The festive season is finally on the horizon and if you listen carefully enough; you just might hear the sweet sound of out-of-offices being drafted as exhausted Londoners hurry to use up their last few days of annual leave. Across the country, halls are being well-and-truly decked, ready to welcome visitors on their festive adventures. But with so many Christmas road trip destinations to choose from, how do you possibly decide where to visit?
Well, choosing the perfect spot is going to be easy peasy lemon Christmas pudding squeezy this year. The lovely lot over at ALA Insurance have done some research, analysed some data, and revealed the best and brightest Christmas road trip destinations in the country. Drum roll, please… taking the crown as the best of the best is the royal town of Windsor which – luckily for us Londoners – is just a mere hour away from the capital city.
The study took into account factors such as Christmas lights, Christmas markets, restaurant options, weather and traffic. Winsdor’s Christmas lights emerged as the most searched-for last Christmas, with a whopping 19,400 Google searches. Windsor also came out on top in regards to Christmas markets, hosting not one, not two, but three festive markets. One of which is set right in front of the historic Windsor Castle.
Fun fact: Windsor is also the location on the top-ten list where it is least likely to rain. But then again, this is the UK, so I’d still pack an umbrella. Scarborough leads the pack on the restaurant front, with a staggering 254 restaurant options available, while Llandudno wins the race when it comes to traffic.
The 10 best Christmas road trip destinations in the UK
- Windsor
- Shrewsbury
- Scarborough
- Llandudno
- Harrogate
- Whitby
- Stratford-upon-Avon
- Hay-on-Wye
- Mousehole
- Canterbury
From vibrant cities filled to the brim with festive cheer to villages so charming, they could have been taken straight from the front of a Christmas card; the UK is full of wonderfully festive destinations to be explored. May your road trip be merry and bright.
Read the full study here.
