Oslo Christmas market – A festive day trip
As the end of the year was soon looming and I was 1 country away from hitting 20, i decided that ending the year on 20 countries would be a great way to help my mission and enter the new year on a rounded, even number. I soon got looking into short weekend breaks, but then I was hit with the fantastic reality that December was soon approaching which meant Christmas market galore! I could barely contain my excitement as I researched into some of the best christmas markets and worked out which places I would realistically be able to visit. Oslo kept making an appearance on several different lists and the more I researched into Oslo, the more desperate I was becoming to experience the vibrant city. I then had a crazy thought, ‘could I visit Oslo in a day?’. I began searching into the various christmas market locations as well as travel arrangements and worked out the answer was ‘yes’, I could visit Oslo in a day. The thought of having a jam packed day full of christmas markets, excited me massively and during the lead up to the day of my departure, all I could think about was how many activities I could fit into my day of festivities.
My alarm sounded at 2:30 am in the morning, suddenly I felt that visiting Oslo in a day might not have been the best idea but those thoughts soon disappeared as i excitedly made my way to the airport. Our travel plans for the day was a 6am flight to Oslo and a 9pm flight back home giving us around 10 hours to eat and drink as much as we possibly could during our time visiting the Christmas markets. Waking up from a short nap on the plane and witnessing that we were about to land into a particularly snowy Oslo, was a highlight for me as I began feeling the festive sensation.
All journey’s went smoothly and we were in Oslo town centre by 10am. I was immediately amazed by the cleanliness of the city as well as all the beautiful lights and decorations displayed within shop windows and of course, the beautifully decorated Christmas trees within the main square. Oslo is a large city with easy access to the main points of interest. After a short walk which was made longer by taking multiple detours into various, wonderfully decorated shops, we came across our first Christmas market. Looking around this Christmas market, I realised how truly magical it was was. Every inch of the area was filled with wonderful market stalls selling an array of various gifts and tasty delicacies. Amongst the markets were areas beautifully decorated with fire pits and logs delicately placed around the fires, being used by families to keep their excitable children warm after skating on the large ice rink centered within all the festivities. One of my favourite parts of the market was the delicious roasted caramelised nuts along with a traditional Norwegian delicacy, Gløgg, which is similar to mulled wine. We also came across a market stall which was selling New York cheesecakes covered in belgian chocolate and sprinkled with a topping of your choice. These were presented to look like reindeers which was a wonderful christmassy touch and not to mention, was absolutely delicious! This was definitely our favourite christmas market and we came back here at the end of the day just before home time, to see the beautiful lights and decorations come alive in the darkness of the night time.
We also visited a couple of other Christmas markets which were extremely interesting to see the culture of people keen to show you various items that they have created as well as witnessing more beautiful lights and decorations. Our day was full of walking and exploring the beautiful city of Oslo (not to mention, quite a bit of shopping) then before we knew it, it was time to think about dinner before heading back to the airport to catch out flight home. We found a beautiful quaint restaurant to enjoy our final meal in the wonderfully festive city. Something that shocked me about the dining in Oslo, was that everybody seemed to enjoy eating outside even in -1 temperatures! Although the extremely warm looking blankets and multiple outside heaters did seem tempting, we opted to sit inside where I enjoyed a reindeer pizza before making our way to the airport after an exhausting (but tasty) day. Oslo airport has a lot of things to do which made our time at the airport fly and we also came home with some lovely souvenirs of our day out. After both of us sleeping for the majority of the flight, we returned back to our home at 1am the next morning. It’s safe to say that we both had an extremely long sleep that night!
Although we found the day to be tiring when we eventually stopped, I wouldn’t change anything about it and I absolutely loved the ease of travelling to another country for a day. I think if it’s possible for you, you should definitely give a day trip to another country a shot, you won’t regret it.
Related Posts
Top 3 European Christmas Markets
Vienna Christmas markets – A full list of Vienna’s Christmas markets
