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In terms of winter festivities, no park is probably better value during Christmas than Phantasialand.

Also, the natural charm of the park helps with a cast of festive characters and several photo spots created within the park, whether in front of a magical snow globe or the park’s Christmas tree.

As with Disney, not only is this the best time to enjoy the park, but it can also get extremely busy. Like Tivoli, this only adds to the atmosphere, and if avoiding crowds is your prerogative, then Wintertraum is best enjoyed towards the beginning of December when the park will be in festive overdrive, but the kids’ll still be at school.

Making the winter life yet easier is the park’s on-site hotel, Hotel PhantAsia. It is a magnificent hotel, one of the best theme park hotels in the world, and being literally on park, it makes a winter holiday that much easier.

With a train station 15 minutes away from the park, and flights to Cologne or Dusseldorf, don’t let the fact that the park isn’t in the UK put you off as it is as good value and easy to get to as many parks that you visit regularly.

Should you wish to take a break from the park, just a short train journey away is Cologne, the fourth-largest city in Germany, but a highly regarded centre of culture with dozens of museums, hundreds of galleries and stunning architecture.

Europa Park

As with Phantasialand, expectations run high with Europa Park’s offering, and unsurprisingly it fails to disappoint. In fact, Europa Park confidently brag that Magical Winter Weeks is the biggest winter wonderland in the whole of Germany.

Like Phantasialand, there’s ski bobs for the kids, a toboggan run, a winter bar, ice rink, Christmas lights and decorations and much much more.

And honestly, there actually is much much more.

There’s a Christmas market, a Santa Claus gathering (the park’s annual attempt to break the world record for the amount of Father Christmases in the same place), a huge advent calendar, a Festive Lights Parade in the evening, a special ice show, “Wonderland on Ice” as well as a special 4D Christmas film in the park’s cinema.

Like Phantasialand, this is a high quality event, well suited to members for families, couples and groups, and also like Phantasialand, the on-site hotels mean that it is another surprisingly simple break.

Europa Park currently has three hotels, soon four, although one problem may be that you’ll likely be confined to the resort, something that isn’t a problem with Tivoli Gardens or – to a lesser extent – even Phantasialand.

Another problem is that some of the more recent rides such as Silver Star, Atlantica Supersplash and Poseidon are likely to be closed during the winter openings - if you haven't visited the park for a few seasons and these rides are on your list of things to do before you die, then it's advised that you wait until the summer season.

Parque Warner Madrid

Never one to look a gifthorse in the mouse, for the first time in – well – ever, Parque Warner Madrid opened for Christmas this year.

It means that the previously fleeting season has been extended by a whole month with much of the park opening from 6 December until 7 January, the only rides of note not opening being – as you’d expect – the water rides which includes the rather pedestrian giant splash ride, El Rio Bravo and the Acme River Rapids, and also Stunt Fall.

If you haven’t visited Parque Warner before, I’d suggest waiting until early summer to enjoy the park at its best – El Rio Bravo and Stunt Fall are both great rides, and unlike the German parks, the Christmas offerings alone won’t make up for this loss.

But while the Christmas offerings are modest at best, if you’ve visited before you’ll know this is a high calibre of park that is almost guaranteed to be quiet throughout December. In terms of ease, this is a perfect winter getaway.

Unlike Disneyland Paris, Christmas doesn’t yet have the same kind of draw, while unlike Tivoli Gardens, the park is a 30-minute train ride from the centre of the city which keeps the locals from just popping in.

This means that you can enjoy some of the best rides in Europe in one of the best parks in Europe without having to queue for the privilege. Of course, Parque Warner’s inability to attract queues has been quite the talking point, but it is a large park and has a lot of shows – while it is still failing to hit the previously optimistic targets set for opening, the park is still buoyant for the future.

Christmas-wise, there’s an ice rink both for you to use, and for a special Christmas show, while at the end of the day there’s a colourful and spectacular closing party-cum-parade in Hollywood Boulevard, which is decorated to the hilts with Christmas décor.

Hotel-wise, Parque Warner doesn’t yet have a resort hotel, although regular train links to the park’s very own station mean that it is easy to stay in the city of Madrid, a bustling and cosmopolitan city with a lot of culture.

In terms of tourist attractions, Madrid might disappoint (unlike Barcelona, the main draw in Madrid is museums), but with Parque de Atracciones nearby, if you just want some excellent rides to do during the winter season, then Madrid is hard to beat. Continues...