December is the darkest month of the year in Stockholm. The sun sets before 3 pm, but the evenings are full of light. From mid-November, the city’s Christmas lights cover more than 50 streets and squares in the centre, and in early December, Nobel Week Lights adds free light art installations. Add the Christmas markets, glögg, Lucia concerts and julbord, and there’s plenty to fill the short days.
We both live in Stockholm, and this list is the 15 things we do ourselves in December. It’s written for a trip in the weeks before Christmas, such as a long weekend in early or mid-December. If you’ll be here from December 24 to 26, when much of the city closes, see our guide to Christmas in Stockholm as well.
What Stockholm is like in December
December days are short: around the winter solstice, the sun rises at about 8:45 am and sets at about 2:50 pm, which gives you roughly six hours of daylight. Temperatures usually hover around freezing, and you’re as likely to get wet slush as fresh snow. Snow is never guaranteed in December.
The early dark also means the Christmas lights are on for much of your day. By mid-afternoon the streets and squares are lit up, cafés and restaurants are decorated inside, and the shops are set up for Christmas, so even a walk between sights feels festive. If you’ve seen Stockholm in summer, when it barely gets dark, December shows you the other side of the city.
For more on what to wear and pack, see our guide to Stockholm’s weather and what to pack.
Dates to plan your December trip around (2026)
If we had one weekend in December, we’d pick the one around Lucia. In 2026, the weekend of December 11 to 13 has Nobel Week Lights, both big Christmas markets and Lucia on the Sunday.
- Late November to December 23: the Christmas market on Stortorget in Gamla Stan, open daily. 2026 dates not yet announced; in 2025 it ran November 22 to December 23.
- November 27 to December 20: Skansen’s Christmas market, Fridays to Sundays.
- December 5 to 13: Nobel Week Lights, a free light art festival, 4 pm to 10 pm every evening.
- December 13: Lucia Day, which falls on a Sunday in 2026. Lucia concerts take place throughout the week before.
- December 24 to 26: Christmas. Christmas Eve is the main day of celebration in Sweden, and much of the city closes.
- December 31: New Year’s Eve.
15 things to do in Stockholm in December
We’ve grouped our 15 favourite December activities into four themes, so you can quickly find what suits your trip: festive traditions and markets, food and drink, culture and shopping, and outdoors and wellness.
Festive traditions and Christmas markets
Stockholm’s big December traditions, from the markets to Lucia.
1. Stroll the Christmas markets
For many Stockholmers, a Christmas market is somewhere to meet friends after work: you get a cup of glögg, walk slowly between the stalls and watch the people around you. We go to several every year, and that’s mostly what we do there too.
Stortorget in Gamla Stan is our favourite. It’s small and intimate, with red wooden stalls squeezed into the old town square and usually a crowd around them. It’s also Sweden’s oldest Christmas market, and it’s free to visit. Skansen‘s market is larger and spread across the open-air museum, and walking around Skansen at this time of year is a treat in itself: it’s dark, it’s lantern-lit, and when there’s snow it’s about as cosy as Stockholm gets. Skansen’s market runs on weekends only, and you pay the regular Skansen entry.
Take your time at the stalls. We love browsing the Christmas decorations, and we usually come home with food: cheese, jam, sausages and honey from small Swedish producers. It’s also where we find Christmas gifts for family and a few close friends.
For opening hours and more markets, see our guide to the best Christmas markets in Stockholm.
2. Drink glögg outdoors
Glögg is Swedish mulled wine, spiced with cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, and served hot with a few raisins and almonds in the cup. In December, you can buy it at every Christmas market and in many cafés. Our tip: drink it outdoors at a Christmas market. Hold the hot paper cup in both hands and sip slowly as you walk between the stalls. The contrast between the hot, sweet glögg and the cold air is what we look forward to every year. Most markets also sell an alcohol-free version.
3. Walk through the Christmas lights
With the sun setting before 3 pm, you’ll have hours every afternoon and evening to walk through the city’s Christmas lights: garlands of lights over the streets, and large light figures on the squares, such as the reindeer on Brunkebergstorg and the moose family on Nybroplan. Gamla Stan, Kungsträdgården, Strömgatan and the streets around Norrmalm are all easy to combine on foot, and the lights stay up well into January. Look up at the apartment windows as you walk, too. Many Swedes hang a paper star or place an electric candlestick in the window during Advent, and on the quieter side streets they add to the atmosphere.
For routes and our favourite displays, see the best places to see Christmas lights in Stockholm.
4. Experience Nobel Week Lights
Nobel Week Lights is a free light art festival that runs during Nobel Week, with installations inspired by Nobel Prize-winning discoveries, literature and peace work. In 2026 it runs December 5 to 13, from 4 pm to 10 pm, in central Stockholm and in Tensta.
