Last updated: 14 October 2026
London in December is short days, cold evenings and a lot of light: lit-up shopping streets, markets by the river and the fireworks over the Thames at midnight on New Year's Eve. It is also a city where public transport stops almost completely for a day, and this year the fast trains to Heathrow stop for several more. Here is what the organizers and the railway have announced for 2026, what was still unconfirmed on 14 October, and how to get around and stay online if you are flying in from the US, Australia or anywhere else outside the UK.
London's festive season at a glance
| Event | Dates | Status on 14 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Hyde Park Winter Wonderland | 19 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, closed 25 December | Confirmed by the organizer |
| Regent Street lights | From Thursday 5 November 2026 | Confirmed by Regent Street |
| Southbank Winter Market | 2 November 2026 to 4 January 2027, closed 25 and 31 December | Listed by South Bank London |
| New Year's Eve fireworks | 31 December 2026, 8 pm to 12:30 am | Ticket release date not announced yet |
| Christmas Day | 25 December | No National Rail trains (National Rail); most TfL transport did not run in 2025 |
| No Heathrow Express or Elizabeth line to Heathrow | 27 to 30 December 2026 | Confirmed by National Rail |
Hyde Park Winter Wonderland
Hyde Park Winter Wonderland runs from Thursday 19 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027, every day except Christmas Day (Winter Wonderland tickets guide). Most days it opens at 10 am and closes at 10 pm, with later openings on some dates and last entry at 9:30 pm.
Entry is not a walk-in affair: you book an entry ticket for a date and a one-hour arrival slot, then stay as long as you like. The organizer says its off-peak slots are free to enter but still need a booked ticket, and entry is also free when you spend more than £25 in one online order on rides, attractions or meal deals. Rides and attractions are booked separately. Tickets are sold through the official partner, See Tickets, and booking by 23:59 the day before gets the advance price. The organizer warns that time slots sell out in advance at popular times, so book early if your dates are fixed.
Christmas lights and markets
Regent Street. Regent Street's "Spirit of Christmas" lights return from Thursday 5 November 2026, and the street closes to traffic from 5 pm to 9 pm for the switch-on evening (Regent Street).
Oxford Street, Carnaby and Covent Garden. We could not find 2026 switch-on dates on the organizers' own sites on 10 October 2026. The London listings site Londonist reports that Carnaby's display is unveiled on 4 November and Covent Garden's lights and Piazza tree on 12 November (Londonist). Oxford Street had not announced a date.
Southbank Winter Market. The wooden chalets along the river by the Southbank Centre are listed from 2 November 2026 to 4 January 2027, open daily from 11 am to 10 pm and closed on 25 and 31 December (South Bank London). It is a short walk from Waterloo station and from the London Eye.
Leicester Square. The Leicester Square Christmas market had not published its 2026 dates when we checked. Check before you go rather than relying on last year's.
Christmas Day and Boxing Day: plan around the shutdown
Christmas Day is the day visitors get caught out. National Rail's festive guide says there will be "no National Rail services on Christmas Day as usual", that on Saturday 26 December "most train operators will have no service", with a very limited service from a few operators still to be confirmed, and that the Boxing Day bank holiday falls on the substitute day, Monday 28 December (National Rail, Christmas and New Year 2026/27).
For Christmas 2025, TfL said there would be "no service on the majority of public transport on Christmas Day", and parts of the network, including the Elizabeth line, had no service on Boxing Day (TfL, 2 December 2025). On Christmas Eve services ran but finished early. Santander Cycles, rental e-scooters, taxis and private hire kept running on Christmas Day.
TfL published last year's festive arrangements on 2 December, and its Christmas travel page had no 2026 details on 14 October. Until it does, plan on the same pattern:
- Stay within walking distance of your Christmas lunch, or book a taxi in advance.
- Avoid flying in or out on 25 December unless you have a car booked. With trains and most public transport stopped, check how you will reach the airport before you book.
