Christmas food in Reykjavik, 2026

What are the key Christmas food dates in Reykjavik in 2026?

12 December, first Yule Lad. 23 December, skata day. 24 December at 18:00, Christmas begins. 6 January 2027, the last Yule Lad leaves.

The 13 Yule Lads arrive one a night from 12 December to Christmas Eve and leave one a day until 6 January. Several of them are food thieves: the Skyr Gobbler arrives on 19 December, the Sausage Swiper on 20 December and Meat Hook on the 23rd. Children put a shoe on the windowsill, and you'll see the lads all over shop windows.

The calendar is fixed, so the weekdays are the only thing that changes. In 2026 they fall like this:

What do Icelanders eat at Christmas?

Hangikjot (smoked lamb), hamborgarhryggur (glazed pork roast) or rjupa (ptarmigan), with laufabraud, the thin, hand-cut leaf bread.

Visit Reykjavik lists hangikjot, hamborgarhryggur and rjupa as the main meats on the Christmas table. Laufabraud are paper-thin discs of dough, carved with patterns and fried. Carving them is a tradition of the weeks before Christmas.

Smoked lamb is the one you're most likely to taste as a visitor: Visit Reykjavik lists it at the Austurvollur Christmas market, and Icelandic lamb is on the regular food tours all year. For the background on lamb, fish and skyr, read our guide to Icelandic food.

What is skata, and where do you smell it on 23 December?

Fermented skate, eaten on Thorlaksmessa, 23 December. Serving it in restaurants is getting more popular, and the smell is famously strong.

Thorlaksmessa honours Saint Thorlak, Iceland's patron saint, who died on 23 December 1193. Today it is the last day of Christmas preparations. The custom is a meal of skata, boiled with potatoes, turnips and melted sheep fat, and serving it in restaurants is becoming more popular. Visit Reykjavik puts it simply: "the scent of skata (fermented skate) fills the air" that day, and the dish "divides opinions but unites families".

In 2026 Thorlaksmessa is a Wednesday. If you've tried fermented shark and liked it, skata is your next step. If not, walk on by.

Is there a Christmas food tour in Reykjavik in 2026?

Yes: Your Friend in Reykjavik runs a seasonal Christmas Food Tour at 20,990 ISK for three hours, and the Reykjavik Food Walk runs daily.

The Reykjavik Christmas Food Tour is run by the same company as the traditional tasting tour. Its page lists smoked lamb, laufabraud, glazed hamborgarhryggur, reindeer pate, gravlax and pickled herring, with jolaol (Christmas ale), malt og appelsin, mulled wine and hot cocoa, a stop at the Little Christmas Store and groups of 12. It meets at Hlollabatar on Austurstraeti. The operator has not published 2026 departure dates on that page yet.

It isn't sold through this site. If you'd rather book a tour with free cancellation, the Reykjavik Food Walk runs every day, and the hot chocolate food walk ends with hot chocolate and marriage cake, which suits a December afternoon. Check the booking calendar for 24, 25 and 31 December before you count on a departure.

Kleina, seafood soup, the hot dog, hot chocolate and marriage cake, plus a secret dish.

★ 4.7 · 3 hours · from $149

Explore the hot chocolate food walk → Tour details

How much daylight is there for a food tour in December?

About four hours on the shortest day: the sun rises at 11:22 and sets at 15:29 around 21 December.

The Reykjavik Grapevine gives sunrise at 11:22 and sunset at 15:29 on the winter solstice, four hours and seven minutes of daylight. A lunchtime departure, such as the street food walk at 1 PM, uses most of it.

Dinner tours run in the dark. Wear shoes with grip either way.

Where are the Christmas markets around Reykjavik?

Hafnarfjordur's Christmas Village on December weekends, a market on Austurvollur in the centre, the forest market in Heidmork and Christmas weekends at Arbaer Open Air Museum.

Visit Reykjavik's market guide lists four. Jolathorpid, the Christmas Village in Hafnarfjordur, opens on weekends in December with wooden huts, hot chocolate and mulled wine. The Austurvollur market in the centre sells smoked lamb, sweet pastries and roasted almonds. Heidmork, on the edge of the city, has freshly cut trees, and Arbaer Open Air Museum holds a couple of Christmas weekends with the Yule Lads.

Austurvollur is the square in front of Parliament House, which several of the food walks pass. Ask your guide which stalls are worth it.

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