It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Copenhagen - the Danish capital's Tivoli Gardens is opening its highly-anticipated annual Christmas attractions.

173-year-old amusement park turns into winter wonderland

Founded in 1843, the amusement park undergoes a radical transformation every festive season, turning into a winter wonderland for thousands of visitors.

Sparkling with Christmas cheer - one of the world's oldest amusement parks is back in full swing.

Every year, the Tivoli Gardens amusement park in central Copenhagen closes to the public, only to re-open as this festive-themed winter wonderland in mid-November.

The rides have been fitted with lights, Christmas trees are glowing and festive songs fill the air.

This year marks the 173-year-old park's twenty-third 'Christmas in Tivoli' season. And it's become an ever-present festive fixture for many Danish families.

"It's true that many Danes have their fixed traditions of things they need to do before Christmas," said Ellen Dahl, Tivoli Gardens.

"You know, we go to Aunty Anna's on the first weekend of Christmas and we go to Tivoli on the second weekend of Christmas, so special things that you need to do, special places that you need to go."

Last year, Tivoli welcomed around 4.7 million visitors. Covering over 82,700 square metres. It was the third most visited theme park in Europe last year, behind France's Disneyland Paris and Germany's Europa Park, according to the 2015 Theme Index.

During Christmas in Tivoli, the amusement park hosts around 1,000 Christmas trees and 3.5 kilometres of fir garlands. Today, visitors are dining on traditional Danish festive doughnuts, called 'apple skive', or picking up various decorations and gifts from its sprawling Christmas market.

"The whole idea about Christmas in Tivoli is that it must look spectacular. So, it's like in the summer time you have all the flowers," Ellen Dahl said.

"The coloured lights giving you the Tivoli feeling, we want to create that for Christmas. So, we want to bring in lots of ornaments, even lots of flowers and plants. We use lots of kales and cabbages, lots of decorations, artificial snow. Just to get that holiday feeling and just to make people snuggle up and enjoy themselves."

When day turns to night, over half a million lights create this festive Christmas atmosphere.

Crowds gather to watch the Christmas tree lights being turned on - it marks the start of the Christmas season.

Christmas at Tivoli Gardens amusement park is open until December 31st.