Best Christmas Lights in London 2026: Dates, Route + Tours

✨ Our 19 favourite Christmas lights in London for 2026, with expected switch-on dates, a one-hour walking route through the West End, and the bus, cab and river tours we would book.

Many of the lights go on in November, so see what else is on in our events in London in November.

The Christmas lights are the best free thing in London in winter. From early November the big West End streets switch on one after another, the markets and rinks open a fortnight later, and by December the whole centre is lit from Oxford Street to Tower Bridge. The lights stay up into early January, so a trip either side of Christmas means you can enjoy them.

We have walked these streets most Decembers over the years, and this is our list of the displays worth seeking out, with the closest Tube, when each one is expected to go on for 2026, and the route we follow to see the best of them in an hour.

The lights are one part of the season, and our Christmas in London planning guide brings together the dates, markets, shows, Christmas Day, and New Year on one page.

Planning the rest of a festive trip? Our guides to Christmas things to do in London and New Year’s Eve in London cover everything from Christmas Day cruises to fireworks tickets, and our guides to Christmas cruises in London and New Year’s Eve cruises compare every festive sailing on the Thames.

When do the Christmas lights go on in London in 2026?

The first switch-ons are in the first week of November, with Oxford Street, Regent Street, Carnaby and Leicester Square usually lit by around the 6th. Covent Garden, Bond Street, Marylebone and Chelsea follow in the second week, and the Trafalgar Square tree is always lit on the first Thursday of December, which in 2026 is 3 December. The lights stay on until Twelfth Night or a few days after.

The 2026 dates are announced street by street from late September, so where a date below says “expected” we have given last year’s date as a guide and will update this post as each one is confirmed. If you are visiting in the first half of November, it is worth checking each street’s website before you plan an evening around it.

Our one-hour Christmas lights walking route

Start at Oxford Circus Tube after dark (the lights come on around 4 pm), walk east along Oxford Street for a few minutes to see the stars, then return to the Circus and head south down Regent Street under the angels. Turn left into Carnaby Street about halfway down, wander the side streets, then return to Regent Street and continue to Piccadilly Circus.

From Piccadilly Circus, Fortnum and Mason’s windows are five minutes west along Piccadilly. Otherwise, head east along Coventry Street into Leicester Square for the market, cut through to Trafalgar Square for the tree (from 3 December), and finish with a walk up St Martin’s Lane and through Seven Dials to Covent Garden, where the big tree and the market hall are the best ending.

It is about two miles, step-free and on the flat, mostly on wide pavements, and takes an hour without stops or two with them. Regent Street and Carnaby are the busiest stretches on weekend evenings; weeknights can be a little less crowded.

If you have a whole evening, we have written the long version: our West End Christmas lights walk runs twelve stops from Bond Street to Covent Garden with a map, timings, loos and step-free notes, and you can take it with you as a Google Maps link and a PDF.

19 of the best Christmas lights in London

Oxford Street Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Oxford Circus
• Expected switch-on: estimated to be 2 November

Oxford Street is London’s shopping street and traditionally the first of the big displays to be switched on. The whole mile is hung with around 300,000 LED lights and more than 5,000 stars, and the department stores, Selfridges above all, compete for the best window displays underneath. This year the street will have Harry Potter themed decorations to celebrate the launch of the new HBO Harry Potter series. 

Oxford Street is the busiest street on this list, so the lights are best seen on a weekday evening or, oddly, on Christmas Day itself, when the street is empty, and the lights are still on. For the first Christmas ever, you’ll be able to enjoy the lights without cars, buses or taxis hurtling past as sections of the street between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street will be pedestrianised from 26th October.

If you’re combining the lights with your gift shopping, see our Christmas shopping in London guide.

Regent Street Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus
• Expected switch-on: 5 November

If we could only see one display, it would be this one. The 45 ‘Spirit of Christmas’ angels have spread their wings over the full width of the street every year since 2016. They’re the most photographed lights in London for good reason. The street’s curve means you see them stacked one behind another all the way to Piccadilly Circus.

A traffic-free switch on event takes place on 5 November from 5 pm – 9 pm. The lights are on every day until 5 January from 3 pm – midnight. 

Carnaby Street Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus
• Expected switch-on: 4 November 2026

Carnaby has been the fun one since the 1960s and its lights are the only West End display with a new theme every year, from butterflies and rainbows in the past to the planets and shooting stars of Carnaby Universe and the multicoloured stars of Into the Light.

