facilities.

As a traveller that doesn’t spend a lot of time in a hotel room, the size didn’t bother us in the slightest. Our room also faced Tivoli, so we could actually watch the closing fireworks from the comfort of the room! They have several different CABINN locations in Copenhagen now.