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Edinburgh crowned best city in UK to see planetary parade in 2025

Throughout February, a striking gathering of the five brightest planets—Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Saturn—along with the more elusive Uranus

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Throughout February, a striking gathering of the five brightest planets—Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Saturn—along with the more elusive Uranus and Neptune, will be the main celestial attraction in the evening sky.

Later in the month, anyone with a clear unobstructed view of the horizon may be able to see all five bright planets stretching across the sky. Two of these planets, Mercury and Saturn, will appear especially close together on Monday, Feb. 24, the highlight of this month-long planetary display

However, light pollution may pose a challenge for those hoping to enjoy the spectacle. So, which city offers the best conditions to witness this celestial event?

New data from long-haul travel specialists Travelbag has revealed the best cities to see the planetary alignment at night. Using a seed list of 136 of the world’s most popular cities, the best European cities to see the planetary parade have been revealed by analysing the light pollution levels in each of them.

Edinburgh has been named ninth best city in the UK to see the 2025 planetary alignment. 

RankCityCountryLight pollution levels
1ReykjavikIceland20.28
2HelsinkiFinland23.04
3StockholmSweden27.59
4ViennaAustria30.05
5VilniusLithuania30.13
6DubrovnikCroatia32.50
7MadridSpain34.17
8SarajevoBosnia and Herzegovina34.95
9EdinburghUnited Kingdom35.61
10AmsterdamNetherlands36.16

Key findings:

  • Edinburgh, Scotland, has been named among the best European cities to stargaze this February, securing the ninth palace with a 35.61 overall light pollution. 
  • Reykjavik, Iceland, is crowned the best city to enjoy the planet parade, with just 20.28 light pollution levels. 
  • Following closely behind in second place are Helsinki (Finland) and Stockholm (Sweden), with respectively 23.04 and 27.59 pollution levels. 

The data was gathered by analysing Instagram hashtags, light and noise pollution levels and the safety of walking alone at night (via the Safety Index). Cities where data was missing for two or more metrics, were removed from the final ranking.

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