- Expect closures on 25 December. Winter Wonderland and the Southbank Winter Market are both closed that day.
- Boxing Day is a reduced service, and planned closures can shut parts of lines over the holidays. Check the TfL Go app or Journey Planner on the morning.
Rail closures between Christmas and New Year: Heathrow, Gatwick and beyond
Network Rail is rebuilding Dolphin Junction near Slough over the holidays, and the work cuts the fast rail links between central London and Heathrow for several days. Network Rail gives the closure as 27 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, "following the usual Christmas shut down on 25 and 26 December" (Network Rail). National Rail's page for the project sets out what runs and what does not (National Rail, Dolphin Junction):
| Dates | Heathrow Express and Elizabeth line to Heathrow | Use instead |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 28 and Sun 29 November | No trains to or from Heathrow | Piccadilly line |
| Fri 25 December | No trains (no National Rail services) | Pre-booked taxi or car |
| Sat 26 December | Not published yet | Check National Rail nearer the date |
| Sun 27 to Wed 30 December | No trains to or from Heathrow | Piccadilly line |
| From Thu 31 December | Services resume |
Heathrow on arrival or departure. From 27 to 30 December, National Rail says the Piccadilly line is the only train service between central London and Heathrow. It is a Tube line with stops all the way into town, so allow more time than the Heathrow Express and keep luggage manageable, or book a taxi or private hire car. The Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line return to Heathrow on New Year's Eve. Some travel sites list other dates for this closure, such as 27 to 29 December; the dates above are the ones National Rail and Network Rail publish.
Paddington and the west. Paddington station stays open for the Tube. From 27 to 30 December, Elizabeth line trains do not run between Paddington and Reading, the Underground runs between Paddington and Ealing Broadway, and replacement buses run from Ealing Broadway to Slough. During the closure, Great Western Railway trains cannot run to or from Paddington: Bristol and South Wales trains are diverted to London Euston, and most other long-distance trains start and finish at Reading. From New Year's Eve to 3 January, Elizabeth line trains still do not run west of Hayes & Harlington towards Reading, which does not affect the Heathrow branch. For Oxford or the Cotswolds, National Rail points to Chiltern Railways from London Marylebone, and for Reading to South Western Railway from London Waterloo.
Gatwick. On 14 October, Gatwick Express's own engineering page listed no closure between Christmas and New Year; the next one it lists is Sunday 10 January 2027, with no trains between Gatwick Airport and Purley or East Croydon (Gatwick Express). Like every other line, it has no trains on Christmas Day.
London Waterloo. Because of track work near Queenstown Road, National Rail says trains to and from Waterloo run to "a reduced and amended timetable" on Sunday 27 and Monday 28 December. Some travel sites report that no trains will use Waterloo at all from 25 to 28 December; National Rail lists a reduced service, so check your train in a journey planner before you travel.
Birmingham New Street. If you are heading to Birmingham or changing trains there, Network Rail says there will be no trains to or from New Street from 24 to 28 December, with services resuming on 29 December and replacement buses in the meantime (Network Rail, 22 September 2026).
More may be added. National Rail's guide covers 24 December 2026 to 4 January 2027 and says details of more major works "will follow soon", so check nationalrail.co.uk before you book a train over the holidays.
Strikes. We found no Tube or national rail strike dates announced for November or December 2026 as of 14 October. Check TfL and your train company again in the week before you travel.
New Year's Eve fireworks on the Thames
London's New Year's Eve fireworks are run by the Mayor of London, with ticketed viewing areas along the river. The official event page lists Thursday 31 December 2026, 8 pm to 12:30 am, and on 14 October 2026 it still said a date for the ticket release "will be announced soon", with a form to register for updates (London.gov.uk).
