As a true Christmas Market aficionado, every year I continue my mission to find for the best Christmas Market in the country. Underwhelmed with London Markets, I have now visited many English cities and their Christmas Markets. I’ve already written about those in Canterbury, Folkestone and Rochester – you can read about them here. Today, I’m taking you on a trip to Christmas Markets in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Winchester. Have a read if you’re wondering which of the cities offers the best gift shopping opportunities, and where to find the tastiest mulled wine!
Manchester Christmas Market
Let’s start with Manchester, one of my favourite UK destinations before Christmas. I visited Manchester Christmas Market for the first time in 2023, and I knew that I would return in the future. The future came quicker than expected, and I had a chance to go to the Manchester Christmas Market again in 2024.
The Manchester Christmas Market is spread across multiple streets and squares in the city centre, from the Manchester Cathedral to Piccadilly Gardens. You can find numerous food street options there, as well as unique items sold by independent vendors – from cheese blocks to candles, soaps, jewellery, woolen scarves, and more.
Manchester Christmas Market, in my opinion, has the tastiest mulled wine of all the Christmas Markets I’ve visited in the UK. But you need to know where to look for it! Both in 2023 and 2024, there was one place, located in front of Selfridges, selling mulled wine in various fruity flavours. My favourite was the strawberry one, but the apple one was great too! I really liked that the mulled wine had pieces of real fruit floating inside. Not many, but it’s still better than most mulled wines sold at the Markets, which usually come straight from a supermarket-bought bottle. What made the mulled wine at the Manchester Christmas Market even more special were the ceramic mugs. To me, ceramic mugs at Christmas Markets are a must. I don’t want to be drinking my mulled wine from a paper cup! Typically, you pay a deposit for the mug, and then receive your money back once you return it. But, you can also choose to forfeit the deposit and keep the mug as a souvenir, as I usually do. I love my Christmas Market mugs!
If the gift stalls at the Christmas Market aren’t enough to satisfy your Christmas gift shopping needs, there is also a large number of high street shops all around Manchester city centre, as well as a big shopping centre – Arndale – located right next to the Christmas Market.
For gift shopping, I also recommend visiting Trafford Centre. It’s a large shopping centre, located outside of the city centre. It requires a short commute, but the interior decor is worth it! It’s full of marble and tall palm trees, and it’s hands down the most beautiful shopping centre I’ve seen.
If you’d like to go to Manchester for a few days and do more sightseeing than just walking around the Christmas Market, there are plenty of museums and other attractions in Manchester. I can recommend the Manchester Museum and the Sealife Aquarium. For football fans, there is also the National Football Museum and two major stadiums, homes to Manchester City and Manchester United football clubs. There is also Ordsall Hall, located on the outskirts of Manchester – a really pretty, well preserved old mansion.
In 2024, Manchester Christmas Market takes place between November 8th and December 22nd.
Liverpool Christmas Market
I visited Liverpool Christmas Market in 2023, on a day trip during a longer trip to Manchester. It was a fairly large, classic English-style Christmas Market, located in St John’s Gardens. The Liverpool Christmas Market 2023 had a bit of everything – food vendors with a variety of cuisines (including Polish specialties, which is always nice to see), mulled wine (in paper cups, no ceramic mugs), sellers with handmade goods, and a small fairground, which included a mini Ferris wheel.
I particularly enjoyed seeing a street food vendor selling a traditional Liverpool dish – scouse, a kind of stew with meat and vegetables. I always like trying local foods while travelling around the UK, and it’s not easy to find them! I had previously looked online, searching for restaurants serving scouse, but I couldn’t find any. So, seeing it at the Christmas Market was just what I needed! And by the way – it was delicious.
While I was in Liverpool, I also made sure to do some sightseeing. I visited Museum of Liverpool, World Museum, and Liverpool Cathedral, which has a really interesting architecture – very different from most English cathedrals I had visited before. Liverpool is also home to Tate Liverpool, but unfortunately, it was closed for renovation during my visit in the city.
I also did some further Christmas shopping at Liverpool One shopping centre.
