Kosta Christmas market - a wonderful Christmas atmosphere in the Kingdom of Crystal.

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Kosta Christmas Market is part of the Christmas celebrations in Kosta, in the Kingdom of Glass. Here you can experience Christmas shopping, Christmas lights galore and a lot of other Christmas activities, such as herring and Christmas table. We are here with our motorhome, in collaboration with Glasriket. Welcome to the Christmas atmosphere deluxe!

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Kosta Christmas market

Kosta Christmas Market is a classic Christmas market, filled with charming market stalls selling crafts and delicacies. What is special here is that you also have all the glass art, all the millions of Christmas lights and of course all the special Småland food experiences.

You can also visit Santa's World, and the route leads through a beautiful snow-covered forest. As adults, we may have enjoyed the atmospheric forest the most, but for children it's certainly more fun to get to Santa and all the moving Christmas installations in his neighbourhood.

Opening of the Kosta Christmas market

Kosta Christmas Market was inaugurated this year on Saturday 13 November. At 17:00, locals and tourists gathered to watch Måns Zelmerlöw give the opening speech and sing, and then it was time to light all 6 million (!) Christmas lights.

In the photo below, we think we've managed to capture the atmosphere, although it's hard to tell that the glowing dot on the podium is actually our very own Måns. We still laugh when we see the picture - not the most successful artist photo in the history of the world, but you can't go wrong with glittering gold!

The finale of the inauguration was celebrated by filling the sky with colourful fireworks.

6 million Christmas lights

The winter-dark Kosta was lit up with a mesmerising 6 million Christmas lights. It felt like every tree and every facade was glowing against the dark evening sky. This is really just what you need in chilly November. Amazingly cosy and beautiful!

Even later in the evening, when the Christmas market had closed for the day, it was nice to walk past it. What a lovely light in the night!

Hyttsill

We celebrated the first day of the Kosta Christmas market by testing the local tradition "hyttsill". Hyttsill is an old custom in Glasriket that goes back to the time when the smelter was the centre of the village.

When the glassblowers had finished their work for the day, the ovens were used for cooking, with salt herring and potatoes being grilled in the ash heaps. Around the meal, the work team and their families, as well as hunters and tramps from the neighbourhood, would meet. To this day, the tradition is to serve herring in a glass hut.

Classic hyttsill food includes salted herring cooked with onions and cream, as well as lard strips, salted pork and baked potatoes. Now at Christmas time, it was complemented by some Christmas classics such as egg halves, Christmas ham, meatballs, prince sausage, beetroot salad and Jansson's temptation. For dessert, the traditional cheesecake with jam and cream was served.

The main attraction is perhaps not the food, but rather the entertainment. When we were here, two nice troubadours entertained, and if you book carefully, you can also spot great artists, such as Tommy Körberg, Hasse "Kvinnaböske" Andersson, Robert Wells or Lasse Kronér.

We ourselves most appreciated the entertainment of the glassblower who, during the evening, blew glass, told stories and let eager guests try ... It was a great atmosphere!

Kosta lodge

We visited Kosta Christmas market with a motorhome and we stood at night at Kosta lodge, where there is a nice parking place. Now in November, at the opening of the Christmas market, we were probably around 20 motorhomes here. There is electricity, toilets, showers and a jacuzzi. As far as we knew, the emptying service was closed at this time of year, but a year-round open service is being developed.

There are also guest rooms in the main building and accommodation in cottages.

Several of our campsite neighbours told us that they had bathed or would bathe and sounded excited about this. We were keen to swim too, but when we came back to the lodge after the evening at the hut, they were closed. At least we got to take some photos. So cosy!

Video from Kosta Christmas market

More to see and do in the neighbourhood

There is so much to do things to see and do in Kosta and in the rest of the Glasriket. When it comes to Kosta, we can highly recommend a visit to Kosta Boda Art Hotel (don't miss the cool Glasbaren!), the delicatessen Kosta Delikatess, Kosta Art Gallery and to try to blowing glass at Kosta Glass Centre. Also check out the charming little toy and collectibles shop Margaretha's Dollhouse.

If you like nature and adventure, we can recommend a breathtaking zipline adventure at Sweden Zipline. We can also recommend dog-friendly Vidinge Farm, where you can stay in a room or with a camper van and experience nature by bike or packraft (inflatable canoe). In addition, there are of course even more glassworks, as well as an hand paper mill …!

Have you visited the Kosta Christmas market? Do you like this type of Christmas event?

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