Christmas Tours in London 2026: Lights, Cruises + Day Trips

🎄 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 to see it: someone else does the navigating, you stay warm, 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 far apart to walk between.

If you want the lights without a tour, our guide to the best Christmas lights in London has a free one-hour walking route and the expected switch-on dates, and our guide to Christmas things to do in London covers what is open on Christmas Day itself.

⭐ Best Christmas tours in London: quick picks

Short on time? These are the 18 tours, grouped by type. Each one is written up further down.

🚌 Christmas lights tours of London by bus

All bus tours cover the same core: Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and Westminster, with Knightsbridge and Harrods on most routes.

The difference is the bus, the guide and the price. Wrap up warmly for any of them; an open-top deck in December is cold, even when the buses hand out blankets.

Vintage Routemaster Christmas lights tour

• Duration: 75 minutes
• Departs from: The Grand Hotel, Northumberland Avenue (Charing Cross or Embankment)
• Good for: Anyone who wants the lights without a long walk

Our pick of the bus tours. A 1960s open-top Routemaster, dressed for the season and with top-deck seats guaranteed, takes you round Oxford Street, Regent Street, Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland and the rest of the West End with a live guide who is there to entertain as much as inform. It is the one we recommend to readers who ask us which lights tour to book.

Christmas lights bus tour with live guide

• Duration: 1.5 hours
• Departs from: The London Eye, Victoria or Green Park, depending on the option you choose
• Good for: Flexible departure points and times

The big-operator version, with several departures an evening and a choice of pick-up points, which makes it the easiest to fit around a theatre booking or dinner.

The route takes in Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s, Trafalgar Square and Tower Bridge as well as the West End streets, with a live guide on board. Book this tour if the Routemaster is sold out on your dates; it has the most reviews of any lights tour in London.

Christmas lights afternoon tea bus tour

• Duration: 90 minutes
• Departs from: Evan Evans, Vauxhall Bridge Road, Victoria
• Good for: Combining the lights with a festive afternoon tea

A classic double-decker with tables, and a Christmas afternoon tea served as you drive under the Oxford Street and Regent Street lights: turkey and cranberry finger sandwiches, mulled wine macarons, gingerbread stars, a mini yule log and cranberry scones with clotted cream.

There is a cheaper tour-only option on the same bus if you would rather skip the food, which makes it the least expensive bus tour on this list. It finishes at Victoria Coach Station.

🚕 Christmas lights tours of London by black cab

A black cab tour is priced per cab rather than per person, so for a family or a group of up to six it often works out cheaper than the bus, and you stop wherever you want a photo.

Every London taxi has a wheelchair ramp, which makes these the only lights tours you can board without leaving the chair.

Private Christmas lights tour in a black cab

• Duration: 2.5 hours
• Departs from: Your central London hotel
• Good for: Families, groups and anyone who needs step-free access

A licensed London taxi driver who is also a registered guide collects you from your hotel and takes you round the lights for two and a half hours, with water and biscuits on board and as many photo stops as you like.

The itinerary is built around you, so it can include Winter Wonderland, a Christmas market or a drop-off somewhere other than your hotel at the end.

Christmas lights taxi tour with hotel pick-up

• Duration: 3 to 4 hours
• Departs from: Your central London hotel
• Good for: A longer evening with your own drinks on board

The longer version, for up to six people, with hotel pick-up and drop-off and a driver-guide who knows which side streets are lit that year.

You can bring your own drinks, so a bottle of fizz on the back seat under the Bond Street lights is entirely allowed. Three to four hours is enough to add Battersea Power Station or Kensington to the usual West End loop.

🚶 Christmas walking tours of London

On foot is how we see the lights ourselves, and the West End is compact enough that a guided walk covers the best of it in an hour and a half. If you would rather do it without a guide, the route in our Christmas lights guide is free.

Christmas lights and markets walking tour

• Duration: 1.5 hours
• Departs from: St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square
• Good for: The classic West End route with a guide

Starts by the Trafalgar Square tree and walks the same streets we do: Leicester Square and its market, Covent Garden, Seven Dials, then Carnaby and Regent Street to finish under the Oxford Street lights. A good first-evening tour if you want the lay of the land and the stories behind the displays.

Christmas lights and markets tour with mulled wine

• Duration: 1.5 hours
• Departs from: Central London, confirmed on booking
• Good for: A small group and a warm drink on the way

The small-group version of the lights and markets walk, with a mulled wine included and a guide who takes you through the markets as well as past the big displays. Group sizes are capped, so choose this if you would rather hear the guide than jostle for position.

A Christmas Carol and Charles Dickens walking tour

• Duration: 2 to 3 hours
• Departs from: Temple Underground station, finishing at Leadenhall Market
• Good for: History lovers and anyone who rereads A Christmas Carol every December

Our favourite walk, and the one Doug would choose. A small group follows Scrooge through the alleys, courts and taverns of the old City, with a stop at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, where Dickens drank, and a finish under the lights of Leadenhall Market. It is not strictly a lights tour, but the City is beautifully lit in December, and you will see plenty.

There is a private version of the same tour if you would rather have the guide to yourselves.

🚲 Christmas lights bike tour of London

Christmas lights bike tour

• Duration: 3 hours
• Departs from: Kennington Road, SE11 (Lambeth North)
• Good for: Seeing the most lights in one evening

Bike and helmet are included, and three hours on two wheels covers more ground than any bus: the South Bank market and the London Eye, Westminster, Harrods and Winter Wonderland, then Sloane Square, Oxford Street, Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square.

The pace is gentle, and the guide stops for photos at every display. Dress for the weather, because December drizzle on a bike is a different thing from December drizzle on a bus.

