Helsinki

Atmosphere: 🎄🎄🎄

Like Copenhagen, Helsinki was a bit muted in the Christmas department. The main avenue from the train station to the Cathedral Square (containing the main Christmas market) were lit up, and the Esplanade park was fully outfitted with lights, but the rest of the city looked indistinguishable from my last visit (with the addition of tons of snow and ice).

The Cathedral Square market itself is very nice. It’s set up like a little village at the heart of town, and you wander among throngs of Finnish people huddled together through the narrow, makeshift alleys, which raises the ambient temperature by a noticeable amount. If it weren’t for the fact that this is the only major market in the city, it’d be one of the best atmospheres on my trip.

Food: 🥘🥘🥘🥘

Though the selection wasn’t the greatest due to the size of the markets, damn did Helsinki have good food. My favorite was the traditional rice porridge—there were three different vendors at the main market and my favorite was by far the one that served the dish with fruit compote and honey. One of the most delicious things I tried on my entire trip. Everything else tasted delicious, was freshly made, and well worth the price. Points off for the lack of variety, but otherwise full marks.

Crafts: 🛠️🛠️🛠️🛠️

Like with the food, I saw a lot of cool local handicrafts here. Good quality, good prices, unique stuff. Only taking off points again for lack of variety due to the size of the markets, but there are still plenty of good Christmas souvenirs to be found here.

Affordability: 💶💶

Despite being a Nordic country ($$$), Helsinki markets were surprisingly affordable. 4 to 5 euros for drinks, 4 to 12 euros for snacks. Basically, there were higher-end goods you could easily waste your money on, but there were also cheaper offerings available, and I spent considerably less here than I expected to.

Extras: N/A

Sadly, Helsinki didn’t have any Christmas-related “extras” that I was aware of. You can of course take advantage of the regular offerings (including sauna, which has a cozy, Christmas-y vibe if you think about it), but there weren’t performances, rides, or other spectacles like at the other markets I visited.

Overall: 🎅🏼🎅🏼🎅🏼

Helsinki would be a spectacular Christmas destination if it weren’t so modest on size and scale of its decor. I’d highly recommend it because I also love Helsinki, but I recognize that it’s a bit quiet. I think it’d be a perfect destination to split time with Estonia, and get two markets for the price of one.