In 2026, they’ll reuse previous years’ lights to avoid waste, but give them a 1990s theme. Carnaby Street is a short detour off Regent Street, and the side streets, especially Kingly Court, are good for a warm drink.

Liberty, the mock-Tudor department store at the top of Carnaby Street, is part of the same walk: its timbered front is garlanded, and the Christmas shop inside, under ceilings strung with fairy lights, is fantastic.

Piccadilly and St James’s Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Piccadilly Circus or Green Park
• Expected switch-on: 5 November 2026

This is the smart end of the West End, with The Ritz, the arcades and Fortnum and Mason all on the same stretch of Piccadilly. Fortnum’s is the one we go out of our way for: the façade is lit, the windows are themed, and inside the store is dressed from the ground floor to the tea salon. Princes Arcade and Piccadilly Arcade opposite hang stars under their glass roofs, and are a warm short cut through to Jermyn Street.

Jermyn Street and St James’s Street behind are quieter and lit just as prettily, Waterloo Place has its own tree, and it is a natural place to stop for a late afternoon tea before the rest of the walk.

New Bond Street Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Bond Street
• Expected switch-on: 12 November 2026

Bond Street is where the designer houses are, and the lights and windows are on a different budget from everywhere else. The street display changes every few years: in 2026 the theme is the crown jewels. 

The shop fronts are the real show: Cartier wrapped its whole building in golden orbits and stars one Christmas, Dior covered its façade in illuminated seahorses and coral, and Tiffany and the jewellers along here dress their buildings rather than just the windows. Burlington Arcade, which runs between Bond Street and Piccadilly, is lit and decorated from end to end, with giant wreaths hanging the length of it some years, and is the prettiest short cut in London in December.

A special, car-free switch-on event runs on 12 November from 4pm – 8pm.

Mayfair and Belgravia Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Bond Street for Mayfair, Sloane Square or Victoria for Belgravia
• Expected switch-on: 14 November

Mayfair and Belgravia are two villages of the very well-heeled kind. In Mayfair, South Molton Street and Mount Street are strung with lights and the hotels (Claridge’s tree is a fixture, the Connaught’s tree in Carlos Place is hung with glowing lanterns, and Annabel’s on Berkeley Square covers its whole façade in something outrageous every year) do the rest. In Belgravia, Elizabeth Street and Motcomb Street are lit and the shops decorate their fronts as if it were a competition.

Neither is on the main tourist trail, so both are calm places to see lights on a Saturday evening when Regent Street is heaving.

Leicester Square Christmas lights and market

• Closest tube: Leicester Square
• Expected switch-on: 31 October

In 2026 Leicester Square hosts Skate Leicester Square, one of the capital’s most accessible and uniquely shaped pop-up ice rinks. There is a small Christmas market and food and drink stalls so it’s a good place to warm up between Piccadilly and Covent Garden on our walking route.

Chinatown, one street north, hangs its own red lanterns all year, and the two together on a December evening are one of our favourite London sights.

Trafalgar Square Christmas tree

• Closest tube: Charing Cross
• Switch-on: 3 December 2026, lit until Twelfth Night

The Trafalgar Square tree is a Norwegian spruce sent from Oslo every year since 1947 as a thank-you for Britain’s support in the Second World War. It is lit on the first Thursday of December with vertical strings of white lights in the Norwegian style, so it looks nothing like the rest of London’s lights. Choirs sing carols beneath it most evenings in the run-up to Christmas.

It goes up later than everything else on this list, so if you are visiting in November you will see the square without it.

Covent Garden Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Covent Garden
• Expected switch-on: 12 November

Covent Garden is where we would send anyone with only one evening. The piazza has a 55-foot British-grown tree, the market hall is hung with giant gold bells, mirror balls, red baubles and mistletoe. There are more than 300,000 lights, and the street performers and carol singers give it an atmosphere no other display has. 

Go after 6pm when the office crowds have thinned, and walk out through the Apple Market for the artisan stalls.

Seven Dials Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Covent Garden or Leicester Square
• Expected switch-on: early November 2026

Seven Dials, the star of little streets between Covent Garden and Soho, strings its lights out from the central column along all seven roads, and Neal’s Yard round the corner is lit in every colour. It is two minutes from Covent Garden and most visitors walk straight past it, which is a large part of the appeal.

South Bank Christmas lights and Winter Market

• Closest tube: Waterloo
• Expected dates: 2 November 2026 to 3 January 2027

The riverside between the London Eye and Waterloo Bridge is strung with lights for the whole season and the Southbank Centre Winter Market runs along it: wooden chalets, street food, mulled wine and a view across the Thames to the lit-up Embankment. It is free to wander, open until 10 pm, and the London Eye behind it is lit in festive colours.