What stood out to us was how many of the installations are about sound as much as light. Some felt almost like small outdoor concerts, with crowds just standing still, listening to the music and watching the light. The best part was seeing so many people out in the dark, both locals and visitors, interacting with the art, taking photos and strolling between installations. It has a different feel from the rest of December, closer to a contemporary art exhibition than to candlelight and Christmas tradition, which makes it a change of pace from the markets.
5. Go to a Lucia celebration in a church
Lucia, on December 13, is a Swedish tradition that celebrates light in the darkest time of the year. A choir in long white gowns walks slowly into a darkened room, each singer holding a candle and singing traditional Lucia songs. At the front walks the singer chosen as Lucia, with a crown of candles on her head. Lucia is celebrated in schools, workplaces and churches all over Sweden, and as a visitor, a concert in a church is the easiest way to see it.
We recommend Storkyrkan, the cathedral in Gamla Stan. With only candlelight in the church, the choir’s voices fill the medieval brick vaults, and the whole room goes quiet as the procession comes in. You need to buy tickets in advance, and photos aren’t allowed during the celebration, which honestly makes it easier to just be in the moment. Storkyrkan sells tickets through its own website and the ticket service Nortic, and the church warns against resale sites such as Viagogo. Other churches often sell Lucia tickets through Tickster or Billetto, so follow the ticket link on the church’s own website.
For more concerts and times, see our guide to Lucia concerts in Stockholm.
Food and drink
December is the best month of the year to eat in Stockholm.
6. Book a julbord early
A julbord is the Swedish Christmas buffet: herring, salmon, Christmas ham, meatballs, Jansson’s temptation and much more, eaten over several rounds. It’s one of the great food experiences of the Swedish year, and we’ve eaten at several.
Our two favourites are Gamla Riksarkivet, in the grand old National Archives building on Riddarholmen, and Ulla Winbladh on Djurgården, a classic that also serves a vegan julbord. The best julbord tables are very popular, so book in October if you can. By December, the most popular evenings are usually gone.
New to julbord? Read our simple guide to Swedish Christmas food, then pick a restaurant from our guide to the best julbord in Stockholm.
7. Have fika with a saffron bun
Fika, the Swedish coffee break, is one of the nicest ways to spend a dark December afternoon. Our December favourites are Vete-Katten, Svedjan Bageri, Socker Sucker and Mellqvist Kaffebar. All of them get that special Christmas feeling, with decorations and seasonal pastries.
Look out for two Christmas classics: pepparkakor, thin gingerbread biscuits, and lussebullar, saffron buns shaped like an S with a raisin in each curl. If you only try one, go for the lussebulle. You’ll find pepparkakor all year round in Sweden, but saffron buns are a real December treat.
For more cafés, see our guides to the best cafés and fika spots and the best bakeries in Stockholm.
Culture and shopping
For the darkest hours of the day, head indoors.
8. Get lost in a museum
December is a great month for museums. They’re less crowded than in summer, and there’s something special about coming in from the cold and getting lost in an exhibition for a couple of hours. Our museum guide will help you choose.
One tip we use ourselves: go to Fotografiska late. The photography museum is open until 11 pm most nights, and after 8 pm there are far fewer people, while you still have plenty of time for the exhibitions.
9. See the gingerbread houses at ArkDes
Every winter, ArkDes, the Swedish centre for architecture and design on Skeppsholmen, fills a hall with gingerbread houses built by children, amateurs and professional architects. When we visited, it was crowded, but we were impressed by all the creative ideas, took far too many photos and spent a long time discussing our favourites. The exhibition usually opens at the end of November and runs into January.
10. Go Christmas shopping
Even if you don’t need to buy anything, December is a lovely time to browse. For Christmas gifts, we’d send you to the Swedish design shops, to Designtorget, or to Swedish labels such as Byredo, CDLP and Haglöfs. NK and Åhléns City are the two big department stores in the centre. We also love the museum shops for gifts, especially at the Nordic Museum, Skansen and the Nobel Prize Museum.
See our guides to Swedish design shops and Swedish clothing brands in Stockholm for more.
11. See the NK Christmas windows
Every year, NK, the department store on Hamngatan, fills its street windows with animated Christmas scenes built around a new theme, so it’s never the same display twice. It’s free to look, and it’s one of Stockholm’s most popular Christmas traditions, so expect a crowd in front of each window, especially in the evenings and at weekends. Go earlier in the day on a weekday if you want room to stop and look. If you’re only passing by, walk on the other side of Hamngatan, where the pavement is quieter.
