Events in London in November 2026: Festivals, Exhibitions + Things to Do
November is the month many people dismiss when planning when to visit London, and we think that is a mistake. It is the one month of the year when you can watch 6,500 people process through the City behind a gilded state coach, stand in silence at the Cenotaph with the Royal Family a few metres away, and still walk into a major museum without queueing.
This guide lists every event worth planning around in London in November 2026, with confirmed dates, current prices, the nearest stations and our notes on what to book before you fly. Attractions and the tube are noticeably quieter than in spring and summer, and by the middle of the month the Christmas season has already started.
For weather averages, daylight hours and what to pack, read our guide to London in November. If London is one stop on a longer trip, our sister site has the wider picture in London in Fall.
London in November 2026 at a glance
Every dated event in this guide, in order. Anything marked as opening runs on past the end of November.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 2 to Sun 8 Nov | Pitchfork Music Festival London | Venues across east and central London |
| Thu 5 Nov | Bonfire Night, free display at Coram’s Fields | Bloomsbury |
| Sat 7 Nov | Battersea Park Fireworks, night one | Battersea Park |
| Sat 7 Nov | Constantinople to Istanbul opens | V&A South Kensington |
| Sun 8 Nov | Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph | Whitehall |
| Sun 8 Nov | Battersea Park Fireworks, night two | Battersea Park |
| Sun 8 Nov | Last day of Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art | V&A South Kensington |
| Wed 11 Nov | Armistice Day, two minute silence at 11am | Across the city |
| Wed 11 Nov | Skate at Somerset House opens | Somerset House |
| Thu 12 Nov | Kingston Christmas Market opens | Kingston upon Thames |
| Fri 13 Nov | Christmas at Kew opens | Kew Gardens |
| Fri 13 to Sun 22 Nov | EFG London Jazz Festival | Barbican, Southbank Centre and more |
| Sat 14 Nov | Lord Mayor’s Show, from 11am | City of London, from Mansion House |
| Sun 15 Nov | Last day of Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends | Young V&A, Bethnal Green |
| Tue 17 Nov | Lear, with Ian McKellen, opens | The Yard Theatre, Hackney Wick |
| Tue 17 Nov | One Day The Musical opens | Garrick Theatre |
| Thu 19 Nov | Hyde Park Winter Wonderland opens | Hyde Park |
| Thu 19 Nov | Snoopy sculpture trail opens | Fleet Street Quarter |
| Fri 20 Nov | Hampton Court Palace ice rink opens | Hampton Court Palace |
| Sat 21 Nov | Van Eyck: The Portraits opens | National Gallery |
| All month | Bayeux Tapestry, Agatha Christie, Frida, Henry Moore at Kew | See exhibitions below |
Key events in London in November 2026
Three of London’s oldest annual traditions fall inside a ten day window in November, and all three are free to watch.
Bonfire Night
Bonfire Night, also called Guy Fawkes Night or Fireworks Night, falls on 5 November every year. In 2026 that is a Thursday, so the big organised displays are spread across the Thursday and the following weekend.
It marks the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators were caught attempting to blow up the House of Lords. Four hundred years later the country still marks it with bonfires, fireworks and, in some places, an effigy of Fawkes burned on top of the fire.
Battersea Park runs the largest ticketed display in central London, across two nights, with a capacity of 50,000 a night. It sells out every year, so it is worth booking as soon as tickets go on sale rather than waiting until you land. Tickets are available on the Battersea Park Fireworks website.
If you want the full historic spectacle and do not mind a day trip, Lewes in East Sussex holds the largest and most theatrical Bonfire Night celebrations in the country, with rival bonfire societies parading through the streets in costume.
It is roughly an hour by train from London Victoria or London Bridge. The town is packed, the trains are heaving, and it makes for a very late night, so it suits people who want the event rather than a gentle evening out.
