4 Best Places to Shop in Iceland

One look at Litla Jólabúðin and you'll know what it's all about: Christmas. The shop is open year-round despite its seasonality, selling ornaments and other wintertime trinkets. They keep a countdown to Christmas going outside the shop and sell postcards to fill out and drop in the post box out front to get a special something in the mail from one of Iceland's mischievous Yule Lads.

While traveling through Iceland, you will come across beautiful hand-knit sweaters in all kinds of colors and patterns. If you already know how to knit or you want to learn, this store offers kits with everything you need to make a traditional Icelandic sweater that will last you a lifetime.

This nonprofit wool workshop is housed in an old white house by the Ring Road. Since the 1990s, local women have been knitting here and selling their wares, including lopapeysa (the iconic Icelandic wool sweater that has kept Icelanders warm for centuries). They also sell yarn and knitting needles, so visitors can learn how to make their own sweaters.

Located just south of Akureyri in a fairy-tale-inspired house decorated with giant candy canes and trimmed with faux frosting, Jólagarðurinn is not the place for grinches. The inside is packed to its pretty little rafters with an impressive display of Christmas goods, and the smell of burning embers mingles delightfully with those of peppermint, cinnamon, and smoked lamb. Icelandic Christmas music blends romantically with the tick-tock of Black Forest cuckoo clocks and the sound of wood crackling on an open hearth, fueling an atmosphere that should have your heart bursting with Yuletide joy, even in the middle of summer.