Looking for things to do in London at Christmas? Whether you live here or are visiting the capital over the holiday period, it's a magical place to get festive, with a flurry of events: ice rinks and Christmas markets to visit, Christmas lights to admire — and festive food and drink to indulge in. And that's before we even think about New Year's Eve. Keep an eye on the latest festive news and events for Christmas 2025 in London.
Time to get stuck in and plan your Christmas in London:
Festive days out and things to do in London: Christmas
Christmas film screenings in London
Plenty of places screen festive classics in the run-up to the big day. Find out where to get your dose of Elf, Love Actually and It's A Wonderful Life with our guide to Christmas movie screenings, in cinemas, hotels... and a palace. You can even watch A Muppet Christmas Carol every day until Christmas Eve.
Hyde Park Winter Wonderland
Winter Wonderland opens in Hyde Park featuring a huge fun fair, ice rink, games, Christmas market and seasonal fare. You'll need to book your entry slot in advance again this year. It gets clamorous and everything you do inside will cost you, apart from walking around and soaking up the atmosphere. A few years ago, we spoke to visitors to find out what they liked about it. 14 November 2025-4 January 2026
Christmas ice skating in London
Winter ice skating is always hugely popular in London. Pretty ice rinks pop up at places like Somerset House, Canary Wharf and Hampton Court Palace from October right through until January. New for Christmas 2025 is a rink slap bang in the middle of Leicester Square, as well as a rooftop ice rink in south London. Here's our guide to where to get your skates on over Christmas. October 2025-February 2026
Book your Christmas party at TOCA Social
Planning a festive get-together with friends and family? Perhaps you're in charge of organising the work Christmas party? TOCA Social has venues at both Westfield White City and The O2 — both easily accessible by public transport — each combining fun, food and friendly footie competition. Book a private gaming box and go head-to-head in a whole range of football-based competitions. Not a player? Not a problem — games are designed for all skill levels, including beginners. When it's refuelling time, TOCA Social offers shareable dishes such as festive loaded nachos and maple pigs in blankets, and indulgent mains (including a festive smash burger), along with creative and themed cocktails to keep the party going. (sponsor)
Winter carriage rides in Richmond Park
Those festive horse-drawn carriage rides through Richmond Park are back, offering a romantic way to see the Royal Park. Take a 75-minute ride on a brake, snuggly blanket provided. 6 December 2025-1 January 2026
When is the Coca-Cola truck in London for Christmas 2025?
It pulled up in Brick Lane back in November 2024, and we're currently awaiting news on when (or if) the Coca-Cola truck is coming to London for Christmas 2025 (because it isn't Christmas without a hulking great lorry, right?). We'll update this page when we have more information.
The Gingerbread City exhibition 2025 in King's Cross
A model city made entirely from gingerbread goes on display in King's Cross. Several teams of architects, designers and engineers have worked on Gingerbread City, creating buildings, bridges and other tasty structures as part of a competition. 29 November 2025-4 January 2026
Festive days out in Kingston
Seasonal cheer meets community spirit in the form of Christmas Together in Kingston. Head to this welcoming part of south-west London for festive shopping, theatre and feasting (psst… there’s an app to help you make the most of your visit). Highlights include a Christmas market, bespoke light installations and several chances to meet Santa. The festivities run until 28 December (sponsor)
The Charles Dickens Museum at Christmas
For our money, one of the most traditionally festive days out in London can be had at the Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury. Every year, the author's former home is decorated as it would have been when the Dickens family lived there, and holds a series of festive events — including live performances of A Christmas Carol.
Christmas lights in London
When are London's Christmas lights switched on?
Christmas illuminations tend to get switched on from early November — here's a full guide to the 2025 switch-on dates. Most are lit by early December, which brings us nicely on to...
When and where to see the West End Christmas lights
The best-known Christmas lights are those in Regent Street, Oxford Street, Covent Garden and Carnaby. Here's our guide to seeing London's Christmas lights, including the best times to see them, and routes to take — we've even included a map.
