Christmas at the NK Department Store

Like Harrods in London, Bergdorf Goodman in NYC or Galeries Lafayette in Paris... NK, or Nordiska Kompaniet, is the most famous luxury department store in Sweden. There are, however, several reasons, other than shopping, to visit NK during the holiday season.

To start off with, you have the holiday window displays and decorations throughout the store... especially the giant, hanging Christmas tree in the center atrium. The holiday window displays are eagerly anticipated by Swedes each holiday season and they are really geared towards children... very traditional with lots of moving parts.

Speaking of children, this is where you will find Santa Claus (or jultomten as he is called in Swedish) in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Children, either terrified or excited, line up with their parents for their chance to sit on jultomten's lap and give him their wish lists. Up until December 14th, he will be there on Friday, Saturday & Sunday afternoons, after which he will be found there daily, in the afternoon, until December 23rd. Click here for exact times (in Swedish).

NK is located in the downtown area. To get there from the Rival Hotel, it is a 30 minute walk through Gamla Stan, 3 subway stops (red line to T-Centralen) or a 7-8 minute taxi ride. The department store will have extra long opening hours on the 19th through 23rd of December. They are open on Christmas Eve from 10am to 2pm for desperate last minute shoppers and closed on Christmas Day.