It’s Christmas! These are officially the most festive uni cities, in 2023

Besides the weather, never-ending deadlines and having literally zero money, Christmas time at uni is probably one of the best parts of uni in general. The flat Christmas dinner that always ends up with about four arguments and seven third-degree burns, the secret Santa where all your presents are wrapped in tinfoil because everyone forgot to buy wrapping paper and obviously the wholesome trip to the markets to forget about your absolutely feral antics from night before are all defining moments uni Christmas. But which uni city is the best for all the wholesome festive vibes?

Obviously, if you go to an insanely stereotypically Christmassy uni city like Edinburgh or York then you’re gonna think it’s you, but there are a lot of other uni cities up there with the festive vibes that you might not expect. Travel experts at Bounce have worked out the most festive uni cities based on factors such as the number of Christmas market Insta posts in each city, the number of Christmas market TikTok views, annual searches for Christmas and annual searches for December. Each uni city was then given an overall festive score out of ten.

So these are officially the most festive uni cities, in 2023:

10. Nottingham

Students who go to either Uni of Nottingham or Nottingham Trent live in the 10th most festive uni city in the UK. Notts has 438,000 views on TikTok for its Christmas market and 6,970 annual searches for Christmas within the city. This gives it an overall festive score of 3.81 out of 10.

9. Newcastle

Via Arthur Edelmans on Unsplash

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Last year, Newcastle was crowned the Christmas capital of the UK after being chosen as the city most prepared for Christmas. But with an overall festive score of only 4.52 out of 10, Newcastle is the ninth most festive uni city in 2023. Newcastle has 2,440 Insta posts at its Christmas market as well as 188,000 TikTok views.

8. Cardiff

The only Welsh uni city to make the list, Cardiff is the eighth most festive uni city. With 11,600 annual Google searches for Christmas and nearly three million views for the Christmas markets, it has an overall festive score of 4.64/10.

7. London

Students that go to a London uni have at least 17 Christmas markets in the city to get all festive in and, as a result, London actually has one of the highest amount of views on TikTok with nearly 12 million. There are also 77,900 annual searches for December and 5,452 London Christmas markets Insta posts giving the city an overall score of 5.60.

6. Birmingham

The Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas market is the biggest authentic German Christmas market outside of actual Germany. The 20,234 Insta posts there and two and a half million TikTok views, paired with the 15,930 annual searches for Christmas make Birmingham the sixth most festive uni city with an overall score of 6.07.

5. York

York is well known for being one of the most Christmassy cities in the UK. It has not one but two all-year-round Christmas shops and is therefore the fifth most festive uni city. With an overall festive score of 6.31/10, York has 46,170 yearly Google searches for Christmas as well as 10,180 Insta posts at its Christmas markets.

4. Glasgow

Not as Christmassy as Edinburgh, Glasgow is fourth. The city has 1.7 million TikTok views of the Christmas markets as well as 4,691 Insta posts and 2,760 annual Google searches for December. This gives it an overall festive score of 6.43.

3. Bath

At number three for the most festive uni cities is Bath. Bath has an overall festive score of 6.91 due to its 392,900 annual searches for Christmas, the highest out of all UK uni cities. It also has 32,368 Insta posts at its Christmas markets.

2. Edinburgh

Via SWNS

Surprisingly not taking the top spot, Edinburgh is the second most Christmassy uni city. Edi has 13 million TikTok views for its massive Christmas markets and 20,530 Google searches for December. This gives it an overall festive score of 7.50.

1. Manchester

Manchester is officially the most Christmassy uni city in the UK. Manchester’s Christmas markets are the most-viewed markets out of all of the UK cities with 13.3 million views on TikTok and 59,600 posts on Insta. This gives the city the highest overall festive score of 7.86/10.

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