London Christmas Lights Tours
London Christmas Lights Tours › The LightsUpdated 2026-09-29

London's Christmas Lights, Street by Street

Hours, prices and access verified by the London Christmas Lights Tours team — last checked 2026-09-29.

The West End puts up its displays through November, one street at a time, and they stay lit into early January. If you are planning a festive lights tour of London, here is each display, who looks after the street it hangs over, when it came on last year, and which way of touring reaches it.

Every display is free. Most sit within about 2 km of each other, from Oxford Street down to Trafalgar Square, so on foot you can see several in an evening. The one change this season is Oxford Street, which you now see on foot only.

The West End displays, from Marble Arch to the Strand

The 2026 switch-on dates are not published yet. The table gives the 2025 dates, which show the usual order: the West End first, the side streets and Mayfair a week later, and the City last. Expect a similar pattern, and check again in October.

DisplayAreaSwitched on in 2025Reached by
Piccadilly, Leicester Square and St Martin's LaneWest EndSat 1 NovemberWalk, black cab
Oxford StreetMarble Arch to Tottenham Court RoadMon 3 NovemberWalk only this season
Regent Street and St James'sOxford Circus to Piccadilly CircusThu 6 NovemberWalk, black cab, bus, bike
Carnaby StreetSohoThu 6 NovemberWalk, black cab, bike
Covent GardenThe piazza and its streetsWed 12 NovemberWalk, black cab, bike
Bond StreetMayfairWed 12 NovemberWalk, black cab, bike
Leadenhall MarketThe CityThu 13 NovemberWalk (the Dickens route)
Seven DialsBetween Covent Garden and SohoNot in the published listWalk, bike

"Reached by" reads each tour's own itinerary. A bus or a cab passes a display; a walk takes you under it and into the lanes around it, which is why Seven Dials and Leadenhall Market appear on walking routes only.

Regent Street and St James's

Regent Street is the display most people picture: lights hung across the whole curve of the street, from Oxford Circus down to Piccadilly Circus. The street is owned by The Crown Estate. In 2025 they came on on 6 November and stayed lit daily until 4 January 2026.

You can reach Regent Street every way there is. The open-top bus from the London Eye and the vintage double-decker from Victoria both list it, black cabs list it too, and several walks end close by on Carnaby Street. St James's, just south, is lit at the same time and is quieter.

An angel of warm white lights with outspread wings against a black night sky
An angel of warm white lights with outspread wings against a black night sky

Oxford Street, on foot this year

Oxford Street's lights came on on 3 November in 2025. From Monday 26 October 2026 the stretch between Orchard Street, by Selfridges, and Great Portland Street is closed to buses, taxis, private hire cars and cycles. The Mayor of London confirmed the date on 29 September 2026.

What it means for you: the tours that name Oxford Street on a bus, cab or bike route were written before the closure, and none of them can use that stretch. To stand under those lights, walk it: the silent-disco walk goes along Oxford Street on foot, and so can you, for nothing, in the order on the lights map.

New West End Company, which runs the street's Christmas lights, is working on this Christmas with the body now in charge of the street. Nothing about the 2026 design has been published, so we describe none.

Carnaby Street and Seven Dials

Carnaby Street is a few minutes east of Regent Street, in Soho, and its lights span a narrow, car-free street. In 2025 they came on on 6 November, the same day as Regent Street. Several walks finish here, five minutes from Oxford Circus station.

Seven Dials sits between Soho and Covent Garden, where seven streets meet at a sundial pillar. Its lights are strung over lanes too narrow for a bus. You reach it on foot or by bike: the silent-disco walk, a private walk from Bond Street and the bike ride all pass through.

Covent Garden and Bond Street

Covent Garden dresses its piazza and the streets around the market building, and in 2025 it came on on 12 November. Many walks start here, outside the Tube station or by the Royal Opera House, and the markets walk with mulled wine goes from here to Trafalgar Square.

