Holiday booking platform Holidu has revealed its picks for the most Christmassy cities in Europe for 2022, having ranked just one Swiss city in its top 20. Switzerland’s largest city, Zurich, came in at an unavailing 12th place, while many Austrian and German cities swooped the top spots, as did some less traditional Christmas spots like London and Paris. 

Berlin ranked as the most Christmassy city in Europe

The ranking included 110 cities from across the continent, comparing them through four main parameters: the number of Instagram hashtags, the number of Christmas markets in each city, the monthly search volume of each destination and the average number of snow days throughout December.

The ranking for 2022 crowned Berlin as the most Christmassy city in Europe - perhaps no surprise given its large and historic Christmas markets - while the least Christmassy city was ranked as Durrës in Albania. Several Swiss cities made it onto the ranking, including Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Lausanne, Bern and Montreux.

Swiss cities slammed in Christmas ranking

Despite many tourists heading to Switzerland around this time of year to enjoy the great Christmas markets, Swiss food, ski resorts and wonderful snowy mountains, the highest-ranked Swiss city on the list came in a meagre 12th place. The offending city, Zurich, lost out for having just four Christmas markets, compared to Berlin’s 80, and is said to suffer from a serious lack of Christmas "hashtaggers", with just 2.293 Christmas hashtags, compared to London’s nearly 232.000. 

The situation was worse still for the other Swiss cities. Behind Zurich was Geneva in 44th place, Basel in 46th place, Lausanne in 66th place, Bern in 69th place and Montreux in 81st position. Poor Montreux had just 18 Christmas hashtags, 20 monthly searches and one Christmas market - but at least it boasts seven days of snow!

Holidu Festive Cities Index 2022

The top ten most festive cities in 2022 according to Holidu, are:

• 1. Berlin
• 2. Vienna
• 3. Prague
• 4. Munich
• 5. Copenhagen
• 6. Stockholm
• 7. London
• 8. Salzburg
• 9. Paris 
• 10. Oslo

For the full ranking and more information on how the ranking was put together, visit the Holidu website.