In 2024, the Liverpool Christmas Market runs from November 16th until December 24th.
Winchester Christmas Market
Visiting Winchester this Christmas wasn’t on my agenda, until a few weeks ago a friend of mine told me that apparently the Winchester Christmas Market is one of the best in the country. So naturally, being a Christmas Market aficionado, I made sure to include it in my schedule. I originally planned to go to Winchester on November 23rd, but had to reorganise my plans after a severe storm covered most of the UK that weekend.
I had to wait an extra week, but it was worth it. I went to Winchester on the last day of November, and right away, I could tell that it would be busy. The train from London was absolutely packed! I followed the crowd, and after a short walk, I was in the main area of the city. There was a Saturday market taking place on the high street, with lots of fresh produce, handmade items, and some seasonal products – including mulled wine, mulled cider and Christmas decorations.
I had a stroll around the area and popped into a few shops, searching for Christmas gift inspirations. Then, I headed towards the Cathedral, where the Christmas Market was located. To my surprise, there was a long queue of people waiting to get into the Market! I didn’t realise the Market was placed in a closed-off area. I never had to wait to enter a Christmas Market before, and I’ve been to quite a few! Luckily, the queue moved quite quickly and I managed to get inside in around 10 minutes.
The Market was pretty big, with over 100 stalls, apparently. There were vendors selling things like soap, honey, jams, scarves and jewellery, as well as a variety of street food options and winter warmers. The Market was packed with visitors, but I enjoyed walking around and managed to buy a couple of unique gifts. I also had some mulled wine, sold from stalls with unique decor, which included giant steaming cauldrons. It wasn’t the best mulled wine to be honest, but at least it was hot and warmed me up. Overall, I really enjoyed my visit and will definitely go to Winchester Christmas Market again in the future!
I had been to Winchester before, in the summer, for a sightseeing day trip. If you’d like to read about other things to do in Winchester, read this blog post.
In 2024, the Winchester Christmas Market takes place from November 22nd and December 22nd.
Birmingham Christmas Market
I visited Birmingham Christmas Market in 2022, having heard many good things about it. It’s often called the largest German style Christmas Market outside of Germany and Austria, and that, to me, was enough to draw my attention. My favourite Christmas Market ever is in Vienna, Austria, so I had high hopes for Birmingham.
Let’s be honest – Birmingham Christmas Market doesn’t really compare to Vienna, it’s not even close. But it wasn’t bad either!
First of all, I loved that Birmingham served mulled wine in ceramic mugs that I could take as souvenirs. There was also live music at the Christmas Market, and while it wasn’t exactly Christmassy – playing the likes of ABBA or Sweet Caroline – the crowd was singing and having lots of fun, which made the atmosphere of this Christmas Market vibrant and lively.
Birmingham Christmas Market had a good selection of food stalls and vendors selling their goods suitable for Christmas gifts. Christmas Markets in the UK tend to offer German sausages, and those at the Birmingham Christmas Market were the best I’ve had so far. There were also grilled pork chops, which were even better than the sausages. Yum!
I visited Birmingham Christmas Market on the weekend when it opened, around November 11th. It was still autumn, and the weather was beautiful. I decided to visit the Botanical Garden, where the outdoor section was full of golden leaves. I really enjoyed that visit! For more sightseeing, I also joined a Back to Backs tour, which was really interesting. Our tour guide grew up in the neighbourhood and I loved learning about the history of British industrial revolution through his stories.
Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to Birmingham Christmas Market and I hope I have a chance to visit again in the future!
In 2024, Birmingham Christmas Market runs from November 1st and December 24th.
Final thoughts
To summarise, I’d like to encourage you to think outside the box when choosing which Christmas Market to visit. The largest city – in case of the UK, London – isn’t necessarily the best choice! Personally, I find Christmas Markets in Manchester, Liverpool, Winchester and Birmingham superior to the Christmas Markets in London. They have a soul and offer a more unique experience. Plus, it’s always fun to combine a Christmas Market trip with some additional sightseeing. Have you visited any of these four markets yourself? Or maybe there are better Christmas Markets in the UK that you’d recommend? Let us know!
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