Bonfire Night displays in London 2026
| Display | Date | Price | Nearest station |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coram’s Fields, Bloomsbury | Thu 5 Nov, activities from 3.30pm, fireworks 6pm | Free, donations welcome | Russell Square |
| Fireworks in the Park, Wimbledon Park | Thu 5 Nov | Ticketed, price to be confirmed | Wimbledon Park |
| Battersea Park Fireworks | Sat 7 and Sun 8 Nov | From around £15 adult, £9.50 child, based on 2025 prices | Battersea Power Station |
| Morden Park | Sat 7 Nov | Ticketed, price to be confirmed | Morden |
| Dulwich Sports Club | Sat 7 Nov, to be confirmed | Around £12.50 adult, based on 2025 prices | West Dulwich |
| Blackheath | Returning in 2026, date to be confirmed | Ticketed, around £16 adult in 2025 | Blackheath |
- Where: Battersea Park for the largest central display
- When: Thursday 5 November, plus Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November
- How to get there: Battersea Power Station on the Northern line, or Battersea Park and Queenstown Road overground stations
Remembrance Sunday
Remembrance Sunday falls on the Sunday nearest to Armistice Day, 11 November. In 2026 that is Sunday 8 November.
The national service takes place at the Cenotaph on Whitehall. A gun fired by the King’s Troop on Horse Guards Parade marks the start of the two minute silence at 11am.
The service itself begins at 11.03am and finishes around 11.25am, after which around 10,000 veterans march past the memorial. The Royal Family lay wreaths of poppies at the foot of the Cenotaph.
The march sets off from Horse Guards Parade, passes the Cenotaph on Whitehall, then turns into Great George Street and back along Horse Guards Road. No tickets or passes are needed, but crowds are large and viewing spots along Whitehall are taken well before 10am. Roads around Westminster close and the tube is busy in both directions.
Armistice Day itself is Wednesday 11 November 2026, when a separate two minute silence is observed at 11am. Shops, stations and offices across the city fall quiet, which catches most visitors by surprise the first time.
Remembrance runs into the evening too. In 2024 after dark at the Tower of London, the walls and the moat were turned into a projected field of poppies with a soundtrack, as part of Poppy Fields by Luxmuralis. It ran for nine nights across the Remembrance period.
Historic Royal Palaces had not published its 2026 Remembrance programme when we updated this guide, so check on the Tower of London what’s on page before you build an evening around it.
The Tower has marked Remembrance in a different way most years, from the 888,246 ceramic poppies of 2014 to the lit flames in the moat in 2018, so something is likely even if the format changes.
- Where: The Cenotaph, Whitehall
- When: Sunday 8 November, silence at 11am
- How to get there: Westminster, Embankment or Charing Cross
Lord Mayor’s Show
For British pomp and pageantry at full volume, the Lord Mayor’s Show is the one to plan a trip around. It is 800 years old, it is free, and it is far less crowded than Trooping the Colour.
The procession carries the newly elected Lord Mayor of London from Mansion House, the Lord Mayor’s official residence, to the Royal Courts of Justice to swear allegiance to the King, going by way of Cheapside and St Paul’s Cathedral. It returns along the Embankment and Queen Victoria Street from around 1.15pm.
The 2026 show involves around 6,500 participants, 70 floats and 20 marching bands, stretching for roughly three miles. The Lord Mayor travels in a gilded state coach that dates from 1757 and is kept in the Museum of London collection for the rest of the year.
Because the new Lord Mayor is not elected until the end of September, the full route map and timings for 2026 are published in early October on the official Lord Mayor’s Show website. Viewing spots along Cheapside and around St Paul’s fill first, so arriving an hour ahead is sensible.
- Where: Starts at Mansion House in the City of London
- When: Saturday 14 November, sets off 11am, running until around 2pm
- How to get there: Farringdon on the Elizabeth line, City Thameslink, St Paul’s or Bank for the outward procession, and Temple, Embankment or Blackfriars for the return
Royal parks and gardens in November
Autumn colour in London peaks in the first half of November, and a blue sky November morning in the parks is one of the quiet pleasures of the month. Daylight is short, so the light is low and golden for most of the useful part of the day.
St James’s Park, Green Park, Regent’s Park, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and Greenwich Park are all free and all walkable from central London. Richmond Park is worth the longer journey for its free roaming red and fallow deer, which are far easier to spot once the bracken dies back.
Kew Gardens, London’s largest UNESCO World Heritage site, is running the largest outdoor presentation of Henry Moore’s work ever staged, spread across Kew and its sister garden at Wakehurst in Sussex. The sculptures sit in the landscape rather than in a gallery, which suits Moore’s work and suits a cold bright day.
Kew also switches on its Christmas trail from 13 November, covered further down this guide.
