Sourced from the UK’s official website MyChristmasTrails, and drawing from a wide range of data, including online hype, online searches, and official follower counts, this list highlights the ultimate festive destinations for 2024.
Christmas at Kew Gardens tops the list, enchanting visitors with its mesmerising light installations and far-reaching online following.
This year's trail features over 20 captivating light installations, including the 'Light Garden' and 'Vertica', designed by leading artists to transform the gardens into a luminous wonderland.
Christmas at Chester Zoo has climbed the ranks with its annual 'Lanterns and Light' event. This year's theme showcases handcrafted lanterns and interactive light displays, creating a magical experience that’s especially suitable with families with young children.
Christmas at Bedgebury also continues to impress, mixing light and nature with its magical woodland displays, featuring a one-mile winter trail draped with light-filled seed pods and sparkling tunnels.Each of these trails offers a unique immersive experience and are absolute must-visit destinations for the holiday season.
Tom Ralston, Managing Director at Ultra LEDs says: "At Ultra LEDs, we love that lighting can transform outdoor spaces so that they can be enjoyed all year round. Christmas light trails bring together art and technology, and showcase the most innovative lighting design, turning spaces into unexpected works of art.
"These installations demonstrate the creative power of light and colour, especially during these darker winter months, they encourage people to venture outdoors and experience the season fully.”
Methodology
We ranked the 10 most popular light trails in the UK by analysing their keyword volume, Google Trends (average over 3 years and trend direction), Instagram followers, and TikTok engagement by overall number of posts for a given hashtag.
Metrics were normalised to a 0-100 scale and weighted for importance: search interest (25%), average Google Trends (20%), year-on-year trend direction (10%), social media followers (20%), and TikTok posts (25%).
This approach highlights not just popularity but also growing or declining trends, ensuring a balanced and dynamic ranking.
