Santa Clause is coming to town!! While the elves are busy preparing for Christmas, Santa is taking a break from his busy Lapland workshop to visit the official opening of Aleksanterinkatu Street on Sunday 22 November 2015, a tradition that is more than half a century old!! Santa Claus together with Major of Helsinki will arrive at the Senate Square by tram at 2:00 pm to officiate the ceremony and to switch on the Christmas lights.  The switching on the Christmas light is a sure sign that Christmas is under way.
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Locals and tourists alike are spoilt for choice when it comes to Christmas markets. Helsinki has numerous Christmas markets offering great taste of home made delicacies, traditional ingredients for Christmas table as well as handmade handicrafts of both traditional and modern gifts, bringing the Christmas spirits to locals and visitors.

St Thomas Christmas market is the largest Christmas market in Helsinki.  Warm, genuine and enchanting, the Christmas market has around 120 vendors in cute little huts that offers gifts for all tastes including handicrafts and design items.To top all that, the beautiful old carousel will be set up in the centre of the market area. The carousel is there for everyone to enjoy free of charge. The Christmas Sauna located at the inner yard of the Bock house is definitely something to experience combined with the refreshments of the Winter Terrace. The market is organized at
the Senate Square between December 4th and 22nd. Opening hours are between 11AM to 8PM. Food court is open on Fridays and Saturdays until 10PM.

The Christmas World (Joulumaailma) Christmas Market, located in the Kaivopiha area and around the Three Smiths statue (opposite Stockmann department store) is open from 28 November until 23 December and from 27 December until 6 January. Opening hours are between Monday – Friday 11AM – 7PM, Saturday 10AM – 6PM and Sunday 12PM – 18PM. Do some Christmas shopping, enjoy seasonal food and meet Santa Claus!

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