Outdoors and wellness
Make the most of the daylight, and the cold.
12. Go ice skating in Kungsträdgården
There are several places to skate in Stockholm, but Kungsträdgården is the most central. The outdoor rink sits in the middle of the city, surrounded by Christmas lights, and skating is free. You can rent skates on site for a fee. We like it best in the evening, when the rink is lit up and the ice is full of people of all ages: children holding on to their parents, teenagers racing laps and couples skating slowly side by side. If you haven’t skated in years, you won’t be the only one wobbling along the edge.
13. Try a winter sauna and an ice dip
A winter sauna is one of our favourite things to do in Stockholm. With freezing air outside, the heat inside the sauna feels more intense, and stepping out into the cold afterwards is half the experience. We’ve tried several in winter, including Hellasgården, Sthlm Sauna in Vinterviken and The Nest.
If you’re short on time and want something central, go to The Nest, the rooftop wellness area at Downtown Camper by Scandic. The heated outdoor pool means you still step out into the winter air, with a view over the rooftops. Book ahead, as spots fill up quickly.
For a more intimate experience, Sthlm Sauna in Vinterviken is hard to beat. It’s a small wood-fired sauna for at most ten people, right on the water. You hear the fire crackle, you look out over the dark lake, you talk to the people next to you, and you relax completely. There are no showers: you cool off with an ice dip straight into the lake.
The dip is a bit scary the first time. Hold on to the ladder, lower yourself slowly into the water, stay for a few seconds and climb back up. Don’t let go of the ladder, because you’re not there to swim. The point is to cool your body down after the heat. Never go into the water alone; always have someone standing by. Back in the sauna, you’ll feel an amazing rush as the warmth flows back into your cold arms and legs. We’ve done it many times, and the second time is always easier than the first. Note that Sthlm Sauna is run as a members’ sauna, so check their website for how visitors can book.
For more saunas, see our guide to the best saunas for visitors to Stockholm.
14. Take a long winter walk
On a crisp day, and especially after snow, a long walk is one of the simplest pleasures of a Stockholm December. Hagaparken is one of our favourite places for it, with wide paths, the blue Copper Tents and quiet lakeside views. Go in the late morning so you have the best of the daylight.
For more ideas, see the best parks and green spaces in Stockholm.
15. Head out to the archipelago
The archipelago is quiet in winter. Many restaurants and hostels close for the season, and the ferries run on reduced winter timetables, but the boats still go and the islands are peaceful. Vaxholm, about an hour by boat from the city, usually holds a Christmas market on a weekend in early December. Check timetables before you go, and plan to be back before it gets dark.
See our guides to getting to the archipelago by ferry and to Vaxholm.
Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve
If you’re in Stockholm over the holidays, know that Christmas Eve, December 24, is the main day of celebration in Sweden. Most Stockholmers spend it at home, and many shops, restaurants and museums close or shorten their hours. Plan ahead, and read our guide to Christmas in Stockholm for what’s open from December 24 to 26. For the end of the year, see our guide to New Year in Stockholm.
Practical tips for December in Stockholm
- Get up early. With only about six hours of daylight, the morning is precious. Do your outdoor sightseeing before lunch and save museums, cafés and the lights for the afternoon and evening.
- Book ahead. Julbord, Lucia concerts and popular saunas sell out. Book julbord in October and Lucia tickets as soon as they’re released.
- Plan around December 24 to 26. Christmas Eve is the main day of celebration in Sweden, and many shops, restaurants and museums close or shorten their hours from December 24 to 26. Book any meals out in advance and check opening hours before you go.
- Dress for slush, not just snow. Warm layers, waterproof shoes with a good grip and a hat will serve you better than a ski jacket.
- Use public transport. The metro, buses, trams and the Djurgården ferry are the easiest way to get around in the cold. Download the SL app to buy tickets and plan journeys, or simply tap a contactless bank card or your phone at the gates for a single adult ticket. For more, see our guide to getting around Stockholm.
- Pay by card. Stockholm is almost cashless, including at most Christmas market stalls.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, if you like cosy atmosphere, Christmas traditions and seasonal food. Days are short and cold, but the city is full of lights, markets and events like Lucia and Nobel Week Lights. Avoid December 24 to 26 if you want everything to be open.
Sometimes, but snow isn’t guaranteed. December often brings temperatures around freezing with a mix of rain, slush and snow. Snow is more likely in January and February.
Around six hours at the shortest. Around the winter solstice, the sun rises at about 8:45 am and sets at about 2:50 pm.
Most open in late November and close just before Christmas. The Stortorget market in Gamla Stan is open every day until December 23, while Skansen’s market runs on weekends, from November 27 to December 20 in 2026.