🚢 Christmas cruises on the Thames

The lights along the river are the ones every bus and walking tour misses, and the only way to see the Illuminated River bridges, the South Bank, Tower Bridge and Battersea Power Station in one go is from the water.

We work with City Cruises, who run all three, and the December weekend sailings sell out early.

Evening cruise with canapés and music

• Duration: 2 hours, sailing at 6.30 pm
• Departs from: Tower Millennium Pier
• Good for: The riverside lights with a glass of Prosecco, from £42

A glass of Prosecco on arrival, a selection of cold canapés and live music on board, then two hours past the Illuminated River bridges, the South Bank, the London Eye and Westminster and back, with an open upper deck for photos and a heated saloon below.

It is pitched at adults (children under five cannot board), and it is not wheelchair accessible; anyone who needs step-free access is better 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.

Christmas party lunch cruise

• Duration: Around 3 hours
• Departs from: Westminster Pier
• Good for: A festive lunch in daylight, from £75

A traditional three-course Christmas lunch with a glass of sparkling wine on arrival, live entertainment and dancing, sailing past Westminster, the London Eye and Tower Bridge in daylight.

It runs on selected dates from late November until just before Christmas, and it is the one we would pick for a group that would rather not be out late.

Christmas party dinner cruise

• Duration: 4 hours
• Departs from: Tower Pier
• Good for: The full festive night out, from £86

A three-course Christmas dinner, a welcome drink and a DJ, with four hours on the river and the lights on both banks the whole way, on selected dates from 27 November to 20 December 2026. The December Fridays and Saturdays go first, so book early if your dates are fixed.

🎁 Christmas Eve tours of London

Christmas Eve in central London is for last-minute shoppers until the shops close at around 5 pm, then it is the calmest evening of the year.

Most of the daytime tours above run as normal on the 24th (the Tube runs a reduced service from the evening), and this tour is built around the night itself.

Christmas Eve tour with dinner and Midnight Mass

• Duration: Around 6 hours, from 6.30 pm
• Departs from: Bulleid Way, Victoria, with drop-off near central London hotels afterwards
• Good for: A complete Christmas Eve with the transport sorted

A coach tour of the lights, a three-course Christmas dinner with a glass of Prosecco, then a reserved place at Midnight Mass at St Martin-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Square, one of the loveliest services in London and one that is otherwise first come, first served.

The coach drops you back within walking distance of your hotel at around 2 am, which matters on a night when the Tube has stopped. It is one date a year, so book it as soon as your Christmas is confirmed.

🎄 Christmas Day tours and cruises in London

There is no public transport at all on Christmas Day, which is why these four exist: they are the way to see London on the one day it is empty. Each one sells out, and the lunch cruise usually goes by October.

Our guide to Christmas things to do in London has the full list of what is open and closed on the 25th.

Christmas Day morning tour with the Westminster Abbey service

• Duration: 3.5 hours, departing 8.30 am
• Departs from: Bulleid Way, Victoria (hotel pick-up included), ending at Westminster Abbey
• Good for: Christmas morning with a service, without queueing

A coach tour of the empty city, past Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, St Paul’s and the Tower, that finishes at Westminster Abbey with a reserved place at the Christmas Day Sung Eucharist: carols, the Abbey choir and a service in the church where the coronations happen.

The tour ends at the Abbey at about 11.30 am, so you are free for lunch. The Abbey service is otherwise queue-at-dawn, which is what you are paying to avoid.

Christmas Day afternoon coach tour

• Duration: 3 hours, departing 2 pm
• Departs from: Bulleid Way, Victoria, returning to Victoria at about 5 pm
• Good for: Something to do after Christmas lunch

The same route in the afternoon, without the service, and timed so the lights are coming on as you finish: Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, St Paul’s and the Tower of London, with a live guide and the streets to yourselves. This tour is for anyone who has done Christmas lunch and wants to see the city rather than doze.

Christmas Day lunch cruise

• Duration: Around 3 hours
• Departs from: Westminster Pier
• Good for: Christmas lunch with a view, from £175

Christmas lunch itself, on the river: a traditional three-course Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, a glass of sparkling wine on arrival, tea or coffee afterwards, and carols and festive music on board as you sail past the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and Tower Bridge.

This is the most popular Christmas Day booking in London and sells out early every year, so if you want it, book now.

Christmas Day sightseeing cruise

• Duration: 1 hour, several sailings through the day
• Departs from: Westminster Pier
• Good for: Families and anyone on a budget, from £32, under-fives free

A one-hour circular cruise with live commentary and a licensed bar, running several times on Christmas Day.

It is the cheapest thing you can do in London on the 25th; it is step-free, and a lovely way to get the family out of the hotel for an hour between presents and lunch.

🚂 Christmas day trips from London

Hogwarts in the Snow with return coach from London

• Duration: 7 hours, with about 4 hours at the studio
• Departs from: Victoria Coach Station
• Good for: Harry Potter fans of any age

From mid-November to mid-January, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour becomes Hogwarts in the Snow: the Great Hall is laid for the Yule Ball, the sets are dusted with film snow, and the Christmas trees go up in the Gryffindor common room.

Studio tickets sell out weeks ahead in December, and this package bundles a timed ticket with the coach from Victoria and back, which is the part that is hard to organise on your own. Our Harry Potter in London guide has the rest.

The Bruges Christmas market coach trips from London usually go on sale in the autumn and had not been released for 2026 when we checked, but we will add one here once it is bookable.

Which Christmas tours in London will you take?

If you have one evening, take the Routemaster or walk the lights with a guide. If you have two, add the river. And if you are in London over Christmas itself, book the Christmas Day cruise or coach tour now, because they are the first things in this post to sell out.

Planning the rest of a winter trip? These guides cover the weeks either side:

• Best Christmas lights in London: dates, route and where to see them
• 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
• Visiting London in December