Magical Days Odense, Denmark

Imagine a town where the characters of Harry Potter walk the streets ready to defend unexpected muggles from those with dark magic. Though it be October, it is not a time for fright, but instead you can hear the sounds of laughter coming from young witches and wizards on their way to the wizard academy, a quidditch match or the Forbidden Forest. No, you are not dreaming. You are in the town of Odense, Denmark during last weekend of efterårsferie (fall break) to experience the Magical Days Odense.

Magical families are also present on this day during the fall break in Denmark (or efterårsferie) as they make their way to the Fafner Bank where goblins can exchange muggle money into magical coins, the Magical Market where they can go to buy a lunch or potion fit for a wizard, or even to the Wizard Village where they can create delicious treats or treasured works of art in the magical workshops.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I will make a commission if you click on a link and make a purchase. Thanks for supporting My New Danish Life.

Where is the Magical Days Festival?

Typically known for its world-class zoo (the Odense Zoo or zoologisk have) and for being the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, Odense is the third largest city in Denmark, and with the help of many local volunteers, it becomes the most magical place to visit during the month of October. “The Magiske Dage Odense” allows people to experience a world that they have only seen on the movie screen, and my family was fortunate to be passing through Odense one day to get a glimpse of all the wonder.

Professional Quidditch Matches

As we arrived in Odense, we parked near the Kongens Have or the Kings Garden in a parking garage. We were just in time to see professional quidditch players warming up for their match. Apparently, there were teams from all the Scandinavian countries and this was to be the Nordisk Quidditch-Mesterskab or Nordic Quidditch Championship. It reminded me of how the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire started with a quidditch championship. Would the rest of our day be filled with as much wonder as that day in the book?

Odense’s Magical Theater

Since we were next to the Odense Theater (Odense Teater), we decided to experience “teatermagi” or the Theater Magic, which was a haunted tour of all the backstage areas of the theater with a little bit of scavenger hunt mixed in. My boys were a very cautious 8 and 6, so I was a bit concerned that this would be too scary for them. They had never been in anything “haunted” before, and to be honest, the younger one got uncomfortable when he saw cartoon ghosts on an episode of a Donald Duck.

I made sure to explain the rational reasons behind what we were seeing. We loved the idea of seeing a “ghost” on the wall, but I thought it wouldn’t take away from our magical experience to explain what it really was to my 6-year-old son. In fact, I think it calmed him enough to relax and have a good time. 

The “ghost” explained (in Danish, of course) what our task was for the day. We needed to find different words throughout the tour. We were ready! 🙂

Tour of the Haunted Theater

As we walked through the theater, I could have sworn that some of the eyes on the pictures were moving. The guy, second from the left, in the picture below was following me around that room with his eyes. Weird!! 🙂 I loved it!

As we moved along on our tour, we came across the occasional spooky thing, but there was lots of light around these spooky things, which made them not so spooky.

In other areas, there were volunteers who gave us flashlights and a bit more instruction of what to do in the darker areas of the theater. My boys really loved using the flashlights, and looking for secret words throughout the theater was a fun activity for the entire family.

When were were at a spot that seemed to be under the stage of the theater, we noticed a table with potions on it. Little brother couldn’t resist playing with the potions, while the rest of us went straight for the costumes. Imagine being in a real theater where you are allowed to try on different accessories and play along to whatever you could create in your own imagination.

To say that we had a great time in the theater would be an understatement. I can’t remember that last time that the boys were this focused and working together while having lots of laughs. It is so nice as a mom to see your kids enjoying time together.

I know that I was also having a lot of fun. I had never done anything close to this in Denmark before, I knew that there wasn’t many other experiences that could compare with this one.

Special Surprise at the End of the Haunted Tour

Once we found all the clues and reached the end of the tour, we came to a spot where they were doing face paining. Here, you could also create your own sword and decorate it.

We opted for buying swords to take with us in case we came across any spooky monsters, but we decided that decorating them with paint might mean that we would have to wait too long for them to dry. We didn’t have that much time to spend at the Magical Days festival, so we wanted to make the most of what time we did have.

At the theater, we were lucky to find a booklet that told all about the events for the Magical Days Odense. It also had a map that showed us more specifically where we could go next. There were many different places all throughout the town that had magical events, and the boys were practically running out of the theater in search of a ferocious beast to fight. With this heightened-level of energy, we decided to head more towards the center of town to the Gråbrødre Klosterkirke, the next stop on the map.

Haunted Stories at the Gråbrødre Klosterkirke

By the time we reached the church, we had already started to see a few children walking around in Harry Potter robes. It helped to set the mood for what we were about to experience. I’ll get more into that later.

We walked into the church to find out when the next reading of magical stories read to them by a local witch (or at least a volunteer from the church who was dressed as a witch). Unfortunately, we had arrived during a break and didn’t get to hear the stories. (These were all in Danish, of course, just so you are aware.) My boys weren’t extremely disappointed by this. After such an exciting adventure in the theater, they weren’t ready to sit and listen. I have to say that I was also a bit antsy to see what else was waiting for us.

Meeting Hagrid from Harry Potter

We decided to leave the church, which is when we saw Rubeus Hagrid!!! My best friend was visiting us from Chicago, and it seemed that this surprise meeting of such an important character from Harry Potter excited her and I more than it did my boys. My youngest hadn’t seen Harry Potter yet, and my older son wasn’t sure what to think. 🙂 I am glad that I wasn’t the only one in our little group to get overly excited. Leave it to a book like Harry Potter to get the adults acting like children!

Hagrid was nice enough to take a picture with us! Thanks, Hagrid!

Walking Alongside the Magical Characters of Harry Potter

As we left the church, we quickly noticed that we were in the main walking streets of Odense, which was also the main festival area. This is where we started to see more characters. It was like walking into the pages of a book or on the set of a movie. We were beyond excited!

Album Dumbledore and Harry Potter

We first saw Albus Dumbledore!!! We thought we hit the jackpot, but as we were hanging out and watching the other characters coming up to him, we noticed a very small Harry Potter walking up to greet him. WOW!! What a moment! 

Trolls, Dementors and other Magical Creatures

There were trolls and dementors and a couple who, I was sure, had to have been in line with “you-know-who”. The experience of just walking down the street was like non I had ever had before.

We also saw quite a few other magical people that I didn’t recognize from the books. It could be that they were from other stories, but one thing was for sure; those characters really seemed real. They had a battle right in front of us. It was wild!

If you would like to see part of the battle, you can find it in my YouTube video about “American Fall Traditions that you find in Denmark”. Use this Link!!

Dragons at the Magical Days in Odense

There was even a lady walking around with a dragon on her shoulder! I loved that there was so many neat things to see just by walking around. The fact that we had limited time to spend in Odense that day didn’t seem to get in our way of experiencing some of the best of the magical world. It really gave us the feeling that this is what it would have been like to live in Harry Potter’s world.

The Magical Market Square

Gråbrødre Plads or Gray Brothers’ Square was the part of the downtown section of Odense where we saw many of the magical characters and where we found the Magical Market Square. This was absolutely amazing and hands down, the best festival and market that I had ever been to before. This was even more impressive than the amazing Harry Potter Sights of Edinburgh, Scotland.

They had owls and information that taught visitors about the different types. It was very interesting. I loved that they had a real owl.

Fun Activities During the Magical Days in Odense, Denmark

There were various tents for different activities. You could draw and color, write your own article for a magical magazine or even practice your quidditch skills with a mini course.  Some of the activities cost money, but there was a local “bank” nearby called Fafner Bank where you could exchange your muggle money for magical “odinarer”. One activity could cost anywhere from 50 odinarer to 200 odinarer. During 2018, the cost of 1000 odinarer was 50 Danish kroner (just a little over $7 USD at the time). 

They also had a maze that you could try for 150 odinarer. It reminded me of the Marauders Map in Harry Potter. Harry used it to find his way around the castle without being detected. I was wandering if it was something like that. The booklet told us that this was a place for tricks and jokes, “fup og fiduser”. I could only imagine what that meant, since it all seemed a bit strange to me! 

Lots of sweets and treats were also sold in this market. You could tell that it was definitely targeting a younger audience or at least one with a sweet tooth.

As we were walking along, I noticed something a bit out of the ordinary. I don’t know if that is something I can easily say in this type of environment, but I just mean that it might have gone unnoticed had I not stopped to look at the sweets. There, under one of the tents, appeared to be the Chamber of Secrets from Harry Potter. I wasn’t completely sure, but being as I don’t quite like snakes, I didn’t want to find out! 🙂

Norheim’s Wizard Academy

We continued to follow the map and made our way to the Odense Rådhus or Town Hall. Here, they had the Nordheims Trolddomssakademi or Nordheim’s Wizard Academy. This was one of the events where you would learn the tips and tricks of how to be a good wizard. Unfortunately, time wasn’t on our side, so we decided to try this out on another day. 

We were really excited to see and experience all that we could, since we were just using it as a place to stop on a trip home from Cophenhagen. I was happy that the boys were just interested to observe. I think when they get a bit older and watch more of the Harry Potter movies/read the books, they will want to try everything here. I’ll be ready! 🙂

Why It is Good to Plan Ahead!

Getting to Odense from Copenhagen by train is very easy, so if you are out that way and feel Odense is too far, you will be very pleased to know that it isn’t. It takes less than 2 hours by train, and the cost is not very high. I would just recommend that you reserve a seat for the train; otherwise, you may have to stand. All the events are very close to the train station in Odense, so walking from the train station to the events is quite easy and realistic. We had our car, which offered a tad bit more freedom on this trip.

