Carol services, Lucia concerts and Christmas church music in Stockholm, 2026

By the ULTIMATE Stockholm Editorial Team

Storkyrkan: Lucia week and Nine Lessons and Carols

Stockholm’s cathedral, beside the Royal Palace in Gamla Stan, holds Möt Lucia i Storkyrkan through Lucia week: Sunday 6 December at 3pm and 5pm; Tuesday 8 to Friday 11 December at 6pm and 8pm; Saturday 12 December at 1pm (a family Lucia), 3pm, 5pm and 7.30pm; and Lucia Day, Sunday 13 December, at 3pm, 5pm, 7.30pm and 9.30pm.

The choirs change night by night: the Stockholm music gymnasium’s chamber choir, the music classes of Adolf Fredrik, S:t Jacobs Vokalensemble under Mikael Wedar, and, on 10 and 13 December, Storkyrkans Kammarkör under Helene Stureborg. Tickets are SEK 110–305, with reductions for pensioners, students and children; the age limit is 6.

On Thursday 17 December at 6pm the cathedral holds A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, sung in English. Entry is free, with a collection for the church’s music; doors open 30 minutes before, latecomers are not admitted, and the age limit is 6.

Our advice: the 9.30pm Lucia on 13 December, in the candlelit cathedral at the end of the longest night of Lucia week, is the one to book first.

Storkyrkan: Möt Lucia 2026 →   Storkyrkan: Nine Lessons and Carols →

English carols: St Peter & St Sigfrid’s

The Anglican church of St Peter & St Sigfrid, on Dag Hammarskjölds väg in Diplomatstaden, keeps the English Christmas. Christingle Children’s Carols is on Sunday 6 December at 4pm, and the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols is sung twice on Sunday 13 December, at 4pm and 6pm (the 4pm service can also be followed on Zoom).

Midnight Mass is at 11.30pm on Christmas Eve, Thursday 24 December, and the Christmas Day service at 11am on Friday 25 December. Our advice: Lucia Day and the carol service fall on the same Sunday; hear Lucia at Storkyrkan in the afternoon and English carols at 6pm.

St Peter & St Sigfrid’s: Christmas 2026 →

Lucia and Christmas concerts in the city’s churches

Engelbrektskyrkan in Östermalm opens Advent with a concert on Sunday 29 November at 5pm (entry free; come early), sings Andreas Hallén’s Christmas oratorio on Sunday 6 December at 5pm, and holds a Lucia family concert with its children’s and youth choirs on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December at 4pm; tickets for the oratorio and Lucia are sold through Ticketmaster.

In Södermalm, Sofia kyrka holds its Lucia concert, “Ljuset lyser i mörkret”, on 13 December at 5pm and 7pm (tickets released on 17 November at 10am), and “Vi sjunger in julen” on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 December at 3pm and 6pm. Tickets go through a Billetto queue drawn by lottery at release, so there is no advantage in waiting early. On 26 December, Julens psalmer och sånger is free to attend.

Oscarskyrkan in Östermalm holds its Lucia concerts on 13 December at 4pm and 6pm, with Oscars Kammarkör and Ars Nova; tickets are through Tickster, and the parish warns that they usually sell out.

Our advice: Christmas morning’s julotta, the candlelit early service, is a Swedish tradition; parishes publish their 2026 times in December, so check the church’s own page in the week before.

Engelbrektskyrkan: Christmas 2026 →   Sofia kyrka: Christmas concerts 2026 →   Oscarskyrkan: Lucia concerts →

Skansen: Seglora Church and Lucia at Solliden

At Skansen, the 18th-century timber Seglora Church holds short Christmas concerts by choirs and vocal ensembles at 1pm and 2.30pm on the Advent weekends of 28–29 November, 5–6 December and 19–20 December, and on Christmas Day at 2pm. On 12 and 13 December its Lucia concerts are at 11am, 1pm, 2.30pm and 4pm, with a separate ticket. Doors open 20 minutes before, with no entry once a concert has begun.

On the same weekend, students from the Stockholm music gymnasium walk in procession through the park to sing Lucia on the Solliden Stage, and children from the Spektrumkören sing a 1920s Lucia in the old Temperance Hall. Our advice: pair a Seglora concert with Skansen’s Christmas market, which opens on 27 November.

Skansen: Christmas concerts in Seglora Church →   Skansen: Lucia →   Christmas in Stockholm →

How to get a seat

Lucia concerts are the most sought-after tickets of the Swedish December, and the best sell out weeks ahead: book as soon as tickets are released. Where entry is free, come at least 30 minutes early. Churches are cool in December, and coats stay on.

Our advice: Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday, and Lucia Day falls on a Sunday, so the weekend of 12 and 13 December is the heart of the season. Check each church’s own page in the week before you go, as times can change.

Questions and answers