One of the biggest events in the UK cultural calendar is back as the eagerly awaited Christmas markets gear up for a festive return across the country.
Topping the table is Manchester’s Christmas market, taking a star turn this festive season with an overall market score of 8.39 out of 10. Arriving in the city in 1999, the Manchester Christmas Market scores highly in typical visitor numbers, recording approximately 9 million visitors at its last event.
Manchester’s Christmas Market is arguably the most popular online, garnering the most online interest in the last year with over 114k Google searches, surpassing the ever-popular Winter Wonderland in London’s Hyde Park, which saw just 82k searches in comparison (total Google searches October 2020-September 2021) and only scored 5.82 overall – placing it 12th out of the 30 markets analysed.
According to the study, Manchester Christmas Market ranked highly across all eight factors analysed – including having 300 stalls, and running for one of the longest periods of almost six weeks.
Originating in Germany, Christmas markets have become a compulsory attraction in British culture, a sign that Yuletide is just around the corner. Yet sadly, the UK public missed out on the festivities in 2020 due to the pandemic. Some popular markets are still cancelled this year including Bath, Leeds and Newcastle.
Whether you’re staying by the fireside at home or opting to travel cross-country for a winter staycation, there’s sure to be a fantastic Christmas market nearby, full of local and independent businesses in need of your support.
The question is, which Christmas markets top the tree this year?
Independent holiday cottage agency My Favourite Cottages analysed the latest available data to discover the UK’s top 10 Christmas markets to get you into the festive spirit.
The company analysed 30 UK markets against eight data points including number of stalls, running time, number of visitors, entrance fee and the likelihood of meeting Santa – to provide an overall market score out of 10 – thereby finding the best market of those analysed.
Harry Roberts, Director of My Favourite Cottages, commented on the findings, “People have been travelling up and down the country to visit their favourite Christmas markets for years and it’s exciting to see our favourite cities come alive every winter.
It has been a tough 18 months for local traders, but I predict a possible surge in winter staycations as we warmly welcome back our beloved Christmas markets across the country and hopefully this means more support for small businesses across the country.”
To view the full data on the UK’s top Christmas markets in 2021, click here.
