Helsinki Christmas Market puts on a festive feast for all the senses

Helsinki Christmas Market is once again filling Senate Square with a carefully crafted selection of seasonal food favourites, unique gift items by Finnish small businesses and a wide variety of festive entertainment daily from Friday, 27 November until Tuesday, 22 December. The eagerly awaited Restaurant Yard abounds with traditional Christmas delicacies and wintry drinks as well as exciting new taste sensations. Meeting Santa Claus and riding the illuminated vintage carousel make unforgettable memories for children.

Helsinki Christmas Market in Senate Square in the heart of the city is the most impressive outdoor Christmas market in Helsinki. The 2026 event promises to live up to the high standard set in previous years by treating the city to tasty food and drink, creative gift ideas and overflowing festive cheer. The illuminated free-admission carousel has become a firm favourite with children, and the Restaurant Yard with covered seating makes the Christmas Market a perfect destination for a family day out. In addition to enjoying live music and meeting Santa Claus, visitors can participate in a festive fun run, relax in a wood-fired sauna or join in for a game of BängerBingo – a mix of music quiz and bingo.

The highly rated Restaurant Yard with its alcohol licence and heated and covered seating area as well as the vendor stalls brimming with original gift ideas invite the people of Helsinki to lose themselves in an abundance of sweet and savoury treats and seasonal beverages.

Several best-selling food vendors from previous years return by popular demand and are joined by exciting newcomers. Bakerika’s menu includes delicious spiced biscuits, hot chocolate, gingerbread and mulled drinks, while restaurant ELM puts an inspired twist to traditional rice porridge and alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions of Nordic mulled wine. Vintero’s selection of modern bistro items features its renowned spelt risotto and melt-in-the-mouth blinis, paired with craft drinks and wines.

Around 20 restaurants and cafés in total are setting up pop-up kitchens serving innovative versions of rice porridge, hand-cooked crisps and oven-based semolina pancake, mouthwatering fish and game delicacies as well as Karelian pasties, sultsina crêpes, waffles and cookies. There are also countless varieties of honey, mustard, chilli sauce, pickled Baltic herring, jams and preserves as well as spiced mulled wine, coffee and other seasonal drinks to thrill the taste buds.

As well as promoting organic and local produce, Helsinki Christmas Market caters for vegetarian, vegan and special diets, and several vendors offer a takeaway option. Food waste is minimised in partnership with Stadin Safka.

The many vendor stalls selling a wide variety of skilfully crafted items are the place to go for unique finds and creative gift ideas. There is a lot to choose from, as some spots are again reserved for weekly rotating vendors.

There are, for example, handmade candles, wreaths, ceramics and beeswax products, toys and board games, handmade alpaca, wool, leather and unspun roving products as well as glass and metal ornaments. There are also vendors selling gift-wrapped boxes of chocolates, traditional candy canes along with other sweets, coffee and mulled wine that are perfect as refreshments on the day or as stocking fillers, candle and tea-light holders as well as various other decorative and practical items.

Helsinki Christmas Market is not just about good cheer but also good deeds. This year’s event features a charity stall where visitors can purchase small gifts, donate to charity and hear about the work of the Ukrainian Association in Finland, No Fixed Abode NGO and Aseman Lapset.

Helsinki Christmas Market is truly raising the bar for festive entertainment this year. Bringing Christmas cheer to Senate Square are, among others, We Jazz DJs and the DJ collective Markkinavako as well as BängerBingo – a fun musical bingo game where contestants race to recognise hit songs and mark them off on a bingo sheet.

Traditional Christmas tunes and carols naturally play a big part in setting the mood for the event. The programme includes masterful a cappella performances by CALLA and Popkorni as well as exquisite choral arrangements by Kallion ääni, Helsingin Helmi and Aventur. There are opportunities to meet Santa Claus several times a week, and the festive atmosphere reaches its peak with the annual students’ torchlight procession on 6 December and the traditional St Lucia’s procession on 13 December.

Helsinki Christmas Market opens on Friday, 27 November with a welcome speech by Mayor of Helsinki Daniel Sazonov and the Christmas tree switch-on at 6 pm. There is a chance to meet Santa Claus between 4 and 7 pm, and CALLA kicks off the festive music programme at 5.30 pm.

This year’s event also gives visitors a unique opportunity to relax in a traditional wood-fired sauna under the city’s twinkling Christmas lights. There is surely no better way to escape the festive stress that many experience in the lead-up to Christmas! A one-hour unisex session costs EUR 10, and private sessions can be booked for EUR 80 at saunat.fi/en. Some of the proceeds go to charity.

Another new addition is a light-hearted running event named Elf Run, which takes place on Tuesday, 1 December. Registration opens at 9 am on 18 November at tuomaanmarkkinat.fi/en.

Helsinki Christmas Market in Senate Square is open from 11 am to 7 pm from Sunday to Thursday and from 11 am to 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays between 27 November and 22 December 2026. Admission is free of charge. Helsinki Christmas Market is sponsored by Saarioinen.

Picture: Dorit Salutskij