Imagine a theme park at Christmas without the enormous crowds and lengthy queues, without the blaring pop music and tacky merchandise? A traditional park of cute wooden buildings, beautifully decorated carousels, wooden rollercoasters, old-fashioned sweet shops, pretrty stalls selling handmade local crafts, and a stunning ice-rink surrounded by abundant winter foliage, all adorned with over 5 million festive lights during the Christmas season.
This massive display transforms the park into a winter wonderland, complemented by roughly 700 Christmas trees, dozens of market stalls, and various holiday attractions but somehow manages to remain cosy, low-key and family-orientated. These lights are featured in this country’s largest Christmas market but the park stages events throughout the year, enjoying a summer season and major Halloween festival too.
Described as “Scandanavia’s most beloved destination” Liseberg is an amusement park located in Gothenburg, Sweden, that opened in 1923. It is the second most visited theme park in Scandinavia, with around three million visitors annually.
In addition to the park’s more than 40 different rides, Liseberg has many venues (stages, dance hall, restaurants and arcade halls).
Liseberg Main Stage (Stora Scenen) was built in 1923 and was originally designed as a big music pavilion for the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and other large-scale concerts (over the years the design of the venue has been modified). Bands such as Abba and the Rolling Stones have performed here. Right next to the Stora Scenen is the smaller Kvarnteatern which plays host to various smaller events, in particular children’s theatre.
But it is the rides most people go to an amusement park for and among the most noteworthy is the wooden roller coaster Balder twice (2003 and 2005) voted as the Best Wooden Tracked Roller Coaster in the world in a major international poll. The park itself has also been chosen as one of the top ten amusement parks in the world (2005) by Forbes magazine and second best in Europe (2022) by IAAPP.
I confess I didn’t try Balder myself but my daughter Ruthie did and declared it “brilliant”. She was straight on too without queuing despite this being a Sunday in December, albeit a rather rainy one.
There are plenty of big rides to amuse thrillseekers such as Helix, which is the fastest and longest coaster at the park, Valkyria, the tallest dice, Balder and Lisebergbanan, a mountain coaster, along with intense thrill rides like Loke and water rides like Flumeride and Kållerado.
But there are plenty of smaller old-fashioned fairground rides for little ones to enjoy. Best of all is the vast, big Ferris wheel, up on a hill, towering over the site, offering views of the entire city. The seating pods are fully enclosed, making it feel safe enough even for scaredy cats like me.
The park has a history of over 100 years, and you really do get the feeling that the place is frozen in time. Everything feels slightly old-fashioned and quaint. Marketing manager Lotta Carlsbogard explained: “We use as many natural materials as possible, lots of wood, so everything is sustainable and looks as it did.”
In 1752, the landowner Johan Anders Lamberg named his property Lisas Berg (“Lisa’s Mountain”) after his wife Elisabeth Söderberg. The area eventually became known as Liseberg.
His old wooden house at Liseberg that now functions as a restaurant is Lisebergs Wärdshus is one of the oldest buildings in the park and combining its historical atmosphere with a contemporary interior.
The restaurant serves traditional Swedish cuisine with a focus on seasonal, local, and organic produce. It offers a variety of dining options, including à la carte menus. We opted for the veal meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. When in Sweden….
Lotta explained how the park tries to employ as many young Swedes as possible. “We are the biggest employer of young people here. We give them their first experience of working.”
As Scandinavia’s largest amusement park, located in Gothenburg, Liseberg park employs more than 2500 people and has events throughout the year, including summer, Christmas, and Halloween seasons, requiring a large staff to manage the rides, games, and restaurants.
Entry into the park costs 545 SEK (about £43). All the rides are free after you have entered and even the ice-skating too if you bring your own skates. If not, they can be hired at a little wooden hut by the rink, with again no queues and no hassle.
The rink isn’t crowded and is surrounded by lights and trees and looks spectacular at night when old-fashioned Christmas music is piped across the ice.
My eldest daughter Lulu, 28, said: “I go to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park every year but this feels so much more chilled. It is much prettier and quieter and feels more old-fashioned and a more authentic Christmas experience somehow. I would love to come back and see what they do for Halloween. All the decorations looks so beautiful.”
Flights to Gothenburg from London Stansted with Ryanair are from £30 in February. To visit Liseberg at any time of year go to www.liseberg.se
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