Things to Do in London at Christmas: 6 Festive Picks

1. Christmas lights from a bus: best for a first evening

The easiest of the things to do in London at Christmas is to see the lights from a bus seat with a guide. You get the main streets in about 90 minutes and you stay warm. If you are watching your budget, read the guide to 2 for 1 london offers before you book anything, because a lights tour is one of the cheaper paid things on this list.

The Christmas lights bus tour with a live guide is listed from €30 per person and rated 4.1 from 5,443 reviews. It lasts about 1.5 hours, runs with a live English guide and passes Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, the Strand and Regent Street. The operator is Golden Tours - Gray Line London. The listing names a live English-speaking guide and a 75 to 90 minute tour, and the group is at most 72 people. It is the only one of the four with a stated group size. It has three meeting points, and yours depends on the option you pick. Food and drinks and hotel pickup are not included, and the listing offers free cancellation.

The Christmas lights tour by vintage bus is listed from €34 per person and rated 3.9 from 780 reviews. It is an open-top vintage bus with a guide and festive music on board, run by TransporaBus from Embankment (Stop 40b). It lasts about 1.5 hours, lists free cancellation up to 24 hours before and is not suitable for wheelchair users. The listing states no group size and no excluded items. It includes a guide, festive music and views of the lights, and the guide speaks English.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 2026-10-24

Dress for the cold. An open-top bus is much colder in December than the same bus in July.

Pro Tip Book a free-cancellation lights tour for your first evening, then move it by a day if the forecast is bad, because rain makes the open-top seats miserable.

2. Hyde Park Winter Wonderland: best for rides, food and a rink

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland is the biggest Christmas fair in London. According to the Winter Wonderland website, it opens from 19 November 2026 to 3 January 2027 and is open every day except Christmas Day. It has the Ice Rink by Priority from O2, which the site calls the UK's largest open-air ice rink, set around the Victorian bandstand, for ages 3 and up.

Entry is by timed ticket, and everyone needs one, "whether you're 2 or 92". The tickets guide lists three prices: £1.00 off-peak, £5.50 standard and £8.25 peak. The off-peak slots are the Monday to Thursday sessions in November, and the site says they are always free to enter, though you must still book a ticket. Entry is free when you spend £25 on rides, attractions, packages or food in one online booking. The ice rink is a separate ticket. Its official page lists advance prices of £12.65 off-peak, £17.05 standard and £19.25 peak for an adult, £9.35 to £13.75 for a child and £37.40 to £55.00 for a family. A session lasts 45 minutes, skates are included, and you should arrive 20 minutes early. The rink is open 10am to 9pm, and children aged 3 to 12 must have an adult aged 18 or over with them.

London has other outdoor rinks. According to Somerset House, its courtyard rink runs from 11 November 2026 to 10 January 2027, with tickets from £11 to £28.50. Entry to the courtyard is free, and you only buy a ticket to skate. Royal Museums Greenwich lists the Queen's House Ice Rink from 18 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, open 10am to 9pm, and it is ticketed too. Neither page says whether its rink opens on Christmas Day, so check before you book that day. The Natural History Museum rink ended after its 2021 to 2022 season.

The park opens at 10am on most days, closes at 10pm and takes last entry at 9.30pm. Christmas Day is the one day it is shut.

Come for a few hours and eat there. Go in the late afternoon, then walk out through the park when the lights come on.

3. Christmas markets and food: best for a free wander

Winter Wonderland is the main Christmas market in this list, and its food and shopping stalls sit next to the rink. The lights are the bus routes in entry 1 and the landmarks in entry 4. Two switch-on dates are published by the places themselves. The Regent Street lights return from Thursday 5 November, and the street closes to traffic from 5pm to 9pm that evening. Covent Garden lists its lights switch-on for Thursday 12 November, with live festive performances and a countdown, and says its festive season runs seven weeks from that date. Regent Street also lists family entertainment and shop offers but gives no dates for them. We found no official dates for other streets.

For food all year, Borough Market is the better stop. A normal week is Tuesday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm, and it is closed on Mondays. Its 2026 festive schedule says it opens 8am to 3pm on Thursday 24 December and is closed on 25 and 26 December. It adds that hours may still change.

The best Christmas market is the one you reach while it is still warm.

4. Winter on the river: best for the lights without the crowd

A Thames cruise in the evening shows the lit-up river banks from a seat, with the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament on the way. The Thames evening cruise with bubbly and canapés is listed from €48 per person and rated 4.4 from 2,875 reviews. It lasts about 2 hours, starts at Tower Millennium Pier, passes under Tower Bridge and by Canary Wharf, and includes a guide, canapés and one glass of sparkling wine or a soft drink on arrival. It is run by City Cruises Limited. Extra drinks are paid on board, hotel pickup is not included, and the supplier does not guarantee the food is free of nuts. Children under 13 are not allowed, the listing states no group size, and it offers free cancellation up to 3 days before.

