Birmingham’s Christmas Market was named the UK’s best in 2023 (Image: Holly Kintuka)
was voted as the UK’s best in 2023 by , and while that doesn’t come as a surprise to me, the title must’ve made no one want to miss out this time around.
The market opened to visitors on November 1, and will run right through to Eve, so there is still plenty of time to check it out if you haven’t yet already.
As a Londoner, it might seem silly that I took a two-hour and 20-minute train journey to Birmingham when there are more than enough in the capital, but I already had a planned trip to the city, so it made sense that I’d pay a visit.
Found in two parts, the Christmas Market covers the stretch of New Street, while the rest of it is in Victoria Square. The location is great in terms of being steps away from .
However, with that being the city’s largest station, you can imagine just how busy it was.
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There were long queues at all stalls (Image: Holly Kintuka)
The market features a huge number of stalls with so much to offer: souvenirs, handmade gifts, and, of course, my favourite thing about Christmas Markets… food, and there was an incredible selection of it. Whether it was bratwursts, pretzels, or crepes, whatever you were after, name it, and they probably had it.
But the problem was the queues were horribly long, and before you could even get yourself in them, you had to fight your way through storms of crowds just to get anywhere. I was shocked at how packed it was.
Getting through the crowd was a nightmare and, honestly, quite draining. Because of how busy it was, I didn’t bother stopping at many of the stalls, but of course, the smell of pancakes that lingered in the air drew me straight to a queue worth waiting for.
I managed to grab myself a portion of mini pancakes topped with Nutella and bananas for £6.50. The queue for it was long, which I understood after I finished them, but it went by fairly quickly, and the pancakes were honestly the perfect sweet treat.
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The market has a huge selection of foods and drinks (Image: Holly Kintuka)
It was a challenge getting through the crowds (Image: Holly Kintuka)
The quick wait made me think that I could possibly hold out waiting for other things, but I didn’t want to give myself false hope or attempt to get through the multitude of people again.
My friend managed to grab a hot chocolate for £5 before I got my pancakes, but you also had to pay a £5 deposit for the mug that you’d get back once you returned it, so it was back through the crowds again.
I did try a sip of the hot chocolate and although it was nice, it wasn’t quite worth the £5, but the price is what you’d expect at a Christmas Market, I guess.
This time round was my second time at the event. The first time I’d gone was in 2021. It was much quieter, but I was only passing through and didn’t actually try anything, so my most recent trip showed some progress, and if I do happen to go again…which I probably will, maybe it’ll be a third-time lucky result.