Christmas Shopping in London: 10 Festive Shops + Markets
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 practical question is how much you can carry home. A box of crackers, a couple of tins of tea and a Liberty bauble pack easily. A hamper does not. So this guide covers which shops are worth the visit, what packs well, which stores will post an order home for you, and the one or two customs rules that catch overseas visitors out.
I love visiting London at Christmas, and the shops are a big part of that. Liberty and Fortnum’s are the two I return to every December, and the photos in this guide are from those visits.
This guide covers the ten shops and markets we would visit for Christmas shopping in London in 2026, with where the festive floor is in each building, when it is quietest, which ones have lifts, and a half-day route that links the best of them with the Christmas lights. It finishes with the Boxing Day sales and what is worth buying to take home.
Good to know: overseas visitors can no longer claim a VAT refund for shopping in the UK. The tax-free shopping scheme ended in January 2021, so the ticket price is the price you pay. Large shops close on Christmas Day by law and open for only six hours on Sundays, so a Sunday visit means roughly 12 pm to 6 pm.
TIP: Liberty, Fortnum & Mason and Hamleys all sit on our self-guided Christmas lights walk, so the easiest plan is to shop in the afternoon and walk the lights as the shops close. Every shop in this guide is pinned on the Ultimate London Travel Planning Map.
Christmas shopping in London: the ten at a glance
| Shop | Where the festive part is | Best for | Nearest station |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberty | Christmas Shop, fourth floor | Decorations and the building itself | Oxford Circus |
| Fortnum & Mason | Food hall, ground and lower ground | Hampers, tea, puddings, gifts that pack | Green Park or Piccadilly Circus |
| Harrods | Christmas World, lower ground floor | Luxury decorations and crackers | Knightsbridge |
| Selfridges | Christmas Shop, fourth floor | The biggest range of decorations | Bond Street |
| Hamleys | All seven floors | Toys and grandchildren | Oxford Circus |
| John Lewis | Christmas Shop, upper floors | Sensible prices, British brands | Oxford Circus or Bond Street |
| Harvey Nichols | Fifth floor food market | Foodie gifts near Harrods | Knightsbridge |
| Burlington and Piccadilly Arcades | The whole arcade | Small British makers under cover | Green Park or Piccadilly Circus |
| Covent Garden | Apple Market and the piazza | Handmade gifts under the big tree | Covent Garden |
| Christmas markets | Southbank Centre, Greenwich, Spitalfields | Stocking fillers and a mulled wine | Waterloo, Cutty Sark DLR, Liverpool Street |
1. Liberty
Liberty is my favourite shop in London at any time of year, and at Christmas it is the one I would send anyone to first. The building is a mock-Tudor hall on Great Marlborough Street, built in 1924 from the timbers of two old warships, and the Christmas Shop takes over the fourth floor with fairy lights and decorations strung between the original beams.
The decorations are Liberty’s own designs and the famous print fabrics, so a bauble from here is an original London souvenir rather than something you could buy at home. Prices are not low, but the small things, a single ornament or a box of Liberty print crackers, are affordable.
The Christmas Shop opened on 21 August in 2026 and runs to the end of December. Weekday mornings are much quieter than weekends, when the fourth floor becomes quite busy. There are lifts to every floor, but the building is old, and the wooden floors can be uneven in places, so it is worth taking a little care. The Regent Street entrance is step-free.
- Where: Regent Street, W1B 5AH (the Christmas Shop is on the fourth floor)
- Nearest station: Oxford Circus
- Quietest: weekday mornings before 11 am
2. Fortnum & Mason
Fortnum’s has been on Piccadilly since 1707. The shop front becomes a giant advent calendar in November, with a window opened each day, and each year a different set of themed decorations hangs from the ceiling.
This is a great shop for gifts to take home: tea in the tins, biscuits, marmalade, a small Christmas pudding, a box of crackers. Their hampers are famous, but they are heavy and pricey so we recommend a couple of tins in Fortnum’s colours for a fraction of the price. If you do want a hamper, Fortnum’s will post it home.
