Festive London

If you want a proper Christmassy meal on a December trip to London, the decorated dining rooms, riverside igloos, and fireside pubs below are worth planning around. The catch is that the best of them are often booked up before most visitors have started thinking about Christmas dinner. The fireplace tables at Daphne’s go weeks…

Planning a Christmas afternoon tea in London? 21 festive teas for the 2026 season, from the Ritz to a Christmas lights bus, with dates, prices, children’s prices and our picks. If you are in London in December, a Christmas afternoon tea is the easiest festive meal to fit around the sightseeing. It is in the…

Planning Christmas in London for 2026? The lights go on in early November, the markets and ice rinks open a week or two later, and by the first week of December the pantos, light trails, and carol services are all running at once, right through to the fireworks over the Thames on New Year’s Eve….

London’s Christmas shops are fantastic. Liberty strings fairy lights between its Tudor beams, Fortnum & Mason hangs Christmas puddings from the food hall ceiling, and Harrods gives a whole floor to baubles from mid-summer. Even if you buy nothing, they are some of the best free things to see in the city in December. The…

✨ Our free self-guided Christmas lights walk through the West End: twelve stops from Bond Street to Covent Garden, about 4.7 km on flat pavements, in two halves that meet at Piccadilly Circus, with a map, timings, loos and step-free notes. This is the walk we do every December we are in London. It starts…

If you are in London on Christmas Day, the city stops in a way that few visitors are ready for. No trains anywhere in the country, no Tube, no buses, every large shop closed by law, and most of the big museums and attractions shut for the day and often for the two days either…

Christmas is a great time to get out on the Thames. With the river running right through the middle of London, a cruise takes you past some of the city’s most famous sights, including Parliament, St Paul’s, Tower Bridge, and the Tower, all beautifully lit up in December. City Cruises runs four festive sailings between…

The New Year’s Eve fireworks are fired from the London Eye and barges moored in the Thames, making the river the best place to watch them. City Cruises run six New Year’s Eve sailings for 31 December 2026, all from Tower Pier, from £244 to £629 per person. This guide covers what each one includes,…

🎄 18 Christmas tours in London we would book for 2026, from lights tours by open-top bus, black cab and boat to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day tours, festive cruises plus a day trip to Hogwarts in the Snow. London in December is at its best after dark, and a tour is the easiest way…

December is a month London does really well (it is one of my favourite times of year to visit). The lights are up, the tree is in Trafalgar Square, and the whole city smells faintly of mulled wine. The downside is less daylight, with the sun gone by four, but it is a good trade….