NASA reveals the 10 European cities with the brightest Christmas lights
Preparation for the festive season has already begun as cities around the world transform into Christmas wonderlands, showcasing their unique charm for the season.
Now, with data from NASA’s night-time satellite, the top 10 countries that shine the brightest have been revealed, but unfortunately, UK cities don’t have quite as much sparkle as the others.
Leading the list is Germany’s city of Munich, which saw a brightness increase of 236.8% between October and December of last year. Germany is renowned for its spectacular Christmas markets, and it so happens that Munich has one which dates right back to the 14th century – making it one of the world’s oldest.
Following close behind is the capital of Belarus. The city of Minsk, known for creating an authentic Christmas atmosphere and its spectacular fairs, had a huge brightness increase of 221.6%.
It may come as a shock that London isn’t part of the list as it is famous worldwide for its Christmas scenes with incredible lights being hung around Regent Street, Carnaby Street, and Oxford Circus, as well as the capital hosting Hyde Park’s renowned Winter Wonderland.
According to the satellite data, it only saw a brightness increase of 38%, which placed it 15th out of the European cities.
Other UK cities that were mentioned in the study included Edinburgh, with a brightness increase of 24%, placing it 20th on the list, and Cardiff came seven places behind with a brightness increase of 20.5%.
While it may be disappointing that no UK city ranked in the top 10, there is an advantage to not being among the brightest cities in Europe.
Sleep experts at Mattress Online shared that all the cheer and bright lights can be a big obstacle to getting a good night’s sleep and offered some advice on how not to let the Christmas glow interrupt that.
They said: “It helps to create an environment that can block out or at least minimise the external light. You can do this by investing in some blackout curtains. If you’re unable to get blackout curtains, try layering your curtains with a thick blanket as an improvised blackout shade or try using an eye mask.”
Top 10 cities with the brightest Christmas lights – full list
- Munich
- Minsk
- Helskini
- Oslo
- Stockholm
- Tallinn
- Vienna
- Riga
- Vaduz
- Sofia
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