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Mid-April to Sept & first three weeks of Dec Mon-Thurs & Sun 11am-midnight, Fri & Sat 11am-1am; 39kr, mid-June to mid-Aug 49kr; www.tivoli.dk . Bus #1, #2, #6, #8, #28, #29, #550S, #650S, Vesterport S-Tog or Central Station. Originally opened in 1843, Tivoli was inspired by London's Vauxhall Gardens, and this park of many bland amusements is now the most visited attraction in the city, claiming to pull in ninety percent of all foreign tourists to the city - as well as thousands of Danes - with its fairground rides, street performers, cafes, theatres and concert halls. Naturally it's overrated and overpriced, but an evening spent wandering among the revellers of all ages indulging in the mass consumption of ice cream is an experience worth having - once, at any rate - while on a fine summer's night, with all the fairy lights on and fireworks exploding overhead (every Wed, Fri and Sat at midnight) it can become almost magical.
The opening of Tivoli for the new season (second Friday in April) is one of Copenhagen's major annual celebrations, and anyone who is anyone will have booked tables at one of the garden's posh restaurants.
As one of the few still-functioning nineteenth-century pleasure gardens, Tivoli has its historical aspect too, with a number of playful and well-maintained period buildings, notably the Chinese-style, open-air Pantomime Theatre . Built in 1874, this now hosts the world's only regular performances of classical pantomime, a delicate art form, somewhere between ballet and mime - plus an element of farce - derived from Italian commedia dell'arte . Look out too for the striking Nimb restaurant, a large and slightly dilapidated white wood-and-plaster building in Moorish style. Some of the fairground rides are almost as old: don't miss a ride on the rickety wooden roller coaster (dating form 1914) - each train has its own brakeman - and the tiny Ferris wheel nearby, looking like a decorated museum piece. There are numerous other rides, with different sections of the park having different themes - Viking Valhalla is the most "authentically" Danish, featuring blonde waitresses with plaited hair and horned helmets. Music also plays a large part in Tivoli, with a renowned concert hall, several smaller venues - the Sex Pistols once played in one of them - and an open-air concert area for rock and pop acts. Tivoli is also open during the weeks around Christmas, but the generally bad weather and lack of fireworks, plus the fact that most of the rides are stored away and parts of the park closed, mean that the experience is somewhat diluted.
If you want to eat, Divan 1 (tel 33 11 42 42) is Tivoli's top dining option, with fine traditional Danish cuisine dished up in a genteel setting - though like everything else in the gardens it's overpriced.
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