Magical Christmas market named UK's best for 2024 - full list
Christmas may be some months away, but that doesn't mean you can't start to get excited about it
by Vita Molyneux, Liv Clarke · The MirrorWith Christmas creeping up, it's time to start planning your trips around all the markets that pop up around the country.
Luckily, the experts at Christmas Tree World have evaluated all the markets across eight different categories to figure out exactly how good they are.
The categories included social media posts, proximity to the train station and Google search volume. Overall, Birmingham scored 7.86 out of 10, Edinburgh received 7.5, and Manchester achieved a score of 6.55, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Birmingham won first place due to its Frankfurt Christmas Market - the largest authentic German market outside of Germany and Austria.
It offers a massive selection of food, drinks and gifts and is also one of the most Instagrammable markets in the UK. It had 20,300 mentions on Instagram as well as two million TikTok tag views, while there were 346,200 searches for the markets in the last year.
Edinburgh's stunning Scottish markets take place on Princes Street, just an eight minute walk from the train station and offer a wide selection of festive treats.
Despite outperforming several popular festive destinations such as York, London and Newcastle, Manchester has slipped down the rankings from last year when it held the title of the country's second-best Christmas market.
The top Christmas markets in the UK for 2024
- Birmingham
- Edinburgh
- Manchester
- York
- Nottingham
- Bath
- Winchester
- London
- Glasgow
- Newcastle
Interestingly, Manchester's market proved to be the most popular on Instagram, boasting 62,173 posts, and also topped Google searches with an annual search volume of 782,000 in 2024.
Researchers announced: "Despite falling from second to third place since last year's study, Manchester Christmas markets are the most popular markets in the country - with 782,800 total Google searches over the last 12 months.
The markets are located in several locations including Market Street and Exchange Square. Manchester's markets have also garnered the highest number of Instagram posts out of all the locations we reviewed, with 62,173 posts."