We’ve stormed into the final week of November and Jack Frost has begun nipping at our noses a full month before Christmas Day; both through the Baltic temperatures and all the Christmas activities appearing throughout the capital.
One such activity that we can categorically say Londoners go head-over-heels for is a Christmas market — just look at the levels of excitement over Winter Wonderland’s brilliantly festive affair. But one Christmas market in the city has been crowned the second most picturesque in the whole of Europe, and this time it isn’t Winter Wonderland…
Christmas at Kew… take a bow. In a study by PaulCamper that pitted 600 Christmas Markets across Europe, the magical festive light trail took the impressive number two spot, just missing out to Advent in Zagreb, who garnered a mighty 68,315 hashtags on Instagram.
In terms of a spectacle, it’s not hard to see why Kew Gardens ranked this high, boasting one million lights twinkling around the branches. This helped them gather up 52,780 hashtags, seeing off Manchester Christmas Markets, which came in third place with 48,252 tags.
In fact, it was peachy reading for the UK’s Christmas markets. Places four and five were claimed by Edinburgh and Bath’s offerings, while Hyde Park Winter Wonderland and Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas market took nine and ten.
Advent in Zagreb’s award-winning market takes place in the city’s main square, and is officially the most photographed Christmas market in Europe on Instagram. Other hotly snapped destinations across Europe include Tuomaan Markets in Helsinki, Wrocław Christmas Market, and Strasbourg’s Capitale de Noël.
Let’s get that number one spot next time, Kew! 💪
Read the PaulCamper study in full here.