Edinburgh crowned the UK’s most festive city

The research, by Hammonds Fitted Furniture, compared a number of Christmassy factors in order to find the ultimate festive day out destinations. The finds were then combined to rank each city out of a possible 100 points. In the top spot Edinburgh scored 89 and in second, York scored 81. Birmingham came third with a rating of 77 out of 100.

Top 10 Most Festive Cities and Towns (Points out of a possible 100)

1. Edinburgh - 89% 2. York - 81% 3. Birmingham - 77% 4. Manchester - 76% 5. Northampton - 73% 6. Belfast - 72% 7. Nottingham - 72% 8. Glasgow - 71% 9. Leeds - 69% 10. Norwich - 68%

Ornaments hang down from a stall at a Christmas market

Those who are wishing for a white Christmas in Edinburgh, have a one in two (49%) chance, with the region having seen snowfall on 31 occasions since 1960.

The Edinburgh Christmas market is greatly popular with tourists. This popularity was reflected in the study, with almost 56k Instagram posts under the hashtag #EdinburghChristmasMarket.

Edinburgh residents also have plenty of Christmas cheer, according to the data, with one in six (17%) locals putting their Christmas decorations up as early as the first week of November or before.

The city will host 75 Christmas market stalls dotted around the bustling city centre, ranging from local traders to artisanal goods. Keen to find out what puts us in the most festive mood, Hammonds also quizzed 2,000 Brits on the factors they believe make a place feel ‘Christmassy’ when visiting UK cities in the run up to the big day.

Three quarters agreed that festive lights (75%) were the aspect that filled them with the most Christmas cheer. Seeing festive decorations (74%) also scored highly as a key festive factor.

Whilst half (50%) of those surveyed also said that Christmas markets get them into the festive spirit.

Only a quarter (25%) believe that snow is needed to get that festive feeling going, and less than a third (32%) say that carol singers are a seasonal necessity.

Despite top locations Edinburgh and York both boasting cobbled streets and medieval buildings, only one in seven (14%) responded that the architecture of the location can make it feel more festive.

Top 5 things that make a place feel festive

1. Festive lights (75%)  2. Festive decorations (74%)  3. Christmas markets (50%)  4. Carol singers (32%)  5. Snowfall (25%) 

Melissa Denham, interior stylist at Hammonds Furniture added: “We’re lucky to have so many wonderful festive events all over the UK, and we hope these rankings encourage people to travel to some new places this Christmas to soak up the Yuletide atmosphere.

“There are some great options for festive days out across the country, and we hope people manage to get out and enjoy them this winter.”