If you're more organised, you can get a closer look, by viewing London's Christmas lights from a bus. Hop on a TfL service, and let the sights roll past your window.
Light festivals in London
Once again, London's awash with light festivals this winter. Lights, lasers, lanterns and illuminations are back — including an illuminated trip to Neverland — great for a family outing or a romantic night out. Plus, you can ride a steam train covered in Christmas lights! If you're willing to venture outside of London there are plenty of light trails near the capital too.
Things to do with children in London at Christmas
Santa's Grottos in London
The kids can share their Christmas wishes (and perhaps find out if they're on the Naughty or Nice list) at these Santa's Grottos and Father Christmas appearances around the capital. Most book out well in advance, so plan ahead. Do spare a thought for those elves though: here's what it's like working at the Harrods grotto, and another elf who worked at an anonymous London tourist attraction spilt the beans too.
Alternatively, take your family to meet Santa on a vintage steam train, running from Victoria station on just two select dates in December 2025.
Ice skating and Hyde Park Winter Wonderland are both also very popular holiday activities with families.
Free festive things to do in London: Christmas
Christmas in London can be expensive... but there are ways to have a festive day out for free. We've put together a complete guide to free things to do in London at Christmas. Highlights include the Snoopy sculpture trail (19 November 2025-16 January 2026) popping up in Fleet Street, and the Ever After Garden, a garden of thousands of glowing roses, which moves to a new home this year (13 November-16 December 2025).
Festive food and drink in London at Christmas
'Tis the season for eating and drinking, so here's a guide to London's Christmas menus at bars and restaurants across the capital.
Winter pop-up bars in London
Take the party up a notch with London's best winter drinking pop-ups and cosy bars — plenty of heaters and blankets will keep you toasty while you glug your way through mulled wine, spiced cider, sloe gin and festive cocktails. We're particular fans of Miracle at Henrietta, a kitsch, boozy pop-up in Covent Garden which couldn't get any more festive if Santa's elves threw up in there (and they likely would after more than a couple here — the drinks slide down far too easily). If it's just mulled wine you're after, here are our favourite places to drink the good stuff.
Festive theatre shows and panto in London: Christmas
The festive season is a great time for theatre in London (oh no it isn't... etc). It's hard to know where to start when organising a Christmas theatre trip, so we've picked out some of our favourite shows.
Browse through the capital's best pantomimes this year, spanning Jack and the Beanstalk, Peter Pan and Mother Goose, and other familiar favourites... with some well-known faces. If you're booking for the whole family, just be aware that some of the pantos on that list are definitely NOT for kids.
Speaking of which, if you're getting the whole clan together, you'll be needing our guide to family-friendly theatre shows in London this Christmas. The Snowman, Disney On Ice and Peppa Pig all feature, with performances for a range of ages. We've included a few non-festive shows which are on over the holiday period too, for when the children need a breather from Christmas.
For more general festive theatre and dance shows, London offers everything from The Nutcracker, to Christmas cabaret and comedy. And if the season is all about the singing for you, check out these Christmas music shows, covering everything from crooners to huge karaoke parties. If it's carols you're after, here's our pick of carol concerts in the capital.
Stagings of A Christmas Carol are a genre in their own right. Charles Dickens' seasonal novella gets multiple airings on the London stage each winter — but then again, the man did practically invent Christmas. Here's our roundup of performances of A Christmas Carol. You can also wander around the real-life London locations which appear in the story.
Christmas shopping in London
As Christmas approaches, Christmas markets and fairs spring up all over London, selling festive gifts, Christmas decorations and refreshments — many offering a chance to shop small and support local businesses. Some are sprawling markets, with wooden cabins in situ for weeks at a time, while others are humbler, local craft fairs that appear for a day or two.
