A UK Christmas market has been named as the second-best in Europe by travel experts. We are only a few weeks away from Christmas festivities kicking off across the UK, with markets popping up in towns and cities across the country. A number of shops across the country have already started stocking Christmas goods, and supermarkets have revealed their Christmas ranges to get shoppers in the mood for the holiday season.
If you were thinking about flying abroad to visit a Christmas market this year, you might want to reconsider. Because travel experts have named this UK Christmas market as the second-best in Europe. Esteemed travel publication Time Out has revealed its 2025 list of the best Christmas markets in Europe, and one of them in the UK has beaten some stiff competition from the likes of Paris, Budapest and Vienna.
The second-best Christmas market in Europe has been revealed as Manchester. The publication praised the northern English city for “coming alive” at Christmas time, but not in the same “in your face” way as other European cities.
Manchester’s Christmas market will make a return to Albert Square in 2025, featuring more than 200 ski chalet-style huts selling bratwursts, Yorkshire pudding wraps, steaming hot strudels, glühwein and desserts. “It’s sure to be a great time,” Time Out promised.
The Christmas market in Manchester opens on November 7 and will run until January 4, 2026. While Time Out considers Manchester’s Christmas market the best in the UK, reviews from visitors are mixed.
On TripAdvisor, one fan of the market called it “maybe one of the best markets in the UK”. They commented: “It is amazing and spread out around different areas of Manchester.”
Another wrote: “We went on a Monday night so it was a lot quieter and better, no crowds, so you could see every stall and get served quicker.”
However, not everyone was impressed. One person wrote: “All that seemed to be available was overpriced food that I can get on Bury Market all year. I had hoped to find some decent original pottery, in particular Moroccan style, but it was nonexistent. The stalls were overpriced, and stall holders could hardly have been making a profit.”
While Manchester was praised by Time Out in its 2025 list, it was beaten by one other Christmas market for the top spot. The best Christmas market to visit in Europe this year, according to the travel experts, is the one in Nuremberg, Germany.
It was praised for its surrounding architecture, photo opportunities and local beer on tap. Meanwhile, a slew of Christmas markets around Europe made up the top ten list.
Time Out’s ten best Christmas markets to visit in Europe in 2025 are:
- Nuremberg, Germany
- Manchester, UK
- Paris, France
- Budapest, Hungary
- Vienna, Austria
- Vilnius, Lithuania
- London, UK (Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park)
- Lucerne, Switzerland
- Tallinn, Estonia
- Copenhagen, Denmark