SLIPPERY SURFACE: The ice rink in front of the Rockefeller Center in New York.

Hamilton, get your skates on.

A winter wonderland is to be recreated in Garden Place later this year with people getting a taste of a European-style outdoor ice rink.

The 15m x 30m ice rink is planned to set up for a month from mid-September and would be open for skaters from 10am to 10pm.

The $4.2 million rink is being shipped from Amsterdam by Christchurch-based event promoter Douglas Webber Group for three ice hockey games in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin before being broken up into pieces for the City Rink Tour.

The Hamilton rink would require about 50,000 litres of water and would take up to 72 hours to freeze.

Up to 250 people would be able to glide around the Hamilton rink at one time and promoter Gareth Webber said it would have a similar feel as the rink lit up outside New York's Rockefeller Center during winter.

"It's something else really, an experience – not just ice skating.

"With all the cafes and bars around it's a great place and people can wind down and have a coffee in the day or have a drink at night."

Mr Webber said the rink, which he called the "Rolls-Royce of ice floors", would stay frozen because it would continue to be refrigerated.

The rink's debut in Hamilton coincides with the city's hosting of the Rugby World Cup and would share the space with the community days planned at Garden Place during the match games in the city.

Ice rinks were also planned to be set up in Wellington and Dunedin and Mr Webber expected people would travel from outside the city for the experience. Skaters would be able to hire skates.

The promoter was still working through the consent processes but was confident the rink would be approved. "Hamilton City Council has long been recognised by our company as a pro-active and supportive council in bringing events to the city."