Miniature Wonderland

Miniature towns, villages and gardens... The appeal, I suppose, is to the kid in all of us. I especially enjoy seeing model trains in action and wondering what on earth I will stumble upon next. Wonder is more important than wander.

The inherent problem miniature model towns have is: how do they allow visitors to walk through them without overcrowding or damaging them? Just like in the real world - Venice and Rome being good examples. It's a Small World and Storybook Land at Disneyland solve this by putting everyone in boats, but visitors can't stroll around. It only reminds me of the limitations of cruise lines in the real world.

Paradoxically, the most engaging miniature towns are the most crowded and the best one in the world - by far - is Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg. Of course, it's indoors and always very crowded, but it succeeds because of the detail packed into every space. The trains run on time and planes even take off from the airport.

I am not a fan of theme parks like Legoland or Epcot or Busch Gardens - much too commercial - but I don't mind Efteling in the Netherlands because it's more like a nature park, and Europa-Park (Rust, Germany) is ok. Then there's Tivoli Gardens (Copenhagen) and the Prater (Vienna), which are interesting for their history.

But, I especially dislike the outdoor "walkthrough" parks like Minimundus (Austria) - shown above, Mini Europe (Belgium), Bekonscot (England) and Madurodam (the Netherlands) - there are many like this around the world. Miniatürk in Istanbul, for example, may be the largest miniature city in the world, but there is too much space between exhibits and they feel static. They should pack more in, especially vegetation, to enhance the element of surprise, as one turns a corner.

Although not strictly speaking "miniature," I think a much better approach is ornamental "themed" gardens like Hamilton Gardens in New Zealand. That's their Tudor Garden shown above. The only other gardens I can think of that try this approach are the wonderful Gardens by the Bay in Singapore (shown below) and the Huntington in Los Angeles.

Also see Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens here