The festive season isn’t complete without a trip to a Christmas market as they always add an extra sprinkle of magic to the festivities. Known for mulled wine, beautiful Christmas trees, roasted chestnuts and unique Christmas decorations there’s something for everyone to explore. And according to a new study, Manchester Christmas Markets is where it’s at, being crowned one of the best in the UK.
Carried out by Christmas Tree World, the study revealed that Manchester recorded the highest number of annual Google searches for its Christmas market and the highest volume of TikTok views. Last year the famous Northern market has come out on top but this Christmas Manchester missed out on the top spot to Birmingham. Although it’s not the first time we’ve been praised for our Christmas spirit as Manchester has also been crowned the best festive getaway in the UK for 2023.
The Christmas tree company collated data on all of the Christmas markets in the UK, comparing their start date, duration, average nightly costs for 3 and 4 star hotel stays, Instagram mentions, TikTok views and annual Google searches to create an overall Christmas market score. With 722,300 searches on Google throughout the year, and 13.1 million TikTok views, Manchester Christmas markets scored an overall score of 7.69. Plus, the great news is that this market can be enjoyed from November for a whopping 42 days.
Birmingham took this year’s top spot as the best Christmas market in the UK for 2023 with an overall Christmas market score of 8.59/10. Knocking last year’s number one, Manchester, off the top spot Birmingham’s Frankfurt-style Christmas Market is a popular one, racking up 2 million Tiktok views and 346,200 annual Google searches.
With the price of a nightly stay starting at just £94, Birmingham is the perfect place to experience Christmas magic this year. Birmingham’s Christmas Market can be enjoyed from the very first week of November up to Christmas Eve – with a total running time of 53 days!
Coming in the third for the best Christmas markets in the UK was Nottingham, scoring 6.67 out of 10. Nottingham hosts the longest-running UK Christmas market for this year, as it spreads festive cheer across the Midlands capital for a total of 55 days from 7th November – 31st December. Visitors can enjoy a range of speciality food and beverages which are served at the all-glass chalet, offering panoramic views of crowds below.
Edinburgh was officially named the most picture-perfect Christmas market racking up a total of 51.3K Instagram mentions. Newcastle Christmas market was declared the most affordable to visit overnight, with the city having the cheapest 3* and 4* accommodation prices, with average costs of £89 and £109 respectively.
However, when it came to the best Christmas markets in Europe, unfortunately there wasn’t a city in the UK that made the list. The top three cities in the European rankings were Krakow in Poland, Tallinn in Estonia and Budapest in Hungary.