A julbord can hold forty dishes, and a visitor facing one for the first time usually makes the same mistake: one heaped plate with herring, ham and meatballs. Here is the order Swedes eat it in, what the dishes are, and how to plan the 2026 season.
When you need this
You’re in Sweden in December and julbord is chalked on every restaurant board. Or a Swedish family has invited you to Christmas Eve, or your team has booked the office Christmas party. Or you’re vegetarian, gluten-free, pregnant or allergic, and wondering what a forty-dish buffet means for you.
Two kinds of julbord
The julbord (“Christmas table”) is a smörgåsbord of Swedish Christmas food, and it lives in two places a visitor should keep apart.
At home, it is the meal of Christmas Eve. The 24th, not the 25th, is the main day of the Swedish Christmas. That’s when families gather at the table, and it’s why planning a big Christmas dinner out on the 25th goes wrong: the country has already shut.
In restaurants, it is a season. From late November until just before Christmas, restaurants put on a julbord at lunch and dinner, and workplaces book it for their Christmas parties. In 2026, the first Sunday of Advent is 29 November, which is roughly when the season gets going. A few restaurants carry on into January.
The table took its modern form around 1900, and restaurants started selling it some time after the First World War. Some parts are much older. Dopp i grytan, bread dipped in the broth the Christmas ham was boiled in, is why Christmas Eve was once called dopparedagen, “dipping day”.
The five rounds: how to eat a julbord
A julbord is eaten in rounds (turer), usually five. Take a clean plate for each round and leave the used one at your table.
| Round | What you take |
|---|---|
| 1. Herring | Pickled herrings (sill) with boiled potatoes and crispbread |
| 2. Cold fish | Gravad, cold-smoked or poached salmon and other fish dishes |
| 3. Cold meats | Kallskuret: the Christmas ham (julskinka), pâtés, brawn |
| 4. Warm dishes | Småvarmt: meatballs, small sausages, Jansson’s temptation, spare ribs |
| 5. Dessert | Rice pudding and sweets |
Restaurants vary the count, and some split the rounds further, but this order is the one everyone follows. It exists for a reason: herring brine running into your meatballs is nobody’s idea of Christmas.
Pace yourself. The point is to taste widely, not to eat a lot of one thing. Take small portions of several dishes per round. Most visitors fill up on herring and salmon and have no room left when the warm dishes arrive, which are the part most people came for. Walk the whole buffet once before you pick up a plate.
What’s on the table
The core table is national, even though every region and family has its own variations:
- Sill: pickled herring in several marinades, the first round.
- Julskinka: the Christmas ham, the centerpiece of the cold-meat round.
- Köttbullar and prinskorv: meatballs and small sausages.
- Janssons frestelse: Jansson’s temptation, a gratin of potato, onion, cream and the small cured fish Swedes call ansjovis. A relatively new dish, added to the table in the 1940s.
- Revbensspjäll: spare ribs, plus red cabbage and other cabbage dishes.
- Lutfisk: dried cod treated in lye. It belongs to the Christmas table, though not every buffet serves it.
- Ris à la Malta: cold vanilla rice pudding, typically served with orange slices. The classic dessert.
Some restaurants run a julbord centered on fish and seafood instead of the meat-heavy standard.
Drinks: julmust, snaps and glögg
Julmust is on practically every julbord: a dark, sweet, alcohol-free soft drink sold mainly at Christmas. Order it even if you drink alcohol. It’s part of the experience.
Adults add Christmas beer, wine and snaps, small glasses of spirits drunk after a snapsvisa, a short drinking song. Nobody expects a visitor to know the words. Snaps comes round across several rounds, so pace it.
Glögg is mulled wine, served with or without alcohol. One trap: the glögg on supermarket shelves is the alcohol-free kind. Glögg above 3.5% ABV is sold only at Systembolaget, the state monopoly.
The age rules are statutory: 18 to be served alcohol in a restaurant, 20 to buy it at Systembolaget. Details in alcohol age limits in Sweden.
Dietary needs on a shared buffet
Vegetarian and vegan julbord are now offered at many restaurants, either as adapted dishes or as a separate menu. The traditional table is built on herring, ham and meatballs, so the alternatives are often made to order. Say so when you book, not at the buffet. More in vegan in Sweden.
Gluten and allergies are harder. Guests share serving spoons, so any dish on a buffet can carry traces of any other, and the Swedish hospitality trade’s own guidance says so. A restaurant must be able to tell you what a dish contains, orally or in writing. For a coeliac or allergic guest, the safe route is a plated portion from the kitchen, arranged when you book. See gluten-free in Sweden and food allergies in Sweden.