For a bus that covers the landmarks, the London by night open-top bus is listed from €30 per person and rated 4.5 from 6,114 reviews. It is a 90-minute live-guided tour run by See London By Night, and it starts at Green Park Station. It passes Big Ben, the London Eye, Tower Bridge and Trafalgar Square, runs in English and lists wheelchair access. It lists free cancellation up to 24 hours before, no group size and no excluded items.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 2026-10-24

Both tours depend on the weather. The Met Office 1991 to 2020 averages for Heathrow give December a high of 8.8°C and a low of 3.1°C, with about 11 days of rain of 1 mm or more and 57 mm of rain in total. The river and open-top seats feel colder after dark, so book the one with free cancellation and move it if the forecast is bad. Dress warm either way.

5. A Christmas day out of the city: best for a quiet day

A day out of London works when you want fewer people and one big sight. Blenheim Palace runs its Christmas season from 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027 and is a separate ticket, with an illuminated trail and Cinderella inside the palace. The Christmas market there ends on 20 December. Read our guide to day trips from London to compare the other places that work in winter.

Historic Royal Palaces lists a Winter Palace season at Hampton Court Palace from 28 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, with later opening on some December days, though we could only read part of that page. The palace is shut on several days in December, including 24 to 26 December, so check its calendar before you go.

Check your train or coach times before you book, because winter timetables can differ.

6. A festive night out: best for adults and couples

A West End show is the classic indoor Christmas night. Festive shows are on sale in London in December, and our guide to West End shows explains how to pick one. Book early for the dates you want.

Westminster Cathedral's Luminiscence light show also has a Christmas edition from 25 November to 2 January, according to a ticket reseller's listing, which is why we treat the dates as unconfirmed. Check the cathedral's own site before you buy.

What is open on 25 and 26 December

Most of London shuts down on 25 December, and no official page lists what stays open, so we name what is closed and what runs. The London Eye closes on Christmas Day, and the Winter Wonderland site says the park is closed that day. Borough Market is closed on 25 and 26 December. Winter Wonderland lists later 11am or 12pm starts on some days in November and December and from 11am on 28 December, but no change for 24 or 26 December. One thing that is open: St Paul's Cathedral lists a free Christmas Day Festal Evensong, a choir service, on Friday 25 December from 3pm to 4pm, with no ticket needed. The National Gallery and the Science Museum are closed from 24 to 26 December, according to the National Gallery and the Science Museum.

Transport is thin. Transport for London said in 2025 that there is no service on most public transport on Christmas Day, and that Boxing Day brings a reduced network. The same release says services run on Christmas Eve but finish early, so plan ahead. On Christmas Day it lists Santander Cycles, taxis and private hire, Victoria Coach Station and Dial-a-Ride as available, and the cable car as closed. The Elizabeth line does not run on Boxing Day, and the Docklands Light Railway runs a reduced service. Taxis run, and Transport for London's taxi fares page adds £4 to a black cab fare from 24 December to 6 January. For the days after, read how getting around London works.

Key Takeaway On 25 December the London Eye, the National Gallery, the Science Museum and Winter Wonderland are all closed, so plan your walking and your lights for 23 or 27 December instead.

To plan the whole week, the best time to visit London guide covers December weather.

How to choose from the things to do in London at Christmas

Pick by what you want from the evening. Since October 2026, Things to Do in London counts 23 GetYourGuide listings with Christmas in the title, from lights buses to day trips and West End tickets, so the choice is wide.

The best plan for most visitors is one lights tour, one afternoon at Winter Wonderland and one clear evening on the river. If you stay in the West End, Middle Eight in Covent Garden puts the theatres and the lights within walking distance, and St. Ermin's Hotel is a quieter base near St James's Park. Our where to stay guide compares the areas.

A tour is worth it when you want the lights without the cold and the planning. A bus covers Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, the Strand and Regent Street in about 90 minutes, which is hard to match on foot in one evening. Walking is free and lets you stop for photos, but you will see less in the same time. The Regent Street and Covent Garden lights are free to see from the pavement. The Somerset House courtyard is free to enter, and you pay only to skate. The St Paul's Christmas Day evensong is free and needs no ticket. No official page lists every free Christmas event, so we name only the free ones we could confirm. Winter Wonderland entry is free only with a £25 online spend, though the site says off-peak slots are always free to enter and still need a booking, and the ice rink, tours and the cruise are paid. Book a bus tour for the first evening, then walk the same streets on foot on your second night. The full list of london at night tours is the place to compare departures when you are ready to book.

A limit to know: bus tours show the lights from a seat and give you no time to stop. For photos on the streets, choose a walk instead.