5 Christmas Markets in Scandinavia to Visit

December is a great time for family travel to Scandinavian countries, where the Christmas season is celebrated with bright lights and colorful markets. City streets and parks are aglow with lights, and street markets are filled with beautiful crafts, handmade clothing, wooden toys, and the aromas of spices and evergreen boughs.

In the weeks before Christmas, Stockholm streets and squares become a fairyland. Buildings are outlined in twinkling lights, and bright arches form an arbor of lights above the avenues. In Norway, Oslo’s streets, too, become avenues of light with glittering starbursts, bells and other holiday symbols suspended overhead. Along the harbor, glowing Christmas trees reflect in the water.

In Copenhagen, Tivoli is always a brightly lit wonderland, but it outdoes itself at Christmas, when all the fantasyland buildings — and the 150-year-old double-decker carousel — are covered in lights. Copenhagen Zoo rivals Tivoli, with 200,000 Christmas lights; the tower is wrapped completely in lights, illuminating the whole park.

All the Scandinavian capitals are highlighted by Christmas markets, where brightly lit cabins, tents and kiosks present handcrafted gifts, beautiful holiday decorations, and traditional foods and treats. In Oslo, the main Christmas market, Christmas in Winterland, is in front of the Royal Palace.

On the first two weekends of December, Norwegian Folk Museum comes alive with bustling Christmas market stalls, decorated historic houses and hosts in traditional costumes. Kids love this glimpse into the past, along with its music and lively folk dancing.

Stockholm’s folk museum, Skansen, is on the island of Djurgården, bringing together historic homes and shops preserved from all over Sweden. In December, it becomes a Christmas village, with craftspeople demonstrating and selling heritage crafts and traditional foods. There are performances and activities for children, including workshops where they can make their own decorations.

Helsinki’s large main square in front of the cathedral transforms into a Christmas village with red tents selling handmade woodcarvings, toys and blown glassware. Kids can ride free on the historic carousel and send letters to Santa (who lives conveniently nearby on the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi).

Walk along Helsinki’s Christmas Street, Aleksanterinkatu, to see window displays at Stockman’s Department Store. Each year the windows tell a story populated by familiar characters and enlivened with special effects such as holograms and projected images.

Christmas lights and festive markets are not limited to the capital cities. You’ll find markets in smaller cities and towns all across Scandinavia, although many are open for shorter periods and only on weekends. In Norway, Bergen’s Christmas market includes a classic Ferris wheel and carousel, and a wonderland of gingerbread houses and castles at Pepperkakebyen, the world’s largest gingerbread city.