To mark the start of the winter season, the wellness team at UK Saunas has researched 38 top UK staycation spots, to work out which of the UK’s towns and cities offer the best experiences for couples looking to wrap up and spend some quality time together.To do this, they gathered data across three ‘romance metrics’, to work out which places were the most and least romantic. The areas they researched were:
The number of restaurants where Google reviews mentioned the word “romantic”, per capita
The number of hotels listed as “romantic” and “for couples” in TripAdvisor, and how much of the total hotel share these made up
The number of Instagram posts including #proposal in each location
Key Findings
Durham was the most romantic city in the UK; it has the highest share of romantic restaurants per person, and highest percentage of romantic and couple-friendly hotels.
Other highly preserved cities, including York, Lancaster, Oxford, and Edinburgh also ranked highly.
The least romantic locations - of those analysed - were Sunderland, Bradford, Leicester, Kingston-upon-Hull and South Lanarkshire.
London, despite its reputation as a top European holiday spot for couples, did not make the top 10.
[caption id="attachment_1649" align="alignleft" width="512"] Durham, North East England.[/caption]
The Most Romantic Places in Britain
Postion
Place
Total Score
1
Durham
103
2
York
98
3
Lancaster
96
4
Oxford
91
5
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
79
6
Edinburgh
76
7
Nottingham
73
8
Belfast
70
9
Portsmouth
70
10
Bournemouth
69
11
Dundee
67
12
Swansea
67
13
London
66
14
Derby
62
15
Exeter
62
16
Aberdeen
59
17
Southampton
59
18
Doncaster
57
19
Plymouth
57
20
Cardiff
55
21
Leeds
55
22
Bristol
54
23
Sheffield
54
24
Glasgow
53
25
Liverpool
53
26
Manchester
53
27
Birmingham
52
28
Coventry
52
29
Wolverhampton
51
30
Stockport
50
31
Stoke-on-Trent
39
32
Bolton
38
33
Walsall
38
34
Sunderland
36
35
Bradford
34
36
Leicester
22
37
Kingston-upon-Hull
21
38
South Lanarkshire
20
[caption id="attachment_1650" align="alignleft" width="512"] York, North West England.[/caption]
The Most Romantic Places to have Dinner
Position
Location
1
Durham
2
Exeter
3
Bournemouth
4
Lancaster
5
Oxford
6
York
7
Southampton
8
Portsmouth
9
Nottingham
10
Coventry
11
Stockport
12
Swansea
13
Plymouth
14
Derby
15
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
16
Aberdeen
17
Dundee
18
Bolton
19
Wolverhampton
20
Walsall
21
Sunderland
22
Leicester
23
Belfast
24
South Lanarkshire
25
Cardiff
26
Doncaster
27
Stoke-on-Trent
28
Bradford
29
Bristol
30
Liverpool
31
Edinburgh
32
Manchester
33
Sheffield
34
Leeds
35
Kingston-upon-Hull
36
Birmingham
37
Glasgow
38
London
[caption id="attachment_1651" align="alignleft" width="512"] Bournemouth, South England.[/caption]
Starting our search - We began by compiling a list of the 38 largest towns and cities (by population) in the UK. When compiling our data for each of the metrics, we started with these cities. To find the number of romantic restaurants per person weused data from local Google restaurant reviews, we collated the total number of listed restaurants where the word “romantic” was mentioned for each location. We then divided this by the total population of each place, using recent ONS data, to find out the number of romantic restaurants per capita. To find the number of romantic hotels we searched TripAdvisor for hotels listed as ‘romantic’ and ‘for couples’. We then worked out the percentage share this figure made up of all listed hotels, by dividing that figure by the total number of hotel listings in each place. To find out which location has the highest number of proposals, we searched Instagram for any posts including the #proposal that have ever been made in each location. We used a scoring system, in which all 38 locations were ranked in descending order for each metric. These scores were added together to find the total scores for every location, and they were then ranked accordingly. You can view our full data-set here.
Durham, North East England.[/caption]
York, North West England.[/caption]
Bournemouth, South England.[/caption]
