One of the joys of the holidays is browsing through festive Christmas markets for unique gifts for loved ones, and there is no better holiday market in the city than the stunning Distillery Winter Village. But, getting there, finding parking and not getting lost in the throngs is an anxiety-inducing experience.
While some may consider the busyness of a Christmas market to be part of the holiday shopping experience, it also means that some markets may have become too crowded to actually get any shopping done. To uncover the true extent of holiday crowds, last month, on website analyzed Yelp reviews from more than 100 markets in Canada and the USA, tracking mentions of the words “busy”, “busiest”, “crowded”, and “overcrowded” to determine the most packed holiday hotspots!
Out of the top 10 busiest markets in North America, the Toronto Christmas Market in the Distillery Winter Village ranked fifth, with 25% of 136 reviews mentioning the words “overcrowded” or “busy.” It’s also the only market in Canada to appear on the top 10 list!
No surprise about the crowds — this market is the most popular holiday market in the city, filled with an enormous 55-foot tree, magical lights, tons of food, giant gingerbread houses, crafts from hundreds of unique holiday vendors, and traditional Christmas carols.
“It’s not enough to stop [shoppers] from facing space issues, though, as 1-in-4 reviews mention how little room there was in the crowds of Christmas shoppers,” the report stated.
The only other Canadian city mentioned in the report was Vancouver — the Vancouver Christmas market ranked 12th on the list, with 15.2% of 263 reviews mentioning the words “overcrowded” or “busy”.
Of course, American cities dominated the list, with Christkindlmarkt in Chicago, IL, topping the list (38.3% of 780 reviews mentioned the words “overcrowded” or “busy”, followed by New York City’s Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park (with 33.3% of 423 reviews mentioned the words “overcrowded” or “busy”).
As for their methodology — to help prevent skewed results, the researchers filtered out any markets with fewer than 50 reviews. After crunching the numbers, they calculated the percentage of busy-related mentions across each Christmas market’s total Yelp reviews. Over 100+ Christmas markets were analyzed (you can click here for the full list).
Of course, a market being busy doesn’t mean you have to avoid it.
For quieter, less crowded experiences, visit the Winter Village earlier in the day (especially on weekdays, when more people tend to be at work or school). Late afternoon into early evening on a weekday is ideal as you’ll likely experience a bustling but not overcrowded atmosphere. If you come at 6pm on a weekend, well, it can be done. But don’t be surprised by the crowds and parking challenges. Consider taking public transit or a taxi or ride-share to avoid one headache.
If the crowds are too much, there are tons more to visit in and near Toronto, including this magical new Christmas market in Ontario’s “prettiest town”.
