If you already live here, or London is a couple of hours down the line, Christmas in the capital is a different proposition from a week-long trip. You do not need a hotel or an itinerary. You need to know which of it is worth the journey, which of it is free, what needs booking now, and what is actually running on the day you were thinking of going.

So this is a list you can plan a day around — sorted by what it costs you and how far ahead you need to commit, rather than by category.

The Free Ones, and They Are the Best Ones

Carnaby Street under its Christmas light installation on a weekday evening

The thing most people remember about Christmas in London costs nothing. Six that are worth the train fare on their own:

  • The Carnaby Street lights — the most creative display in the city, with a different theme every year rather than the usual snowflakes. Ten minutes' walk from Oxford Circus and a fraction of the crowd.
  • The Trafalgar Square tree — a Norwegian spruce given by the city of Oslo every year since the war, as thanks for Britain's support. Carol singers most evenings in December.
  • Covent Garden — the giant baubles and the enormous tree. The most photographed spot in London at Christmas, and free to wander.
  • Coal Drops Yard and King's Cross — light art rather than light displays, and the one central spot in December that never feels crowded.
  • The department store windows — Harrods, Selfridges, Liberty and Fortnum's put more effort into these than most galleries put into a hanging. Best after dark, worst on a Saturday.
  • The national museums — the V&A, the Natural History Museum, the British Museum and the National Gallery are all free and all warm, which matters more in December than you would think.

The Harrods window displays lit up in Knightsbridge

The lights are usually switched on between early and mid-November and stay up into the first week of January, so the season is longer than most people assume. Mid-December weekday evenings are the sweet spot: everything is lit, nothing is as busy as the weekend.

What You Need to Book Now

Skaters on an outdoor rink in London on a December evening

Everything in this section sells out, and most of it sells out weeks rather than days ahead. If you are reading this in the autumn, this is the part to act on.

  • Ice skating — the Natural History Museum rink is the prettiest, Somerset House the grandest, Glide at Battersea Power Station usually the easiest to get a slot at. Book a time, do not turn up.
  • Hyde Park Winter Wonderland — entry is timed and some slots are paid. The rides and the rink are separate tickets on top.
  • Pantomime — the December institution, and the one thing on this list you cannot really explain to a visitor. Book by October for a good date.
  • The Warner Bros. Studio Tour — dressed for Christmas through the winter, with the Great Hall done out for the feast. Timed tickets, gone weeks ahead.
  • Festive afternoon tea — the hotel dining rooms release Christmas sittings in the autumn and the good ones fill immediately.
  • Department store grottos — if there is a child involved, this is the booking to make first.

Christmas Markets in London

London's markets are smaller and more scattered than the great European ones, and the mood is different: less traditional craft, more street food and funfair. The four worth a detour are Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, the Southbank Centre Winter Market along the river, Greenwich for the most characterful and least crowded, and Leicester Square for the most central.

We have been through all of them properly, with opening dates and what each one is actually good for, in our guide to the best London Christmas markets.

Making an Evening of It

The lit frontage of a West End theatre in December

The West End is good all year and exceptional in December, when the seasonal productions join the long-runners. Look for a Nutcracker, a Christmas Carol revival, a family musical adding holiday performances, and the pantomimes. The festive schedule is confirmed in the autumn, so check listings before building a day around one show.

For dinner afterwards, a few that do Christmas properly:

  • Rules, 35 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden — London's oldest restaurant and the place for traditional British Christmas cooking.
  • The Ritz Restaurant, 150 Piccadilly — the most formal festive afternoon tea in the city, and worth dressing for.
  • Sketch, 9 Conduit Street, Mayfair — theatrical, and a good deal more fun than its prices suggest.
  • Duck & Waffle, 110 Bishopsgate — the view, at any hour, plus a festive menu.
  • Coppa Club, Three Quays Walk — the riverside igloos with Tower Bridge in front of you. These go earliest of the lot.