It is also the best place on this list for wheelchair or pushchair access, with flat, wide, step-free access from Waterloo station.

London Eye Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Waterloo or Westminster
• Expected switch-on: 14 November 2026 – 3 January

From 14 November, the London Eye lights up in different colours and patterns for a Christmas light show. The display runs continually and is free to view. 

A flight on the Eye after dark is also the easiest way to see the whole lit-up city at once, with the Houses of Parliament, the Embankment and the West End all below you.

In 2026, Festive Flights in specially decorated pods run from 14th November through to 3rd January.

Read: our complete guide to the London Eye

The Shard Christmas lights

• Closest tube: London Bridge
• Expected switch-on: 1 December 2026

Every night the top 20 storeys of the Shard are lit in a changing light show visible from most of central London, especially from the river. At Christmas, the lights and patterns are a festive theme. It is not somewhere to make a special trip for, but if you are near London Bridge or on a Thames cruise after dark it is worth looking up.

The lights run on the hour every hour between sunset and 1 am.

Tower Bridge Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Tower Hill or London Bridge
• Expected switch-on: mid-November 2026

Tower Bridge is lit all year, but in December the towers and walkways are picked out in extra lights and the riverside on both sides joins in. On the south bank, Hay’s Galleria has a tree and garlands under its glass roof, and the igloos at the Coppa Club on the north bank, with Tower Bridge lit up behind them and the Shard across the water, are booked up months ahead.

Reservations open in the autumn and go fast. (How to get one is in our Christmassy restaurants guide)

Chelsea Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Sloane Square
• Expected switch-on: 28 November 2026

Sloane Square, Sloane Street, the King’s Road and Pavilion Road all light up together and every shop and restaurant takes part, so the window displays are as much of the show as the lights overhead. Duke of York Square, just off the King’s Road, hosts a Saturday food market and a Christmas market in the same space.

This year, Sloane Square hosts the ‘Firefly Festive Forest’, featuring 25 large Christmas trees decorated by leading artists, luxury brands, and designers.

Chelsea’s big festive event is the Chelsea Winter Village and Illuminations, in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, home of the Chelsea Pensioners, from 25 November to 28 December 2026. The village, with its market stalls, food hall, bars, fairground rides and curling lanes, is free to wander round. The Illuminations, a light trail through Ranelagh Gardens, is the ticketed part, and it is the only light trail in central London.

Around 90% of the trail is new for 2026. The two to look out for are Aurora, which floats ribbons of colour above you and through the trees like the Northern Lights, and Celestial, a group of mirrored, diamond-shaped structures up to 40 feet high that glow from inside and change with the light and sound. Both were made for the site by Lucid Creates, the studio behind light shows at Glastonbury and Vivid Sydney.

Adult tickets start at £18 and children’s at £12, plus a booking fee, with under-twos free. Book at chelseawintervillage.com. Sloane Square is about a ten minute walk, or take the 11, 170 or 360 bus.

Marylebone Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Baker Street or Bond Street
• Expected switch-on: mid-November 2026 (12 November in 2025)

Marylebone High Street feels more like a village than anywhere else in central London, and its lights switch on at Merry Marylebone, a Wednesday afternoon street party with live music, stalls, and offers from local shops and restaurants. It raises money for the Marylebone Project, which supports homeless women, and if your dates line up it is a lovely way to start the season.

Once the lights are on, the High Street and Marylebone Lane are a quiet ten-minute walk from Oxford Street and a good place to escape the crowds for dinner.

King’s Cross Christmas lights

• Closest tube: King’s Cross St Pancras
• Expected dates: 20 November

This part of London has more than Platform 9¾. Behind the stations, Coal Drops Yard and Granary Square put up a Christmas tree taller than Covent Garden’s, string thousands of lights through the old railway arches, and run themed weekend markets through December, such as an Asian or Mexican market. The stations also host two other markets, Christmas Under The Canopy and the Winter Market, plus a pop-up roller rink. 

The two stations are worth walking through even if you have no train to catch: King’s Cross has a huge tree under its lattice roof, and St Pancras puts up a different showpiece tree every year (2024’s was the green Emerald City tree for Wicked).

Check the King’s Cross festive market dates here.