For last year's show, the first tickets went on sale at midday on Friday 17 October 2025, with a smaller final batch later in the year (London.gov.uk). Prices depended on the viewing area and on where you live, before the booking fee:
| Viewing areas (2025) | Londoners | Everyone else |
|---|---|---|
| Blue, Pink and White | £35 | £55 |
| Red, Green and Orange | £20 | £40 |
Ticketmaster was the only authorized seller, and tickets bought anywhere else were not valid. The Mayor's announcement was clear that "those without tickets will not be allowed to enter these areas", and TfL advised people without a ticket not to travel to the area around the Victoria Embankment. If you are not going to get a ticket, plan on watching from a party, a bar or a hotel room with a view of the sky.
Getting home. For New Year's Eve 2025, TfL said services would run all night, with some central stations closed at short notice to prevent overcrowding. It did not announce free travel, so touch in and out as usual. Walk to a station away from the river rather than queuing at the nearest one. On the national railway, National Rail says some routes will finish earlier than normal on New Year's Eve 2026, while special trains will run on some routes into the early hours of New Year's Day, with its guide due in early December.
Weather in December
Our average of the Met Office's monthly records for its Heathrow station, 1991 to 2020, gives this picture of a London December (Met Office historic station data):
| December at Heathrow, 1991 to 2020 | Average |
|---|---|
| Daytime high | 8.8 °C (about 48 °F) |
| Night-time low | 3.1 °C (about 38 °F) |
| Rain | 57 mm (about 2.2 inches) |
| Sunshine | 53 hours in the month |
| Days with air frost | 7 |
So it is cold and often damp rather than snowy, with little sunshine. Pack a warm waterproof coat and shoes that cope with wet pavements: a night at the fireworks means hours standing outdoors.
Before you fly: the ETA
US and Australian visitors now need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to come to the UK, unless they hold a British or Irish passport. GOV.UK says an ETA costs £20, that you apply through the UK ETA app or online, and that you will usually get a decision by email within a day, though it can take up to 3 working days (GOV.UK). An ETA lasts 2 years or until your passport expires, whichever is sooner, and covers as many trips as you like for stays of up to 6 months (GOV.UK). You also need one if you pass through UK border control on a connection. GOV.UK warns that other websites may charge more to apply, so use the official app or gov.uk. Our guide to entering Europe in 2026 covers the ETA alongside the EU's new border checks.
Paying for the Tube and buses
You do not need to buy a ticket or an Oyster card. TfL says "many contactless cards issued outside the UK can be used to pay as you go", and Apple Pay and Google Pay work the same way as a contactless card (TfL). Check with your bank whether it charges a foreign transaction fee.
- Touch in and out with the same card or phone, or you may pay more than you need to.
- Fares are capped for the day and for a Monday to Sunday week, so you never pay more than the cap however much you travel.
- One card or phone per person. Two people cannot share one for the same journey.
- Keep your phone charged. TfL warns that a phone that dies mid-journey can mean the maximum fare or a penalty fare. Cold evenings and constant map use drain batteries fast, so carry a power bank.
Staying connected over the holidays
Your phone does a lot of work on a London Christmas trip: the ETA, Winter Wonderland and fireworks tickets, the Tube on contactless, maps between markets and the group chat that finds everyone after midnight.
- Fireworks crowds slow mobile data. When tens of thousands of phones share the same cell towers along the Embankment, messages lag and maps crawl. Agree on a meeting point and a time beforehand, screenshot your tickets, and send your midnight videos once the crowd thins.
- Download offline maps of central London before you leave home, so you can find your way if data slows or your battery saver kicks in.
- The Tube is getting signal, not everywhere yet. In January 2026 TfL said 62 of the 121 Tube stations below ground had mobile coverage, that the whole Elizabeth line was covered, and that it aimed to cover the whole Tube by the end of 2026 (TfL, 14 January 2026). Expect gaps in the tunnels on some lines this winter.
