Despite the steady rise of online shopping, there’s nothing quite like walking down a festive high street around Christmas time. From seasonal window displays with twinkling lights to fellow shoppers searching for the perfect gifts, it’s an ideal way to get into the Christmas spirit during UK short breaks in December. Some cities might have more festive fun on offer than others though, and it can be tricky knowing where to go for the best Christmas shopping in the UK.
That’s why we created our own little Festive Formula to help calculate the UK’s best Christmas shopping experiences. To do this, we’ve taken into account factors like how busy each place tends to be, how many shops there are to explore, the size and rating of each UK Christmas market, typical traffic, parking information – and that all important chance of snow!
With all this in mind, here are some of the very best places for Christmas shopping in the UK (and for treating yourself to a mulled wine after, too!)
Our ultimate Christmas shopping experience in the UK
1. Edinburgh
If you’ve ever visited Edinburgh for Christmas, it’s no real surprise that the Scottish capital ranks first when it comes to offering the best Christmas shopping experience. For a start, its cobbled streets and striking architecture go perfectly with the season, the city hosts a huge, sprawling Christmas market and isn’t as populated (and therefore busy) as other cities. Plus, being in Scotland, the chance of seasonal snow is much higher!
2. Glasgow
Taking up both top spots thanks to our algorithm, Scotland is undoubtedly the place to be for Christmas. With the likes of Princes Square, Buchanan Street and the St. Enoch Shopping Centre, there’s a whole lot of shopping to be done, and this is again matched with festive cheer, manageable crowds and traffic, and a stellar Christmas market.
3. Oxford
Thanks to the likes of Oxford university and the charm of its many older buildings, Oxford in the winter can feel like you’ve walked on to the set of a Harry Potter film. However here, you’ll swap Butter Beer for mulled wine at the highly rated Christmas market, and benefit from fewer crowds, great parking and an abundance of shops to find those all-important gifts.
4. Newcastle
Geordies are widely known to be a friendly bunch, so maybe this festive friendliness made its way into our algorithm as Newcastle finds itself in the top five best places for Christmas shopping. Again, with a higher chance of snow and a great Christmas market, the city’s shops aren’t too spread out either, making it an easy day out to tick a serious amount off of your shopping list, and still have time for something pumpkin spiced and warming!
5. Belfast
Northern Ireland’s capital makes the top five for many reasons. Not only does the city have a highly regarded Christmas market, but it also features almost everything else you could want too: it’s not overly busy, there’s a fair chance of snow, a lot of shops and you shouldn’t find it too hard to get a parking space. The only reason it’s fifth is because the other four cities ranked slightly higher, but its still one of the very best Christmas shopping experiences in the whole of the UK! Well worth a festive shopping trip where you can sample other sights such as the Titanic Experience while you’re at it!
9. Brighton
Another seaside attraction makes the top 10 and with the eclectic, winding lanes of Brighton, mixed with the high street shopping of Churchill Square, it’s a no-brainer. Ranking highly in the algorithm due to the close proximity of its shops, the city falls down on traffic and how small its Christmas market is.
11. Nottingham
Known more for Robin Hood than being a destination for Christmas shopping, Nottingham ranks outside of the top 10, but that’s not to say it isn’t worth a festive trip. Surrounded by countryside, there’s the perfect opportunity for a relaxed winter walk after hitting the hectic shops in the city centre.
16. London
It may be a surprise to some that London ranks so low on this list, what with Oxford Street, Camden and the flagship stores of some of the world’s biggest brands. Next to that, the capital’s Christmas lights are arguably the best in Britain. But the city falls down because it gets so busy, and is so spread out, that a days shopping can get tiring, and sipping a mulled wine can have to get swapped for a tube journey or two.
17. Swansea
If you’re planning your Christmas shopping in Swansea, it might be best to opt for public transport, as the biggest marks against Swansea come from its limited parking options and difficult drive in to the city centre. Beyond this, Swansea is a beautiful city, and one that embraces the season as much as any other!
How we ranked these UK Christmas shopping experiences
We created a custom algorithm, combining metrics such as the likelihood of snow and the quality of the Christmas market to estimate just how enjoyable it is to do your Christmas shopping in these UK cities.
Our aim was to understand the most important parts of the Christmas shopping experience in 2021, which includes factors like traveling to the city, parking in the city, shopping in the city, walking around the Christmas market and – of course – feeling festive throughout the experience, maybe even with the chance of snow! By combining our raw metrics, we can approximate how good each part of the city is.
Then – and this is the tricky bit! – we scaled the resulting combinations between a theoretical maximum and minimum (eg. London’s population squashed into Oxford’s area to create the worst possible experience of appearing too busy, and Oxfords population spread over London’s area as the best possible experience).
After that, we summed up the scores for each element to approximate the score of the overall experience, ranked each city based on this result, and voila – a handy guide to the best Christmas shopping in the UK!