A London dining room dressed for Christmas

If you would rather make the meal the occasion, our round-up of the best afternoon tea in the UK covers the festive sittings, and the best Michelin star restaurants in London is the list for a bigger night.

Beyond the Obvious, if You Have Done Oxford Street

The London Eye lit above the Thames in winter

The problem with Christmas in London, if you come most years, is that the famous bits stop being a surprise. Six that are genuinely different:

  • Greenwich — the market, the cobbled streets, the Old Royal Naval College floodlit, and the Thames Clipper back into town in the dark.
  • Kew Gardens after dark — an illuminated trail through the glasshouses and the arboretum. Ticketed, and one of the few festive events that is genuinely beautiful rather than just festive.
  • London Zoo's winter evenings — a lit trail after closing, if it is running the year you go.
  • Battersea Power Station — the rink, the lift up the chimney, and a building worth seeing regardless.
  • The Tower of London — festive lighting and seasonal events inside the walls, and far less obvious than the West End.
  • The London Eye after dark — touristy, and still the best single view of the lit city in December. Go at night or do not bother.

If you want out of the city altogether, things to do outside London has the day trips, and the best art galleries in London is the wet-afternoon answer.

With Kids, and Around the School Holidays

Children watching a toy demonstration in a London department store

Most schools break up in the third week of December, which means the fortnight before Christmas is the busiest window of the year for anything child-facing, and the first week of December is the quietest good one. If you can go before term ends, do.

  • Hamleys — seven floors, live demonstrations, free to walk around, and completely overwhelming. Go on a weekday morning.
  • Winter Wonderland — rides, rink and stalls in one place, which is the whole argument for it with small children.
  • The Natural History Museum — free, dinosaurs, and the best rink in London directly outside.
  • A pantomime — built for exactly this audience, and cheaper than the West End musicals.
  • Kew or the Zoo trail — dark by four, which for once works in your favour.

Practical notes: a lot of central Tube stations still have no lift access, the West End pavements are hard going with a pushchair at the weekend, and the grottos need booking well before December.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day: What's Actually Open

On Christmas Day, 25 December, London closes. Shops, nearly all attractions and most restaurants shut, and there is no public transport at all — no Tube, no buses, no National Rail. If you are travelling on the 25th you are walking, cycling or in a pre-booked taxi, and taxis are scarce and expensive.

What still works: hotel restaurants serving Christmas lunch, a handful of independents that open specifically for it, and the parks. A walk through the centre on Christmas morning, decorated and almost empty, is one of the genuinely lovely things about living within reach of this city — and it is free.

Shoppers on a decorated London street during the Boxing Day sales

Boxing Day is the opposite. A reduced Tube and rail service runs, the big stores open for the start of the sales, and most attractions are back. Oxford Street on Boxing Day is a serious commitment; if you want the sales without the crush, the outlet centres out of town are the calmer option.

Two things worth knowing if you are coming in from outside London. First, Christmas and New Year is the busiest engineering-works period on the railway, and closures routinely affect the main lines into Euston, Paddington and King's Cross as well as the airport connections. Check your route in the week before you travel, not the month before. Second, if you are driving, remember the Congestion Charge and ULEZ still apply on most days over the period — check the dates, because the exemptions change year to year and a forgotten charge is an expensive way to end a good day.

Getting In, Getting Around, Getting Home

By train. London is well under three hours from Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Cardiff, and around four and a half from Edinburgh, which makes a Christmas day trip perfectly reasonable from most of the country. Advance singles booked well ahead are a fraction of the walk-up fare, and December weekends are the first to fill.

Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster lit on a December evening

Getting around. Pay contactless with a card or your phone rather than buying tickets. The daily cap means you stop paying once you have made a few journeys, so there is no reason to work out a travelcard. Almost everything in this guide is within Zones 1 and 2, and much of the West End is faster on foot than underground.

What a day costs. If you stick to the free things and bring a flask, a Christmas day out in London costs you the train fare and lunch. Add a rink session, a panto ticket or a festive tea and you are into real money — budget roughly £25 to £50 a head for lunch out, and considerably more for a theatre trip. The lights, the windows, the tree and the museums are all free, which is worth remembering when the paid options start stacking up.

