Manchester Christmas Markets named the best in the UK

A new survey has officially named Manchester’s Christmas Markets as the best in the whole of the UK.

In the run up to the festive season, the independent holiday cottage agency My Favourite Cottages anlaysed thirty Christmas markets in major cities across the UK to see which one provides the best Christmassy experience.

Each market was judged on eight data points including the number of stalls, the running time, the number of visitors per year, the entrance fee and the likelihood of meeting Santa Claus, before each being given an overall market score out of ten. 

@mcrchristmasmarkets / Instagram

And low and behold, Manchester’s markets came out on top, with an impressive score of 8.39 out of ten. The website said of our epic festivities: “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.”

It also pointed out that Manchester’s Christmas Market is the most popular online, with it garnering the most online interest in the last year with over 114k Google searches, surpassing the Winter Wonderland in London’s Hyde Park, which saw just 82k searches in comparison. 

The Manchester Christmas Market also ranked highly across all eight factors analysed – including having 300 stalls and running for one of the longest periods of almost six weeks.

Birmingham’s Christmas Market came in at second place, while the York Christmas Market snatched third place and Glasgow came in at fourth. 

@mcrchristmasmarkets / Instagram

Though things at our markets are going to look a little different this year; while the heart of the markets is usually centered around Albert Square, ongoing renovations to the Town Hall have forced them to move to Piccadilly Gardens, the council confirmed last month.

The area is in the process of being transformed into the ‘Winter Gardens’, with all the usual yuletide bars, market stalls and food huts being in attendance. 

To see the full list of the UK’s best Christmas Markets, head over to the My Favourite Cottages website. Meanwhile, to see which traders will be at this year’s Manchester Christmas Markets, which open next week on November 12th, click here.