- What: Henry Moore: Monumental Nature
- When: 9 May 2026 to 31 January 2027, included with Kew Gardens entry
- How to get there: Kew Gardens on the District line and Overground, or Kew Bridge for South Western Railway services
London festivals in November 2026
EFG London Jazz Festival
Ten days, around 300 performances, and venues from the Barbican and the Southbank Centre down to Ronnie Scott’s, EartH in Hackney and a scattering of pubs and churches. It is the biggest thing happening in London this month if you like live music, and tickets for the smaller rooms are often still available a week out.
The 2026 line-up includes Samara Joy, Fatoumata Diawara, Ben Folds, Melody Gardot, Goldie with a live band and orchestra, Mariza, the Kronos Quartet, Morcheeba and Emma-Jean Thackray. Rita Wilson plays the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre on Saturday 14 November. The Barbican hosts Coltrane 100: Both Directions at Once, marking the centenary of John Coltrane’s birth.
The full programme and tickets are on the EFG London Jazz Festival website, with more names still being added through the autumn.
- Where: Barbican, Southbank Centre, Ronnie Scott’s, EartH and venues across London
- When: Friday 13 to Sunday 22 November
- How to get there: Barbican for the Barbican Centre, Waterloo or Embankment for the Southbank Centre
Pitchfork Music Festival London
Pitchfork’s London week is a run of individually ticketed gigs across a dozen venues rather than a single festival site. It is a week of individually ticketed gigs across a dozen venues, ranging from hip hop and electronic music to jazz, punk and alternative rock, with more than 60 artists on the bill.
Confirmed for 2026 are The Avalanches at the Roundhouse on 6 November, Noname at the Roundhouse on 7 November playing ten years of Telefone, Tortoise at Hackney Church on 4 November, Actress at EartH on 5 November, Olof Dreijer of The Knife at the ICA on 6 November, plus Los Thuthanaka, Hania Rani, Lido Pimienta and Jacob Alon.
Because each show sells separately, this is a good festival for a short trip. You can pick one night without committing to a wristband. The full line-up is on the Pitchfork Music Festival London website.
- Where: EartH, Café OTO, Hackney Church, MOTH Club, Roundhouse, Royal Festival Hall, KOKO, ICA and Village Underground
- When: Monday 2 to Sunday 8 November
- How to get there: Varies by venue. Most are on the Overground in Hackney or within a short walk of a central tube station
London theatre in November 2026
November is one of the busiest opening months of the West End year, as producers get shows in place before the Christmas trade. Two openings stand out.
Lear brings Sir Ian McKellen back to the stage in a new version of King Lear by Simon Stephens, directed by Jay Miller. It opens at The Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick on 17 November and runs to 2 January 2027, with press night on 1 December. The Yard is a newly rebuilt 220 seat theatre, so this is McKellen playing Lear at close range, and tickets start at £10. It is the hardest ticket in London this month.
One Day The Musical, based on the David Nicholls novel, opens at the Garrick Theatre on 17 November and is booking to 14 March 2027, with Jamie Muscato as Dexter and Sharon Rose as Emma. Take tissues.
Also opening or running in November: Hay Fever at Wyndham’s, Into the Woods at the Noël Coward, Jesus Christ Superstar at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, RENT at the Duke of York’s, The Cherry Orchard at the Harold Pinter, The Jungle Book at the National Theatre’s Olivier, and Tosca at the London Coliseum.
Our London theatre guide covers how to book, where to sit and how the day seat and lottery systems work.
Exhibitions you won’t want to miss in November 2026
The Bayeux Tapestry
This is the London exhibition of 2026. It is the first time the Bayeux Tapestry has left France for Britain in the 1,000 years since it was made, and it is unlikely to happen again in our lifetimes.
The 70 metre embroidery tells the story of the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings in 1066, arguably the single most consequential year in English history. It is shown in Room 30 at the British Museum.
Demand has been extraordinary, with £2.5 million of tickets sold on the first day, and every ticket from 10 September to 31 December 2026 has sold out. That means there is no general availability for November.
Further tickets for the January to July 2027 dates are released later in 2026, with British Museum members getting priority booking from October. If you are set on seeing it, membership is one route to snaffling a ticket.
Check the current position on the British Museum exhibition page before you build a trip around it.
- Where: The British Museum, Room 30
- When: 10 September 2026 to 11 July 2027, sold out to 31 December 2026
- Price: £33 peak, £27 off peak, £25 super off peak, under 16s free with a paying adult
- How to get there: Tottenham Court Road, Holborn, Russell Square and Goodge Street are all a five to ten minute walk away
Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery
The British Library’s major autumn exhibition opens on 30 October, marking 50 years since Christie’s death, and it is the one we would book first now that the Bayeux Tapestry is unavailable.