London's department stores are another popular Christmas shopping spot. Their Christmas departments often open as early as the summer, with entire floors given oven to baubles, fairy lights, advent calendars, Christmas cards and wrapping paper, as well as the all-important presents. Harrods releases a new Christmas teddy bear each year, while Fortnum and Mason is exquisitely decorated. Selfridges is a popular Christmas shopping spot on Oxford Street (and has a FANTASTIC Disney display on the outside of the building this year), and you could spend hours perusing the many and varied baubles up in the rafters of Liberty.
London Christmas traditions
Trafalgar Square Christmas tree 2025
The huge Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is donated by the city of Oslo each year. The decorations themselves usually cause some debate, but on weekday evenings and weekend afternoons lots of different groups get involved in carol singing beneath the tree, making it an undeniably festive place to be. It's lit on the first Thursday in December each year.
Christmas 2025 carol concerts in London
Get your fill of fa-la-las and jingle bells at the many London Christmas carol concerts. From St Paul's Cathedral to Westminster Abbey, carol services take place all over the capital, many raising money for charity. We know we shouldn't have favourites, but we do enjoy seeing the dogs come into church for Battersea's concert.
Spending Christmas in London
Visiting London over the Christmas period? It's a lovely time of year to see the capital, but be aware that not everything functions as normal. Here's what you need to know.
Christmas Day in London
Christmas Day can be a magical time to explore the capital if you get up early enough. After about 11am there's a surprising amount of people about, though most shops, museums, cafes, restaurants and bars in London close completely for the day. Here's a guide to what will be open in central London on 25 December and some ideas for things to do in London on Christmas Day.
Transport in London on Christmas Day
No Tubes, buses or trams will be running on Christmas Day but you can get into town by walking, cycle hire, taxi or your own transport.
Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day in London
If it's Christmas lunch you're after, you'll need to book in advance, and it'll be pricier than your average meal out. Here's our pick of the best places to eat Christmas dinner on Christmas Day in London.
Will it snow in London at Christmas?
Snow at Christmas in London is getting rarer, so you're unlikely to be treading through inches of the white stuff on Christmas Day. However, you may see the odd flake some years — and that's enough for the Met Office to declare it a white Christmas. You'll have to wait until a few days before 25 December to see the odds of it being a white Christmas in 2025.
Spending New Year's Eve in London
So you've navigated the festive season in the capital, and now you're spending the last night of the year here? Here's the info you need.
It's never too early to make your New Year's Eve plans — plenty of parties and events sell out months in advance. Here's our guide to this year's New Year's Eve events. It contains daytime events on 31 December and parties that go on well into the night/next morning to see in the fresh year with a bang.
As the clock strikes midnight on 31 December, there will be New Year's Eve fireworks over the Thames once again. Seeing them in person is ticketed, with tickets on sale now, and a second batch due for release in late November/early December.
Christmas in London: the best of the rest
Over the years, we've amassed a fair amount of knowledge about the festive season here in the capital. Pour yourself a glass of mulled wine, unpack the mince pies, and settle yourself down for a read of some of our features:
- How the Christmas cracker was invented here in London.
- The Tube map... but make it Christmas.
- The weirdest Christmas gifts in London history.
- Meet the Londoners who work on Christmas Day.
- The greatest Christmas meal ever served.
- 8 things you probably didn't know about Christmas in London.
- Why the hell does anyone go to Winter Wonderland?
- When the Bishop of Southwark indulged in one too many festive drinkies.
- Does the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree really look like a cucumber?
- The boozy eggnog cocktail with a debauched past which was invented in London.
- When Christmas went very, very wrong.
- 10 truly crap Christmas cracker jokes about London.
- Christmas shopping in London has always been a total crush.
- Was England's first ever turkey dinner served at Fulham Palace?
- When Sainsbury's marketed toys by saying Santa had been in a plane crash.
- One of the first reviewers of A Christmas Carol decried it as "displeasing and absurd".
- The earliest film version of A Christmas Carol came out almost 90 years before the Muppets' effort.
- And finally, a bit of inspiration for getting some use out of your Quality Streets this year:
