Don’t book your flight to Lapland just yet if you’re after a festive getaway as Mancs needn’t have to go far for a magical Christmas trip… A recent study has revealed that Manchester has been named the best festive getaway in the UK.
A new study conducted by Christmas Tree World has analysed a number of factors to reveal the best-rated locations around the UK where Brits can enjoy a festive staycation. The factors the study took into account included the number of restaurants and attractions, average nightly price for a hotel during December and each location’s level of interest on social media.
Of all the cities featured in the study Manchester has been crowned the best festive getaway location in the UK for 2023 with a perfect overall score of 10. With almost 150,000 searches and a staggering 12.8 billion views on TikTok, the Northern city has been classed as a great place to celebrate in the lead up to Christmas, according to the study.
In 2022, Manchester’s streets were bustling with over 220 food, drinks and shopping stalls for visitors to enjoy. With the Christmas Markets officially opening from November 10 this year, visitors can expect just as many festive favourites.
Manchester recorded the highest annual searches for its Christmas festivities (149,800) and offers plenty of family-friendly restaurant choices (124 per 10 km²). There were also 18.7 million Instagram mentions and 12.8 billion TikTok tag views. The average hotel price was higher than others on the list at £124 a night in December, but visitors may overlook this due to the multitude of things to do during the festive season in the city.
North Yorkshire must-visit spots of Whitby and York came in second and third positions with scores of 9.74 and 9.49 out of 10. Hotels in the seaside resort of Whitby were more affordable than any other UK locations during the month of December, costing just £87 per night on average.