It traces how her own travels fed the books, with personal items, notebooks, letters and photographs, many never displayed before, including the 1937 Remington typewriter she wrote on. There are immersive sets too: a country house, a First World War dispensary of the kind she worked in as a volunteer, and an Orient Express carriage.
November is off-peak pricing, which is a genuine saving over the spring dates.
- Where: The British Library
- When: 30 October 2026 to 20 June 2027
- Price: £20 to £23 off peak, £25 peak, members free
- How to get there: King’s Cross St Pancras or Euston, both a short walk
Two big openings in November
Constantinople to Istanbul: One City, Two Empires opens at the V&A in South Kensington on Saturday 7 November, in Galleries 38 and 39. It is a UK first, covering 1,600 years of art and design in one city, and it is the V&A’s headline autumn show.
Van Eyck: The Portraits opens at the National Gallery on Saturday 21 November and runs to 11 April 2027. It brings together all nine known painted portraits by Jan van Eyck for the first time ever, including the Arnolfini Portrait from the Gallery’s own collection alongside loans from Berlin and Bruges. For anyone with an interest in early Northern European painting, this is a once only assembly.
Last chance in November
Two well reviewed exhibitions close in the first half of the month, so they only work for an early November trip.
| Exhibition | Closes | Where | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art | Sun 8 November | V&A South Kensington | £28 weekday, £30 weekend |
| Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends | Sun 15 November | Young V&A, Bethnal Green | £12.50 |
*Note that the Aardman exhibition is at Young V&A in Bethnal Green, not the main V&A in South Kensington. It is an easy mistake to make and a long way to backtrack.
London’s major museums and galleries
Most of London’s big museums and galleries are free to enter, and November is one of the best months to use that.
The permanent collections at the British Museum, the National Gallery, Tate Modern, the V&A, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum cost nothing and are noticeably calmer than in August. Paid ticketed exhibitions sit inside those free buildings, which is the part visitors often find confusing.
These are the ticketed shows running through November 2026.
| Exhibition | Where | Runs to | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frida: The Making of an Icon | Tate Modern | 3 January 2027 | £49, members free |
| Julio Le Parc: Light. Colour. Action. | Tate Modern | 3 May 2027 | £15, £5 for 16 to 25s |
| Light and Magic: The Birth of Art Photography | Tate Modern | 14 February 2027 | Check on booking |
| Van Eyck: The Portraits | National Gallery | 11 April 2027 | To be confirmed |
| Renoir and Love | National Gallery | 31 January 2027 | Check on booking |
| Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific | V&A South Kensington | 10 January 2027 | £17 |
| Constantinople to Istanbul: One City, Two Empires | V&A South Kensington | Opens 7 November | To be confirmed |
| The Music is Black: A British Story | V&A East Museum | 10 January 2027 | £22.50 |
| Childhood in War | Imperial War Museum London | 28 February 2027 | Free |
| David Bowie Centre | V&A East Storehouse | Permanent | £5 |
Two more options worth an hour of a wet afternoon: the Frida exhibition at Tate Modern is the blockbuster, but the Julio Le Parc show in the George Economou Gallery is the more surprising of the two, full of shimmering light works and interactive pieces. And the Churchill War Rooms remains one of the most atmospheric hours in London on a dark November day.
Our guide to London museums has the full list of what is free and what is not, and the best views of London covers the indoor viewing platforms that work when the weather does not.
When Christmas starts in London in November 2026
London does not wait for December. By the middle of November the lights are up, the ice rinks are open and the Christmas trails have started, and you get all of it with a fraction of the December crowds.
Regent Street, Oxford Street and Covent Garden are all lit long before the month is out, and an evening walk down Regent Street once they are on is one of the best free hours in London.
The shop windows go in at much the same time, so build Fortnum & Mason, Liberty and Selfridges into the same walk after dark.
