NASA reveals 10 European cities with the brightest Christmas lights | The world

Preparations for the Christmas season have already begun as cities around the world transform into Christmas wonderlands and showcase their unique charms for the season.

Now, using data from NASA’s night satellite, the top 10 brightest countries have been revealed, but unfortunately British cities don’t have quite as much glitter as the others.

Leading the list is the German city of Munich, which saw a 236.8% increase in brightness between October and December last year. Germany is known for its spectacular Christmas markets, and it just so happens that Munich has one dating back to the 14^Th century – making it one of the world’s oldest.

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 is not part of the list as it is known worldwide for its Christmas scenes with incredible lights strung around Regent Street, Carnaby Street and Oxford Circus, as well as the capital hosting Hyde Park’s famous Winter Wonderland.

According to satellite data, it only saw a 38% increase in brightness, placing it at 15th^Th from the European cities.

Other UK cities mentioned in the study include Edinburgh, with a 24% increase in brightness, placing it in 20^Th on the list, and Cardiff was 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 smartest cities in Europe.

Sleep experts at Mattress Online shared that all the cheer and lights can be a major obstacle to getting a good night’s sleep and offered some advice on how to not let the holiday cheer interrupt it.

They said: “It helps create an environment that can block or at least minimize outside light. You can do this by investing in some blackout curtains. If you can’t get blackout curtains, try lining your curtains with a thick blanket like a improvised blackout curtain or try using an eye mask.”

Top 10 cities with the brightest Christmas lights – the full list