London Christmas Lights Self-Guided Walk

You do not need a ticket to see the lights. Every display hangs over a public street, free, and the main West End ones sit within about half an hour's walk of each other. This guide gives you a route under them on foot, leg by leg, with times, and is honest about what a guide adds. The guided versions are on the London Christmas lights walking tours page.

Do you need a tour at all?

No. The street displays are free, lit every evening, and easy to find in the West End. With this route, a phone and warm shoes you can see the main ones in about two hours and pay nothing.

A tour earns its fare in three cases: when you want the stories behind what you see, when you would rather not navigate crowds in the dark, and when you want something a walk on your own does not include, like music on headphones or a glass of mulled wine. The rest of this guide helps you decide.

Where should you start?

At Selfridges, at the western end of Oxford Street's closed stretch. From Monday 26 October 2026 the street is closed to buses, taxis and cycles between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street, so you have its lights to yourself and the other walkers. Marble Arch station is a few minutes west, and Bond Street station a few minutes east.

Start at dusk. In the week of 7 December the sun sets at 3:53pm and it is dark enough by about 4:33pm. A weekday is calmer than a Saturday, and the darkest weeks are set out on the best time to see the lights. The stations near the start, and how to reach them, are on the visitors guide.

The route, leg by leg

The times are ours, rounded, at an easy pace, and a crowded Saturday adds a few minutes to each leg. The distances are approximate. Together they come to about 4 km and just over an hour of walking; with stops for photos and a drink, allow two hours. Every point is on the meeting-point map.

How do you walk the closed shopping street?

East, from Selfridges to Oxford Circus, on either pavement. With no buses queuing, you can stop under the display, cross when you like and take the long photo down the street. Limited traffic can still cross from the side streets, so look both ways at junctions. Work on the street goes on into 2027, so expect barriers here and there.

What comes after Oxford Circus?

Regent Street. Turn south at the circus and follow the curve down to Piccadilly Circus. This is the display most people picture: lights hung across the whole street between stone shopfronts. Walk the west pavement for the long view round the curve. Burlington Arcade, on several guided routes, is a short detour off Piccadilly.

Which lanes are worth the detour?

Carnaby Street, in Soho. From Piccadilly Circus walk back north-east into Soho, about ten minutes, and you reach the narrow lane with its own display. It has no cars, so it is the calmest display on the route and the easiest to photograph. Several guided walks end here.

From Carnaby Street, head east across Soho to Seven Dials, where seven streets meet at a sundial pillar. It takes about ten minutes and crosses Shaftesbury Avenue on the way.

How do you reach the piazza?

Take the street south from the sundial, and in five minutes you are in the Covent Garden piazza. The piazza and the streets round the market building are dressed for Christmas. This is the place for a hot drink, and the busiest point on the route on a weekend.

How does the walk end at the square?

Walk south-west for about ten minutes to Trafalgar Square. From early December the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree stands there, a Norway spruce given by Norway every year since 1947 and hung with vertical strings of lights. It is lit at a ceremony in early December, and the 2026 date is not announced. Before then, the square is the end of the walk without it.

How long does it take?

About two hours with stops, or an hour and a quarter if you keep moving. If you only have an hour, start at Oxford Circus and end at the piazza: you still see Regent Street, Carnaby Street and Seven Dials. To add Leadenhall Market, take the Tube; it is about 4 km east of Oxford Circus, in the City, and too far to walk between displays. For a hotel a short walk from the start, see where to stay.

Where are the best photos on the route?

Three places, all at dusk if you can. On the closed shopping street, stand in the middle of the pavement at a crossing and shoot east, down the line of the display. On Regent Street, the curve is the picture: walk to the bend and let the lights sweep round it. And in the square, stand back far enough to fit the whole tree and the column in one frame.

• Turn off the flash; it lights the nearest shopper and nothing else.
• Use your phone's night mode and brace against a wall or a lamp post.
• Go on a weekday, when you can stand still without being pushed along.
• Shoot a few minutes after sunset, while the sky still has colour.

A gallery of the displays, to plan your shots, is on the gallery. The route is short enough to walk twice, once at dusk for the sky and once later for the crowds' glow under the lights.

Can you add the City's lights?

Yes, on a second evening. Leadenhall Market, a Victorian covered market in the City, came on on 13 November in 2025. It sits about 4 km east of the West End route, so take the Tube rather than walk, and go on a separate evening so neither walk is rushed. The Christmas Carol walk ends there too, if you would like the City's stories on the way.

When is a guide worth it?

When you want more than the lights. A guide tells you who hangs each display, how the streets got their names and where Dickens drank. A guide also handles the crowds and the dark, which is worth a lot with children or on a first visit. And some walks carry something you cannot add on your own.

• The silent-disco walk plays festive music on headphones as it walks the same shopping street, for $51.91 per person.
• The group walk from Covent Garden covers the arcades and the curve in two hours with a guide, for $60.68 per person, bookings of two.
• The private walk from Bond Street gives you a guide of your own and a coffee or tea, for $114.62 per person.

What does a tour add that this route cannot?

Stories, company and a few doors. A guide has the history of the streets and of British Christmas customs, and the Christmas Carol walk takes you into the City's old taverns and courts, which you would walk past. On your own you have freedom: stop where you like, skip what you do not, and spend the fare on dinner.

If the walk is too much for someone in your party, a black cab covers the same streets sitting down, except the closed stretch; see private London Christmas lights tours. Each display on the route, and who looks after it, is on the lights street by street.

Frequently asked questions

Guided walks along the same streets

London Christmas Lights Guided Walking Tour

Two hours on foot from Covent Garden station, past the square, the arcades and the curve, ending by the Carnaby lights.

From $60 per person, bookings of two

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London Christmas Lights Private Walking Tour

Your own guide for two to three hours from the opera house, taking in the arcades, the big shopping street and the curve, ending by Piccadilly Circus.

From $242 per group (up to 10)

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London Private Christmas Lights Walking Tour with Local Guide

Your own guide for two hours from the Tube station on the shopping street, with a coffee or tea on the way, ending in Covent Garden.

From $114 per person

Check Availability