A delicious Christmas in Scandinavia

Try out a mini holiday to two countries in the Oresund region and you will get the best of two festive cities celebrating the run up to Christmas - Malmo in Sweden and Copenhagen in Denmark.

Copenhagen is especially wonderful at Christmastime and the historic city of Malmo in Sweden is another great Yuletide attraction. Thanks to the Oresund Bridge which majestically links the two countries, it is so quick and easy to travel between the two. There is a convenient rail-link straight from Copenhagen airport, setting these cities just 25 minutes apart.

Copenhagen
In Copenhagen, serious Christmas shoppers make for Stroget, northern Europe’s longest pedestrian shopping street. From mid November onwards, shopkeepers try to outdo each other in creating the most attractive window display. Many shoppers look for exclusive designs or perhaps special quality decorations for the Christmas tree, if so, head straight for Illums Bolighus, a centre for Danish and international design.

Next door at Amagertorv Square stands the Royal Copenhagen flagship shore, a wonderful 17th century building filled with fine porcelain, crystal and lots more, including a super Christmas shop. New designs are launched each year ensuring the style - conscious of today get their own iconic items to decorate their homes.

Royal Copenhagen is also famous for its display of Christmas tables (20 November-31 December). They use a different theme each year and the dinner tables are decorated with the best of Royal Copenhagen finery. This year the tables are created by six actors and dancers from The Royal Theatre, who each will present their own inspirations from different dances in the seasonal ‘The Nutcracker’. Be prepared to queue for this annual visual highlight!

Another ‘must do’ this side of the Sound - is a visit to the annual Christmas Market at Tivoli Gardens (13 Nov – 30 Dec). Tivoli Gardens is the most popular attraction in Denmark, and this time of the year they put on a fabulous display of the best illuminated trees you will ever see. Many stalls sell Danish handicrafts, seasonal foods and gifts. To keep warm sip some spicy ‘Glogg’, taken with the sweet ‘Klejner’ bread. Tivoli continues to succeed as a favourite for all age groups.

A taste of Danish Christmas
Many restaurants around Nyhavn harbour serve seasonal dishes. A traditional Danish Christmas dinner can consist of roast duck, goose or pork with apples, prunes and red cabbage. This special meal ends with a rice pudding - hiding one lucky almond! Local breweries always bring out a Christmas Brew each year, which goes well with the seasonal food.

Malmo
Malmo is another great place for shopping. The big department store, Hansakompaniet, is the place to go when in need of inspiration for last-minute Christmas gifts. For smaller individual boutiques try out the area around Storgatan street and Lilla Torg Square. There are also several cosy bars and restaurants surrounding Lilla Torg, where locals and visitors meet up for the traditional ‘glogg’, but in Sweden this is taken with ginger biscuits. From 25 November the City of Malmo puts on its Christmas market, attracting more and more visitors each year.

Unique for Sweden and a good time to be in Malmo is on the 13th December for Lucia! This tradition takes place each year on this date, when Lucia ‘The Queen of Light’, wearing candles in her hair, together with her attendants, travel through the city in a horse drawn carriage up to Stortorget Square where locals will have gathered to sing traditional carols and watch the official crowning of Lucia. During this day it is obligatory to have the Lusse Bun, a tasty yellow saffron bread with raisins enjoyed with coffee.

This is traditionally also the time for the beginning of the Christmas Markets in Malmo, which then take place every weekend up until Christmas. From Lucia Day onwards Swedes start looking forward to the Christmas Smorgasbord, which contains of a vast number of dishes including a leg of Christmas ham, sausages, herring salad, pickled herring, liver pate, rye bread and crisp breads, potatoes and a special fish dish, lutfisk. Lutfisk is a dried ling then soaked in water before cooking.

A Christmas holiday to Copenhagen and Malmo is simply delicious.

With flight times around two hours or less, you can be there in no time at all. SAS Scandinavian Airlines operate regular direct services out of London Heathrow and City airports, Dublin, Aberdeen, Manchester and Birmingham. For latest offers see flysas.co.uk.

For further information see visitcopenhagen.com and visitdenmark.com.