- Check what your home plan charges for the UK. Some US plans include the UK and some do not: Verizon's TravelPass is $12 a day per line and AT&T's International Day Pass is $12 a day, while T-Mobile's Experience plans include 5 GB or 15 GB of high-speed data abroad before slowing to 256 kbps. See our guides to Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile roaming, or the trip costs worked out in will my phone work in the UK? Australian carriers such as Telstra sell daily roaming passes too: check your plan's price for the UK before you fly.
A daily pass adds up over a two-week Christmas trip. A travel eSIM installed at home is the simpler fix: a data-only line that works as soon as you land at Heathrow or Gatwick, with your usual number still on your home SIM for calls and texts. Check that your phone supports eSIM, then follow the install guide for iPhone or Android on Wi-Fi before you fly. Our plans for the UK are Europe plans that also cover Ireland, France and the other countries on a 30-country list, so a day trip to Paris on the Eurostar needs no second eSIM. They are compared on our UK eSIM page.
FAQ
When does Hyde Park Winter Wonderland open in 2026?
Hyde Park Winter Wonderland runs from 19 November 2026 to 3 January 2027 and is closed on Christmas Day. You book an entry ticket for a date and arrival time; the organizer says off-peak slots are free to enter, and rides and attractions are paid separately.
Does the Tube run on Christmas Day?
No. For Christmas 2025, TfL ran no service on most public transport on Christmas Day, including the Tube and buses, and a reduced network on Boxing Day with the Elizabeth line closed. Taxis, private hire and Santander Cycles kept running. National Rail has confirmed there are no National Rail trains on Christmas Day 2026. TfL published last year's plans on 2 December, so expect 2026's around then.
Is the Heathrow Express running at Christmas 2026?
No, not from Sunday 27 to Wednesday 30 December 2026: National Rail says no Heathrow Express or Elizabeth line trains will run to or from Heathrow while Network Rail rebuilds Dolphin Junction near Slough, and there are no National Rail trains on Christmas Day either. Both return to Heathrow on New Year's Eve, 31 December. On 27 to 30 December the Piccadilly line is the only train between central London and Heathrow. Boxing Day times had not been published on 14 October, and the Heathrow Express and Elizabeth line also skip Heathrow on the weekend of 28 and 29 November.
Do I need a ticket for the New Year's Eve fireworks in London?
Yes, to watch from the official viewing areas along the Thames. Last year only ticket holders could enter them and tickets were sold only through Ticketmaster. On 14 October 2026 the Mayor of London had not yet announced when 2026 tickets go on sale; last year the first tickets went on sale on 17 October.
Is public transport free on New Year's Eve in London?
No free travel was announced for New Year's Eve 2025. TfL ran services all night, with some central stations closed at busy times to manage crowds, so pay with contactless or Oyster as usual.
Do Americans and Australians need an ETA to visit London?
Yes. US and Australian citizens need an Electronic Travel Authorisation before they travel to the UK. It costs £20 through the UK ETA app or GOV.UK, usually gets a decision within a day, and lasts 2 years or until your passport expires.
Will my phone work in London over Christmas?
Most US and Australian phones roam in the UK, but many plans charge by the day for it, and data slows in big crowds such as the New Year's Eve fireworks. Check your carrier's UK rate, download offline maps, and consider a travel eSIM if your plan charges for every day abroad.
Facts checked on 14 October 2026 against Hyde Park Winter Wonderland's tickets guide, Regent Street's announcement of 1 October 2026, South Bank London, Londonist, National Rail's Christmas and New Year 2026/27 guide and its Dolphin Junction page, Network Rail's Dolphin Junction page and its Birmingham New Street release of 22 September 2026, Gatwick Express's engineering works page, TfL's festive travel release of 2 December 2025 and its mobile coverage release of 14 January 2026, TfL's Christmas travel and contactless pay as you go pages, the Mayor of London's New Year's Eve pages on London.gov.uk, GOV.UK's ETA guidance, the Met Office's Heathrow station records and our own Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile roaming guides.