One other thing to keep in mind is that if you want the full experience, you will want to make sure you plan your trip in advance to get tickets to some of the events that sell out. Some events that sell out quickly would be a magical train ride at the Jernbanemuseum, a visit to the sorcerer’s college, ghost school, Film concert where a real orchestra plays while guests watch one of the Harry Potter movies, and slime-building workshops.

If you are interested in going to a ball, you may want to buy your tickets to that in advance as well as figure out where to get your magical ballgown or dress coat. I have no idea what people where to these types of things, but I bet it would be a lot of fun!

Odense’s Eventyrhaven or Adventure Garden

We had time for one last place to visit before we needed to head back home, so we decided to walk to the closest place on the map. This just happened to be the Eventyrhaven, which was a large garden just behind the main cathedral in Odense.

It would be a great place to visit even if we weren’t in search for some of the coolest magical events that the festival had to offer. It was no coincidence that this was the direction we headed on the map. When I heard that they had kids’ quidditch, I knew we just had to check it out!

Broom Making

When we reached the Eventyrhave, we immediately saw a place where you could make your own broom. It was appropriately cared for by a wizard who must have been well-instructed in the art of broom making.

Flying Lessons

Once children made their brooms, they could test them out on the svævebane, which in English is translated to mean “cable car”. This is not a good description, since there is no car involved. A “svævebane” is something that you will find all throughout Denmark. I think I would refer to it more like a zipline, but instead of going from high to low, you would just mostly go from side to side. My boys have one at their school, and they are found on most playgrounds.

The svævebane that they had in the Eventyrhave was set in the trees to give children the feeling that they were flying on their brooms. Genius!! I loved this idea! My boys thought it looked cool, but they decided that they would rather play quidditch than make a broom or take flying lessons.

Kids’ Quidditch

I loved that they had a quidditch field set up for children to try. It was such a cool experience. We really liked the professional quidditch field, but when the boys saw that there was a field just for kids like them to try, they didn’t know what to think of it. They were a bit shy at first, but they really started to get into the idea after watching some other kids play. There were also two wizards on the field to help explain the rules and act as referees. 

Owls of the Harry Potter World

The last thing we noticed before leaving the garden was a section with owls. A keeper was there to help children with the animals, and it was even possible to have an owl perch on your arm. So neat. If quidditch or flying lessons couldn’t make you feel like Harry Potter, I’m sure holding an owl would have.

Other Areas Worth Visiting of the Magical Days Festival

In the future we would love to return to the festival to see the Brandts Troldmandsby or Brandts Magical Village. This is where you can see magical families who need your help completing tasks that require magic. A ride on the magical train could also be a great family experience. 

There is also a potions workshop for adults that sounds quite nice, the workshop where you can make your own cape and perhaps the magical lunch. I know the boys would love to try the Wizard Academy.

Going to see a film at the concert hall with a real, live orchestra playing in the background would also be a one-of-a-kind experience. The options are many! Feel free to check the link below to their calendar to get an idea of just what you can find there!

The creative planners behind the Magical Days in Odense really make it hard to choose which activities to do during your trip, which makes it seem more logical to make this a weekend trip. I couldn’t think of a better way of spending a weekend in October during our Danish efterårsferie!! 

If you are looking for the perfect Harry Potter experience, you will want to add a trip to the Magiske Dage Odense (Magical Days Odense) to your bucket list! It will truly give you an experience of a lifetime! 

Plan Your Visit to Magical Days Odense

Website: https://magiskedageodense.dk/ **

Parking: You can find all the options for parking in Odense by clicking here. **

Buying Tickets: https://magiskedageodense.dk/statisk/billetter/billetter

Contact: https://magiskedageodense.dk/statisk/kontakt-festivalen

Click here to see the events planned for the Magiske Dage Odense / Magical Days Odense 

**There is a button on the top right to translate the page if you don’t understand Danish. (Some computers can translate a page by right clicking in the page and selecting “translate” from the pop-up menu.)

Other Reasons to Visit Odense, Denmark

1. Hans Christian Andersen’s Birthplace
2. Odense Zoo
3. Danish Railway Museum (Danmarks Jernbanemuseum)
4. Storms Pakhus (Street Food)
5. Odense Teater
6. Brandts Museum for Art and Visual Culture
7. The Funen Village (Den Fynske Landsby, open-air museum)
8. The Møntergården Museum

Did you enjoy this post? Subscribe to my blog to get updates on more family-fun places in Denmark. 

Where is your favorite Harry Potter- inspired place or memory? Tell me about it in the comments!!  

Are you hoping to get the most out of your trip to Denmark? Try visiting the town of Billund, Denmark. I have posts that you will enjoy. They are about two of its best attractions: Lalandia, Scandinavia’s Largest Water Park and Legoland.

Pin it and Save for Later (Share it!!)