A fairytale Christmas in the old town on Tallinn Town Hall square 01.12.2023 – 07.01.2024

The Tallinn Christmas Market, crowned with the title of the best Christmas market in Europe in 2019, is open again from December 1 to January 7. Enter the winter magic world, where you will be greeted by a versatile program, unique crafts, and delicious local delicacies!

Tallinn Christmas Market will open its stage, stalls, and imaginary gates on December 1 at 6:00 pm. Monika Haukanõmm, Tallinn City Center District Governor, will say the opening words, and then the Christmas lights will be lit on the city’s most important Christmas tree. At the end of the festive opening event, the Town Hall square will be filled with winter music – beloved singers Ott Lepland and Tanja Mihhailova-Saar and the White Gospel choir will shine on the stage.

This year, the most important square in Estonia is decorated with a 14-meter tall spruce tree, which arrived here from Kiili municipality. The Christmas tree is decorated with thousands of Christmas ornaments, and with its light chains, it casts both warm and cold light on the gnome house-like stalls, where, as usual, local producers are given preference.

As appropriate for the cold weather, you can equip yourself and your gift bags with woolen mittens, socks, scarves, and hats. Old craftspeople will arrive with new and reinvented models and patterns. As a newcomer, ALPAKA, whose alpaca wool and leather products combine unique Estonian design and precious ecological material, will open its sales kiosk.

In the world of gingerbread, new and old winds are blowing at the same time: for the first time, Metsaoru gingerbreads are on sale, made according to a medieval recipe, which is supposed to calm the nerves and make the heart rejoice. The author of the recipe is the saintly nun Hildegard, a visionary who knew how to make the benefits obtained from plants and spices more palatable for people: with gingerbread, of course! Besides the classics, other gingerbread sellers have also renewed their selection in a rather tradition-friendly way. For example, this time, the selection includes gingerbread with marzipan and “Mart’s bread” from Tallinn, which look unexpectedly presentable. Artistic gingerbread creations, the decorations of which become more and more magnificent every year, are well suited as gifts for foreign guests and to complement the Christmas mood at home. Some of them have been made especially for the Christmas market and cannot be bought elsewhere.

To experience the real feeling of Christmas, the Christmas market offers hot glög (mulled wine), which is probably made from all the berries and fruits that can be found in Estonia! Handcrafted glögs certainly held in honor; once again, you can enjoy sea buckthorn and blueberry glögs, which have become people’s favorites in recent years. The Christmas dishes, which are prepared right here, add stronger Christmas tones to the spicy-sweet mulled wine aroma spreading across the Town Hall square. You can binge on traditional blood sausages and sauerkraut stewed in beer and seasoned potatoes. Gourmets are treated to slow-cooked venison, chicken marinated in yogurt, and pork marinated in garlic, as well as handmade onion vinegar and cheese-champignon sausages.

A newcomer to the Christmas market is a bread wafer with bearberry butter. To the delight of vegans, the plant-based selection is also exciting and tasty. Our southern neighbors, the Latvians, have come to offer their plant-based delicacies, surprising us with clever choices such as chia caviar and soy shashlik.​

The environmentally friendly way of thinking has also reached the Christmas market – this year, reusable dishes are being used, with a deposit of two euros. When the dish is returned to the collection point, the deposit will be returned.

A craft workshop, where under the guidance of skilled craftsmen, you can make a reflector or a personalized Christmas ornament or perfect your cup decorating skills, opens its doors to active and curious visitors to the market.

On December 3, the 1st Advent, Mayor of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart, and Provost of Tallinn Jaak Aus will declare the season of Advent. Together, we will light the Advent candle, accompanied by Christmas carols from the joint choir of the churches of the Tallinn diocese, with the participation of the Concert Choir and Chamber Choir Canorus of EELC Tallinn St. Charles’ Church, Mixed Choir and Aktiva Chamber Choir of St. John’s Church, Chamber Choir of the Church of the Holy Spirit, Mixed Choir Laudate Dominum of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Bethel Church Chamber Choir, Mission Choir and Tallinn Chamber Choir.

Santa Claus, who arrives on the First Advent, December 3, opens the door of his cozy little house every day from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm. If you can recite a poem or sing a song, you will get a treat from Santa Claus! The shier ones can drop their gift lists and Christmas wishes into Santa’s mailbox. Three classic carousels offer Christmas joy for the youngest members of the family.

This year, the stage of the Christmas market will be filled with a colorful cultural program. The stage is reserved for performers on Fridays and Saturdays from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm and on Sundays from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Several well-known groups and artists will perform, some of them long-time Christmas Market stars, such as folk dance troupes “Sõleke” and “Leigarid” and contemporary dance troupes “JJ Street” and “TantsuGeen.” In addition, we will hear the performances of Birgit Sarrap, Mihkel Matiisen, and other people’s favorites. The Irish dance group Solas will bring a new kind of charm to the stage. The show and current events will be managed by the familiar Santas Äffy and Arlet.

The entire old town is full of Christmas events. Hopner House’s concert series “Living Windows” will bring life to the shop windows of Viru Street on December 2 and December 10 at 4 pm, when they become a concert stage. Each stage will shine for 15 minutes, so a warmly dressed walker can listen to a concert on Viru Street for almost two hours. The leader of the program is Siim Aimla. Young musicians from MUBA and dancers from the Estonian Dance Agency perform under the supervision of Julia Koneva. The shining star is Kalle Sepp.

On December 9, 10, and 17 at 4 and 6 pm, Hopner House invites you to tour the old town together with a storyteller. The start is in front of Hopner House, Raekoja plats 18. The cost for the tour is 5 €.

On December 1, 2 and 3, light shows will be presented in five places in the old town as part of the European Green Capital project:

• The show “Imagine” at 4:30 pm and 7:00 pm in the Commandant’s Garden
• Performance “Bog” at 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm on Harju Hill
• Performance “Forest” at 5:30 pm and 8:00 pm in Hirvepark
• Performance “Blossom” at 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm in Toompark
• The performance of “Little Land” at 6:30 and 9:00 at Towners’ Square

On Christmas Eve, December 24, at 11:50 am., the Mayor of Tallinn, Mihhail Kõlvart, will declare the Christmas peace, traditionally using the words Queen Kristiina used to declare the Christmas peace 368 years ago. Already a week later, on December 31, everyone is invited to the Town Hall Square to welcome the New Year. The band “Legend” will end the old year, and DJ Havi will choose the rhythms of the new year. The Christmas market will not sleep, but is also open on January 1!

The Christmas market will close its gates on January 7, 2024. The Christmas celebrations, which have slid into the new year, will be summed up by a concert of children’s groups, including Lolala. Children as our future nicely symbolize the hopeful New Year’s wishes of all of us and are well suited to open a busy everyday life. The new Christmas market is open!

Come and be a part of the fairytale Christmas in Tallinn’s old town!