Delivery to Australia and New Zealand is a flat £40, and for the US, Canada and elsewhere shipping and any customs duties are calculated at checkout based on the items and address, with the option to prepay duties so nothing is owed when the parcel arrives. There is also a good line in Christmas decorations upstairs if the food hall crowd is too much.
Lifts serve every floor. The main Piccadilly doors have a step, so ask the doorman for the level entrance. The food hall is at its most crowded on Saturdays and in the week before Christmas.
- Where: 181 Piccadilly, W1A 1ER
- Nearest station: Green Park or Piccadilly Circus
- Quietest: weekday mornings, or early evening once the office crowd has gone
3. Harrods
Harrods opens its Christmas department, called Christmas World, in July or August every year, which makes it the earliest in London and a slightly surreal thing to walk into in a heatwave.
It sits on the lower ground floor and runs to baubles, nutcrackers, fairy lights, hampers and luxury crackers, with the store’s own gift wrapping and monogramming alongside.
The Brompton Road frontage is lit with thousands of bulbs through the season. The store is enormous and gets very busy, so the tip is to use the Hans Crescent entrance at the side rather than the main Brompton Road doors, which is quieter and has lifts and escalators straight inside.
- Where: 87-135 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, SW1X 7XL
- Nearest station: Knightsbridge
- Quietest: 10 am on a weekday, and mid-November rather than December
4. Selfridges
Selfridges on Oxford Street opened its 2026 Christmas Shop on 14 September, themed this year around city shopfronts, with a record 1,120 different baubles, lights and trimmings on sale. It is the biggest single range of decorations in London and the place to go if you want to see everything in one room.
The Christmas Shop is on the fourth floor, so head straight for the lifts or escalators rather than wandering the ground floor. The Duke Street side entrance is far less crowded than the Oxford Street doors. The windows on Oxford Street are worth a look on the way past; Selfridges puts real effort into them, and this stretch of Oxford Street is planned to be pedestrianised from the second half of October 2026, which should make standing and looking much more pleasant.
- Where: 400 Oxford Street, W1A 1AB (Christmas Shop on the fourth floor)
- Nearest station: Bond Street
- Quietest: weekday mornings; avoid Saturdays in December
5. Hamleys
Hamleys on Regent Street is the oldest toy shop in the world, founded in 1760, and at Christmas all seven floors are busy, with staff demonstrating toys on every landing and a queue at the door at weekends.
It can be loud and crowded. There are a lot of stairs so look for the lifts at the back of the store if you prefer. Visit early on a weekday if you can. The Hamleys festive afternoon tea at the Langham Hotel, a few minutes’ walk up Regent Street, is a calmer way to make an afternoon of it.
- Where: 188-196 Regent Street, W1B 5BT
- Nearest station: Oxford Circus
- Quietest: weekday mornings at opening
6. John Lewis
The Christmas shop in John Lewis is located on the upper floors. It is large and well laid out, and the ranges lean towards British brands. The Christmas advert is a national event each November, and the shop sells the toy or character featuring in it.
Lifts serve every floor, and the store can be a good deal less frantic than Selfridges which is located two doors along. The rooftop garden is open in winter with a bar and, some years there is a festive pop-up.
- Where: 300 Oxford Street, W1C 1DX
- Nearest station: Oxford Circus or Bond Street
7. Harvey Nichols
A short walk from Harrods in Knightsbridge, Harvey Nichols is smaller, calmer and great for food gifts. The fifth-floor food market sells its own-label teas, chocolates, and biscuits in distinctive packaging, and the bar and restaurant on the same floor are a good place to sit down after Harrods. Their Christmas windows are usually worth a look too.
- Where: 109-125 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7RJ
- Nearest station: Knightsbridge
8. Burlington Arcade and Piccadilly Arcade
Burlington Arcade runs from Piccadilly to Burlington Gardens beside the Royal Academy, and it has been a covered shopping street since 1819, with its own uniformed beadles who still enforce the original rules against running and whistling.
At Christmas it is hung with garlands end to end, and the shops are small British makers: cashmere, shoes, perfume, jewellery, fountain pens and a very good chocolate shop.
