One of my yearly Christmas traditions is to go to Oslo, Norway, to visit family - but also to soak up the festive vibes which I struggle to get anywhere else. Where better for a December getaway than the snow-filled landscape of Norway? With traditional markets, beautifully decorated neighbourhoods, amazing Christmas foods, carol singing, and a short distance away from forests and nature, it's an amazing place.
As part of my yearly trip, I always like to visit Jul i Vinterland, one of, if not the, biggest Christmas market in Norway. Open from November 9 until December 31, and located at Spikersuppa on Karl Johan, near the Royal Palace, it's the place to go to soak up Christmas atmosphere.
It has everything you'd want from a Christmas market - stalls selling homemade items and food, a huge ice rink, fairground rides, and a bar where you can get mulled wine. And I have to admit, this is my main reason for going. Norway's version of mulled wine is called gløgg, a spiced mulled wine, which you can add red wine to. And one thing really surprised me - I expected it to be quite cheap for me, due to the conversion rate, but it was actually still pretty extortionate.
The Christmas market itself was more packed than I've ever seen it. Moving along, at a snail's pace, with the stream of people, unable to go over and look at any of the stalls, I began to panic. It seems many tourists are taking advantage of the exchange rate, which is making it a lot cheaper for many to travel to Norway. Historically, Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world to live in.