Bond Street, in Mayfair, came on the same day in 2025. It is lined with designer shops, and a black cab or a walk can take you along it; the bike ride passes it too. The private walk from Bond Street station starts right beside it.

The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree

The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is a gift from the people of Norway, given every year since 1947 in thanks for Britain's support during the Second World War. It is usually a Norwegian spruce over 20 metres tall, cut in the forests around Oslo and decorated in the Norwegian way, with vertical strings of lights.

It is lit at a ceremony in early December; in 2025 that was Thursday 4 December. The 2026 date is not announced. The tree stays until just before Twelfth Night. Many bus and walking routes pass it, and carol singing returns to the square in December.

A tall spruce strung with vertical strings of lights beside a stone column at night
A tall spruce strung with vertical strings of lights beside a stone column at night

Leadenhall Market and the City

Leadenhall Market is the odd one out: a Victorian covered market in the City, about 4 km east of Oxford Circus. In 2025 it was lit from 13 November. It is quieter than the West End and easy to pair with a pub supper.

Only one route we list reaches it: the Christmas Carol and Charles Dickens walk, which starts at Temple and ends among the City's old taverns and Leadenhall Market. To add it to a West End evening, take the Tube; it is too far to walk between displays.

Which tours reach which display

Each row reads the tour itineraries, not the operators' marketing. "On some routes" means at least one tour of that kind lists the display. A black cab can also go wherever you ask, within the time you book. To weigh the four ways of touring against each other, the tour options guide sets them side by side.

DisplayOn footBlack cabBusBike
Regent StreetOn some routesOn some routesOn some routesOn some routes
Oxford StreetOn some routesNot this seasonNot this seasonNot this season
Carnaby StreetOn some routesOn some routes—On some routes
Bond StreetOn some routesOn some routes—On some routes
Covent GardenOn some routesOn some routes—On some routes
Trafalgar SquareOn some routesOn some routesOn some routes—
Leicester SquareOn some routesOn some routes——
Seven DialsOn some routes——On some routes
Leadenhall MarketOn some routes———

So the choice runs like this. For the most displays with no walking, look at the London Christmas lights bus tours, or the black cabs among the private London Christmas lights tours. For Oxford Street, Seven Dials or Leadenhall Market, pick one of the London Christmas lights walking tours. For the most ground in one go, the bike covers the West End and the South Bank in three hours.

Know which displays you want?

Compare every lights tour side by side, with its start point, its length and its fare, then pick the one that reaches your list.

See the top lights toursCompare every lights tour

Questions about the displays

Are the London Christmas lights free to see?
Yes. Every street display hangs over a public street, so you can walk under it at any hour without a ticket. A tour buys you a guide, a seat or a cab, never entry.
When do the lights switch on in 2026?
The 2026 dates have not been announced. In 2025 the West End came on through the first half of November, from 1 November in Piccadilly to 13 November at Leadenhall.
Can I see Oxford Street's lights from a bus this year?
Not along the central stretch. From 26 October 2026 Oxford Street between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street is closed to buses, taxis and cycles, so you see those lights on foot.
Which display is furthest from the others?
Leadenhall Market, in the City, about 4 km east of Oxford Circus. The Dickens walk ends there, and no bus or cab route we list goes that far east.
How late do the lights stay on?
The street displays are lit through the evening, and Regent Street's 2025 lights ran daily until 4 January 2026. No display publishes a nightly switch-off time for 2026, so go in the evening rather than late at night.

Where these facts come from

Switch-on dates are 2025's, from Time Out's list. The Oxford Street closure is the Greater London Authority's, with the date confirmed by the Mayor. The tree's story is the Mayor of London's. Every route comes from the tour's own listing, checked 29 September 2026.

Tours that reach the most displays

Next: see the displays in walking order on the lights map, find the right week on the best time to visit, or compare every tour on London Christmas Lights Tours.