Christmas at Kew is the other experience we love. Going on one of the earlier November dates means an off-peak ticket price and less crowds.
| Christmas event | Opens | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skate at Somerset House | Wed 11 November | Somerset House | Runs to 10 January 2027 |
| Kingston Christmas Market | Thu 12 November | Kingston upon Thames | Runs to 3 January 2027 |
| Christmas at Kew | Fri 13 November | Kew Gardens | Trail 4.20pm to 10pm. Adult £29.50 off peak, £37 peak. Child 4 to 16 £20 to £24. Family of four £89 to £108 |
| Hyde Park Winter Wonderland | Thu 19 November | Hyde Park | £1 off peak entry Monday to Thursday in November |
| Snoopy sculpture trail | Thu 19 November | Fleet Street Quarter | Free, runs to 16 January 2027 |
| Hampton Court Palace ice rink | Fri 20 November | Hampton Court Palace | Runs to 3 January 2027 |
Christmas lights switch on dates for 2026 had not been confirmed when we updated this guide.
Based on 2025, expect Leicester Square and the West End in the first days of November, Oxford Street around 3 November, Regent Street and Carnaby around 6 November, and Covent Garden, Bond Street and Savile Row around 12 November.
Dates are usually announced in late September or early October, and we update this guide when they land.
For the full festive picture once December arrives, see London at Christmas.
How we would plan a November trip to London
The events in November cluster into three distinct weeks, and which week you pick genuinely changes the trip.
First week, 1 to 8 November. The biggest single week. Bonfire Night on the Thursday, Battersea fireworks on the Saturday and Sunday, Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph on the 8th, Pitchfork gigs every night, and the last days of both Schiaparelli at the V&A and, from the 7th, the opening of Constantinople to Istanbul. Autumn colour is still good in the parks.
Second week, 9 to 16 November. Quietest of the three and the best value. Armistice Day on the 11th, the Lord Mayor’s Show on the 14th, the Jazz Festival from the 13th, Christmas at Kew and Skate at Somerset House opening, and the Aardman show closing on the 15th. Hotel rates are usually at their lowest point of the year in this stretch.
Third week onwards, 17 to 30 November. Christmas London without December prices or December queues.
The Hampton Court ice rink, the lights all switched on, Lear and One Day both opening in the theatre, Van Eyck opening at the National Gallery on the 21st, and the Jazz Festival running to the 22nd. Daylight is at its shortest, so plan indoor activities for the afternoons.
Whichever week you choose, book the theatre and any ticketed exhibition before you fly. Lear and the Jazz Festival headline shows will not be available on the day. Our guide to how far ahead you should book for London sets out the realistic lead times for each type of ticket.
Practical notes for November
Three things that can catch visitors out in November.
Daylight is short.
The sun sets before 4.30 pm by the end of the month, and it is fully dark by 5 pm. That is not a problem so long as you plan for it: outdoor walks and parks in the morning, museums, galleries and theatre in the afternoon and evening.
Two days are unusually busy.
On Remembrance Sunday, roads around Whitehall and Westminster are closed and both Westminster and Embankment stations are extremely crowded between about 9 am and 1 pm.
The same applies around Bank and St Paul’s on the Saturday of the Lord Mayor’s Show. Our guide to how to get around London covers the alternatives, including the river bus.
Layers, not a heavy coat.
November in London is damp rather than cold, usually between 6 and 11 degrees Celsius, and museums and the tube are heated to the point of discomfort in a winter coat.
Our guide on what to wear in London goes through what actually works, including footwear for wet pavements.
Also on in London in November 2026
A few more things running through the month that do not need a section of their own.
- Winter Light at the Southbank Centre, an outdoor art and light trail along the river, expected from early November.
- The Southbank Centre Winter Market, expected from mid November along the Queen’s Walk
- The Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace, both far quieter than in summer and both worth a whole morning. See the Remembrance Sunday section above for the Tower after dark
- The Coppa Club igloos at Tower Bridge, which are exactly what they sound like: glass domes on the riverside terrace, fitted out with fur throws, foliage and fairy lights, looking straight at Tower Bridge. They go up for the winter season and they are one of the hardest tables in London to get, so book the moment the dates open rather than hoping for a walk-in
- Afternoon tea, which comes into its own in November. See our pick of the best places in London for afternoon tea
- Day trips, since the trains are quiet and Bath, Oxford, Cambridge and Windsor all work well as a November day out. See day trips from London by train
November in London is busier with genuine, dated, once a year events than any month except December, and most of the best of them are free. The pageantry of the Lord Mayor’s Show, the silence at the Cenotaph and the fireworks on Bonfire Night simply cannot be seen at any other time of year.
Planning a different month? See our guides to events in London in October 2026 and events in London in September 2026, or start with our London travel planner to build the trip from scratch.
