3 x Christmas Markets in Canada
December is the month of the year when the lights twinkle a little brighter, laughter gets louder and darkness doesn’t feel so overwhelming. Or that’s how the month feels to me, but you may call me biased Sagittarius baby as well.
One of my favourite things during December is to explore Christmas Markets. If I had all the money and time in the world, I would really love to do a road trip only focusing only on Christmas Markets. Just imagine holding a steaming cup of your favourite festive beverage, while exploring enlightened paths surrounded by small, local pop-up shops and hearing angelic voice singing Christmas carols. People are laughing, snow is falling and tickling your nose… What could be better?
Well, to actually have a snow instead of rain, and maybe a little less people - as we all know, markets can get super crowded which might have an effect of your experience. Anyhow, let’s forget about these facts for now and hop into the subject itself - my 3 x Christmas markets here in Canada.
Ps. And apologies for the photo quality in the sections 2. & 3. - didn’t have my proper camera with me and my Samsung doesn’t perform it’s best in low light. But I hope you get the mood!
1.Vancouver Christmas Market (Jack Poole Plaza, 1055 Canada Pl, Vancouver, BC V6C 3G3)
My first ever Christmas Market experience in Canada was Vancouver Christmas Market. Located in the downtown of Vancouver, close by the famous Canada Place, it’s easily accessible either by train or bus. As I live together with my husband on the North Vancouver, we simply took the Seabus and walked around 10 minutes to make our way to the final destination.
To get in you’d needed to pay around CAD 20 per person, which was surprising to me - usually markets I’ve visited have been free of charge. The market area itself was bigger than what I’m used to in Finland and was extremely cozy with all the little shops, lights and photobooths. I’ve a soft spot in my heart for carousels so I was extremely happy to be greeted with one straight away after stepping in, but I was even more delighted by two persons dressed up as Gingerbread Cookies.
Was the market worth the money? Yes and no. I wouldn’t pay that again, especially as you’ll be just spending more money while exploring. But as a first-timer it was all right, especially as there weren’t too many people due to basic windy-Vancouver weather. Plus I got the most perfect half moon necklace from the marketplace (Wild Abandon).
2. Shipyards Christmas Market (The Shipyards, 125 Victory Ship Way, North Vancouver)
The Shipyards Christmas Market in North Vancouver was arranged for the first time and oh my, was it a massive fest. They really went all in when arranging this! And I mean that in 100% positive way - there was so much to see to do. You could go skating, listen to live music, enjoy food or grab a drink, explore not only local pop-up shops outdoors, but also indoors, take a picture with Santa Claus (!) or strike a pose on other spots arranged for photographs….. I have a feeling that people who arranged this festival just went all in with the ideas and said yes to everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if next year there would be a massive ferris wheel as well.
When you combine all of those activities mentioned before with the fact that you are exploring Christmas Market with a cityscape of Vancouver as a background for free… I’m out of words.
3. Toronto Christmas Market (at the The Distillery Historic District)
I’d been to Toronto and the Distillery Historic District once before in 2018, but during September. My memory of the Distillery Historic District was delightful, with the taste of first poutine and little bit of whiskey. Therefore I got extremely excited that Christmas Market in Toronto was located in the same area.
Like Shipyards Christmas Market, also Toronto offered a free entry to the market area. This Christmas Market was easily the biggest of these three and had the most shops. The Distillery District itself is already beautiful with all the old buildings, but when adding the festive lights the atmosphere was magical. In the middle of the market was an enormous Dior Christmas tree and countdown to Christmas, which I thought was a quite fun detail.
To be truly honest with you, Toronto offered quite an… interesting Christmas Market weather with cold, strong wind and rain, which felt like ice cubes when hitting the face. Therefore I really couldn’t enjoy the market to it’s fullest potential, but would love to go back again. Warmer, although windy and rainy, winter days in Vancouver have spoiled me and rotten my Finnish gut haha.
Sooo, because of the weather me and my work buddy eventually just decided to go indoors and enjoy some ramen (restaurant Boku, big thumbs up), which was the best idea we had the whole night. But Toronto, your Christmas market was 10/10.
Until next time!
x Krista
