Nottingham Winter Wonderland named among top 5 UK Christmas markets to visit in 2023


A new ranking has revealed which of the UK’s Christmas markets are the most worthwhile this festive season and Nottingham ranks fifth.
The ranking from JeffBet considered markets’ availability (opening dates/times), accessibility (closest car park and train station), affordability (food/drink prices, entry fee, ice rink tickets), attractions (traders, food stalls, and ice rink) and appeal (online popularity and reviews).
Each market was awarded a ‘must-visit’ score out of 10 based on their performance across these metrics - and Nottingham Winter Wonderland was hailed one of the best!
Read more: Christmas in Nottingham
Manchester Christmas market took the top by spot scoring 7.4 out of 10, largely due to its sheer volume of food stalls and traders, with over 225 stalls across nine sites throughout the city centre - including around 75 food vendors - and a public outdoor ice-skating rink. (That's pretty hard to compete with...)
However, Manchester could have performed better for visitor appeal, as although it’s attracted an impressive 33.2 million views on TikTok, it has a visitor rating of just 4 out of 5 and has a far lower monthly search volume (6.9k) than Nottingham (10k).
This should come as no surprise given the plethora of star rankings Nottingham's Winter Wonderland has received this year, also ranking in the top 10 for affordability, popularity and Instagram-worthiness.
In this study Nottingham had an overall score of 6.4 out of 10, ranking best for availability. Winter Wonderland runs from November 7 until December 31 in the Old Market Square.
1. Manchester - 7.4/10
2. Birmingham 7.3/10
3. Glasgow - 6.9/10
4. London - 6/7/10
5. Nottingham 6.7/10
6. Edinburgh - 6/10
7. Sheffield- 5.8/10
8. Belfast - 5.7/10
9. Southampton - 5.7/10
10. Leeds - 5.5/10