The weather. Expect 3°C to 9°C, grey, and rain rather than snow. Layers, a waterproof, and shoes you can walk several miles in. It is dark by four, which is inconvenient for sightseeing and ideal for everything on this page.

Christmas Elsewhere in the UK

A group walking through central London beneath the Christmas lights

London is not the only option, and for a lot of the country it is not the nearest one. Three that hold their own:

Give a Christmas Day Out

all Experiencegift cards

A day out is a better present than most objects, and it does not have to be booked before you give it. An Experiencegift travel voucher lets them pick the trip themselves — a night in London for the lights, a weekend at one of the Christmas markets further north, or somewhere else entirely.

It covers flights to hundreds of destinations and stays in hundreds of thousands of hotels, so it stretches from a night away to a proper holiday. Send it by email in a couple of minutes, or order a physical card with your own photo and message on it. Have a look at what's available, or see our ideas for family Christmas gifts if you have several people to buy for.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best Christmas things to do in London?

The lights on Carnaby Street, Covent Garden and Regent Street, the tree in Trafalgar Square, ice skating at the Natural History Museum or Somerset House, a pantomime or a West End show, Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, and the department store windows. The best of it — the lights, the windows, the tree and the national museums — costs nothing.

What free Christmas things are there to do in London?

All the major light displays, the Trafalgar Square tree and its carol singers, the Covent Garden decorations, the Coal Drops Yard light art, every department store window, and the national museums including the V&A, the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery. A walk through the decorated centre on Christmas morning is free and unlike any other day of the year.

When is the best time to visit London at Christmas?

The first two weeks of December. The lights are all on from mid-November, but the crowds build sharply once schools break up in the third week of December. A weekday evening in early December gets you everything lit and none of the crush.

Are the shops and attractions open on Christmas Day?

Almost nothing is open on 25 December. Shops, most attractions and the majority of restaurants close. Hotel restaurants serving Christmas lunch are the main exception, along with a few independents that open specifically for the day. The parks stay open.

Is there public transport in London on Christmas Day and Boxing Day?

There is no public transport at all on Christmas Day — no Tube, no buses, no National Rail. On Boxing Day a reduced service runs on many lines and routes. Bear in mind that Christmas and New Year is the heaviest engineering-works period of the year on the railway, so check the main lines and airport connections in the week before you travel.

How much does a Christmas day out in London cost?

If you stick to the lights, the windows and the museums it costs you the fare and whatever you eat. Lunch out runs roughly £25 to £50 a head, an ice-skating session or a pantomime ticket adds meaningfully on top, and a West End show or festive afternoon tea is the most expensive part of any day here. Pay contactless on transport and the daily cap keeps travel predictable.

What should I book in advance?

Anything ticketed: ice-skating slots, Winter Wonderland, pantomimes and West End shows, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, festive afternoon teas, Christmas lunch and department store grottos. Most of these sell out weeks ahead, and the good dates go first. Nothing free needs booking.

Where are the best Christmas lights in London?

Oxford Street and Regent Street have the biggest displays and the biggest crowds. Carnaby Street is the most creative, with a new theme each year. Covent Garden is the most traditional and the best for photographs. King's Cross and Coal Drops Yard is the most modern and much the quietest.

Can you do London at Christmas as a day trip?

Easily, and it is how most people in the UK do it. London is under three hours by train from Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Cardiff. Aim to arrive mid-afternoon so you get the lights after dark, and book an advance single well ahead — December weekend trains fill early.

Is Winchester, Manchester or Edinburgh better than London for Christmas?

For the markets themselves, quite possibly. Manchester runs the largest Christmas markets in the country, Edinburgh has the best setting of any UK market, and Winchester's cathedral close is the most traditional. London wins on lights, theatre and ice rinks rather than on market stalls, so it depends which of those you are actually going for.