Across Piccadilly, Piccadilly Arcade and the Princes Arcade do the same on a smaller scale and lead through to Jermyn Street, which is where London’s shirtmakers and shoemakers are. All three arcades are level, covered, and tend to be a lot quieter than the department stores.
- Where: Burlington Arcade, 51 Piccadilly, W1J 0QJ
- Nearest station: Green Park or Piccadilly Circus
9. Covent Garden
Covent Garden market hall is decorated with giant baubles and mistletoe, the big tree stands in the piazza, and the Apple Market inside sells handmade jewellery, prints and crafts from stallholders who rotate through the week. The shops around the piazza run from the big names to small British brands, and the food and drink options are the best of any shopping area in this guide.
The piazza is cobbled though the market hall itself has a flat floor. Covent Garden Tube station has lifts, but there is still a flight of about 19 steps between the lifts and the platforms, so it is not step-free, and the station is often exit-only at busy times. The nearest step-free station is Tottenham Court Road, about a 15-minute walk, and Leicester Square has escalators and is a short walk away.
- Where: Covent Garden Piazza, WC2E 8RF
- Nearest station: Covent Garden (lifts plus a flight of steps), or Tottenham Court Road for step-free access
10. The Christmas markets
For stocking fillers and small gifts, the Christmas markets are a great option. They are free to enter and open from mid-November.
The Southbank Centre Winter Market runs along the river between Waterloo and the London Eye, Old Spitalfields has a covered Christmas market with independent makers near Liverpool Street, and Greenwich Market runs Christmas late openings. King’s Cross also has a market, though it closes on 22 December.
Our December events guide has the confirmed dates for every market in the city.
A half-day Christmas shopping route
Most of these shops sit within a mile of each other, and this is the order we would do them in on a December weekday, finishing at Covent Garden.
- 11 am, Fortnum & Mason. Start on Piccadilly before the food hall fills. Tea, biscuits and anything heavy can be sent to your hotel or posted from the shop.
- 12 pm, Burlington Arcade. Cross Piccadilly for the arcades and Jermyn Street, then lunch in one of the pubs or cafes around St James’s.
- 2 pm, Liberty. Walk up through Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street, or take any bus up Regent Street to Oxford Circus, and go straight to the fourth floor.
- 3.30 pm, Hamleys and the Regent Street lights. The lights come on as the light goes, around 4 pm in December.
- 5 pm, Covent Garden. Finish at the tree and the Apple Market, with dinner nearby.
Harrods and Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge, and Selfridges and John Lewis on Oxford Street are separate visits. Trying to do all ten in a day would be just too much (even for someone who loves shopping like me!).
The route is about two miles on flat pavements with plenty of places to sit, and you can do the whole thing by bus and Tube if the walking is too much; our Christmas lights walk has step-free notes for this part of town.
What to buy in London at Christmas
The gifts that pack best and say London most clearly are the ones in a tin. Tea from Fortnum’s or Harrods, shortbread, a small Christmas pudding, Liberty print decorations, a bauble from the Selfridges range, and anything from the arcades with a maker’s name on it. Fortnum’s and Harrods both post overseas, which is worth it for hampers.
One note for our Australian readers: food gifts must be commercially packaged and declared on arrival, and some, including anything with fresh or dried fruit, can be seized at the border. Check the current rules before buying a pudding to take home.
Boxing Day sales and Christmas opening hours
By law, every large shop in London is closed on Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is a normal day with early closing, often around 5 or 6 pm.
The Boxing Day sales start on 26 December, which in 2026 is a Saturday, so the big stores can open full hours rather than the six-hour Sunday limit, and the queues outside Selfridges and Harrods before the doors open are a London tradition in their own right. The sales then run into mid-January.
Boxing Day transport runs at Sunday levels on the Tube and buses, with very limited trains, so a hotel within walking distance of the West End or Knightsbridge makes the sales a great deal easier.
The 2026 opening hours for each store had not been published when we wrote this guide, so check the store’s website in the week before Christmas.
Our guide to what is open in London on Christmas Day covers the rest of the holiday week.
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