Pregnant? The Swedish Food Agency says most of the julbord is fine: pickled herring, freshly carved Christmas ham, lutfisk, the warm dishes, julmust and alcohol-free glögg. Take care with smoked or cured fish, cold mixed salads containing it, pâtés, sliced cold cuts and soft or blue cheeses, because of listeria.
Booking ahead
Don’t arrive in December expecting to walk in. Weekend and early-evening sittings sell out first. Book weeks ahead, and consider a lunch sitting: many restaurants serve julbord at lunch as well as dinner, and it’s the evenings that go first.
Prices are a fixed per-person rate that varies by restaurant, day and sitting. Drinks are usually extra. We don’t publish figures, because they change every season.
Christmas Eve itself
Julafton, Christmas Eve, is Thursday 24 December in 2026. It’s the day Swedes spend at home, and the day that closes hardest. Shops run half days, and 25–26 December are public holidays. The full calendar is in Swedish public holidays.
A restaurant julbord on the 24th exists, but it’s the exception. Some restaurants and hotels open for it, and those tables go early.
Systembolaget is shut four days running in 2026. It closes on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (Thursday to Saturday this year), and every store is closed on Sundays anyway. There’s no takeaway glögg or snaps from Wednesday 23 December until Monday 28 December. See Systembolaget opening hours and the Systembolaget guide.
Lucia, Sunday 13 December 2026, falls mid-season. Candle-lit processions with song fill schools, churches and workplaces, with saffron buns and gingerbread. It isn’t a julbord day, but many December gatherings combine the two. More in Lucia in Sweden.
Practical information
| What | 2026 detail |
|---|---|
| Restaurant julbord season | Late November (first Sunday of Advent: 29 Nov) until just before Christmas |
| Lucia | Sunday 13 December |
| Christmas Eve (julafton), the home julbord | Thursday 24 December |
| Christmas Day, Boxing Day | Friday 25 and Saturday 26 December, public holidays |
| Systembolaget closed | 24–27 December; last purchase day Wednesday 23 December |
| Serving age for alcohol | 18 in restaurants; 20 at Systembolaget |
| Price | Fixed per person, set by each venue; drinks usually extra |
FAQ
What is a julbord?
A julbord is the Swedish Christmas buffet: pickled herring, salmon, Christmas ham, meatballs, small sausages, Jansson’s temptation, spare ribs and rice pudding, among dozens of dishes. Families eat it at home on Christmas Eve, and restaurants serve it from late November until just before Christmas, when workplaces also book it for their Christmas parties.
How do you eat a julbord?
In rounds, usually five: pickled herring, then other cold fish, then cold meats with the Christmas ham, then the warm dishes, then dessert. Take a clean plate each round, leave the used one at the table, and take small portions of several dishes. Walking the buffet once before starting helps you pace yourself.
When is julbord season in Sweden?
Restaurants serve julbord from late November until just before Christmas; in 2026 the first Sunday of Advent is 29 November. Weekend and early-evening sittings sell out first, so book well ahead. At home the julbord is eaten on Christmas Eve, 24 December, which is the main day of the Swedish Christmas.
Can I eat julbord on Christmas Eve at a restaurant?
Some restaurants and hotels serve a julbord on 24 December, but they are the exception rather than the rule, because Christmas Eve is the day Swedes spend at home. Those that open are booked early. Shops run half days and Systembolaget is closed, so plan the day before rather than on it.
Is there a vegetarian or vegan julbord?
Yes. Many restaurants now offer vegetarian and vegan alternatives, either as adapted dishes or as a separate menu. Tell the restaurant when you book rather than at the buffet, because the traditional table is built around herring, ham and meatballs and the alternatives are often prepared to order.
What do Swedes drink with julbord?
Julmust, a sweet, dark, alcohol-free soft drink, is on almost every table. Adults add Christmas beer, snaps with short drinking songs, and glögg, a mulled wine served with or without alcohol. You must be 18 to be served alcohol in a restaurant and 20 to buy it at Systembolaget.
Related guides
- Swedish public holidays: what closes on the 24th, 25th and 26th
- Eating out in Sweden: how restaurants work the other eleven months
- Gluten-free in Sweden: getting through the hardest buffet of the year
- Systembolaget guide: buying glögg and snaps before the Christmas closure
- Swedish fika: the other daily food ritual, saffron buns included
Facts verified 2026-09-24. Sources: Livsmedelsverket (the Swedish Food Agency), Visit Sweden, Visit Stockholm, Nordiska museet, Levande kulturarv, Systembolaget, the Alcohol Act (2010:1622) — full register in this topic’s source file. No restaurant names or prices are published here; both change every season. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.