Battersea Power Station Christmas lights

• Closest tube: Battersea Power Station (Northern line)
• Dates: Glide ice rink 6 November 2026 to 3 January 2027; lights and market from mid-November

Battersea Power Station is the newest name on this list and already one of the best. The four chimneys are lit for the season, a tall tree hung with red, gold and silver baubles stands between them, the riverside walk and Power Station Park are strung with lights, and the Turbine Halls inside are decorated as lavishly as any department store. 

There is a Christmas market, and the Glide ice rink is back for 2026: three linked rinks beside the chimneys around a 30-foot tree, open from 6 November to 3 January, with tickets on sale now. Book Glide at Battersea here.

It is 15 minutes from the West End on the Northern line, or a lovely river bus ride from Westminster with the lights on both banks.

Christmas at Kew

• Closest tube: Kew Gardens (District line and Overground)
• Dates: 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, selected evenings, adults from £29.50 off-peak

Christmas at Kew is the one event we go out of our way for. It’s magical!

Visitors can enjoy around two miles of illuminated trails and light installations around the iconic gardens, ending with the fountain and light show in front of the Palm House. Allow at least two hours, and dress warmly, as it’s a long walk from the Tube to the far end of the trail.

Tickets are timed entry and cost from £29.50 for adults off-peak and £37 at peak times, with children aged four to sixteen from £20 and under-fours free. Weekend dates before Christmas sell out well in advance. Adult-only evenings are offered on 3rd and 9th December.

Book Christmas at Kew here.

⭐ Christmas lights tours in London

Walking is free and the route above covers the West End, but a tour has two advantages on a cold December evening: someone else does the navigating, and an open-top bus, a black cab or a boat gets you to the lights along the river and around Knightsbridge that are too spread out to walk.

We have done the bus tour ourselves, gloves on and grinning, and it is a good way to see a lot in an hour or two.

These are the nine lights tours we would consider for 2026. Our full guide to Christmas tours in London also covers Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and day-trip tours.

Vintage Routemaster Christmas lights tour

Our pick of the bus tours is a 1960s open-top Routemaster, dressed for the season and with guaranteed top-deck seats, which takes you round Oxford Street, Regent Street, Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland, and the rest of the West End for 75 minutes from the Grand Hotel on Northumberland Avenue.

We recommend it for readers who want the lights without a long walk; wrap up, because the top deck is open.

Private Christmas lights tour in a black cab

Ollie’s team at Discover Real London will collect you from your hotel and take you around the Oxford Street and Regent Street lights, Carnaby Street, and Covent Garden for two and a half hours.

It’s £340 for the cab for up to six, so it suits a family or a group of friends, and every black cab has a wheelchair ramp. Our code UKTP10 takes 10% off Christmas lights tours up to 23 December.

If they’re booked up, or you’re in London between 24 and 27 December, this private black cab tour on GetYourGuide is also two and a half hours with hotel pick-up.

Evening cruise on the Thames with City Cruises

The walking route misses the lights along the river, and the easiest way to see them is from the water.

We work with City Cruises, and their evening cruise sails from Tower Millennium Pier at 6.30 pm for two hours, with a glass of Prosecco on arrival, a selection of cold canapés, and live music on board, past the Illuminated River bridges, the South Bank, the London Eye, and Westminster, and back.

From £42 per person, with an open upper deck and a heated saloon below. It is pitched at adults (children under five cannot board), and it is not wheelchair accessible, so anyone who needs step-free access is better off on the sightseeing cruises.

If you would rather hop on and off in your own time, the 24-hour river pass covers the same stretch between Westminster, Tower and Greenwich, and a late-afternoon sailing catches the lights coming on.

Our guide to Christmas cruises in London compares every festive sailing, including the two that run on Christmas Day.

Christmas party dinner cruise with City Cruises

This is the full festive night out, with a three-course Christmas dinner, a welcome drink and a DJ, four hours on the river from Tower Pier and the lights on both banks the whole way, on selected dates from 27 November to 20 December 2026.

From £86 per person, and the December Fridays and Saturdays sell out early. There is a lunchtime version from Westminster Pier (from £75) if you would rather not be out late.

Our pick of the Christmas lights in London

If you have one evening, walk the route from Oxford Circus to Covent Garden. If you have two, add the river, either an evening cruise or a walk along the South Bank market.

Planning a winter trip?

• 20 Christmas things to do in London (and what runs on Christmas Day)
• New Year’s Eve in London: fireworks, cruises and where to stay
• Events in London in December
• Visiting London in winter
• 18 best Christmas tours in London
• Christmas cruises in London
• New Year’s Eve cruises in London
• What’s on in London month by month
• 15 Christmassy Restaurants in London