London Christmas lights walking tours put you on foot under the displays with a guide, stopping where the lights are best. This season they are the only way to go along the central stretch of the shopping street, now closed to traffic.
Festive music on wireless headphones and a guide for 1 hour 45 minutes, from Rathbone Street along the shopping street that traffic has left to walkers, then through Soho.
From $51 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Ninety minutes on foot from Covent Garden to the square, with a glass of mulled wine at a market and a group of ten at most. It is for adults only.
From $60 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Two hours from Covent Garden station through St James's and the arcades to the curve of lights, ending on the lit Soho lane. Bookings are for two or more.
From $60 per person, bookings of two
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Two to three hours through the Temple and the City's old taverns and courts with a guide, ten people at most, ending at the Victorian market hall.
From $120 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Two and a half hours on foot with snacks, a light meal and Christmas cake, over the river by the footbridges to the riverside market. It is not suitable for coeliacs.
From $133 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Two to three hours with a guide of your own for up to ten, starting at the opera house, taking in the arcades and the shopping street, with an afternoon or evening start.
From $242 per group (up to 10)
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A guide of your own for up to eight, meeting at Charing Cross and ending in Soho two hours later, telling the story of how the British took to Christmas.
From $262 per group (up to 8)
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Your own local guide for two hours from the Tube station at Bond Street, a hot drink included, through the arcades and the lanes to Covent Garden station.
From $114 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A guide and festive music on wireless headphones for 1 hour 45 minutes, from Rathbone Street through the West End, for $51.91 a person.
See this tourIt is a guide, a small group or your own party, and two hours or so on the pavements under the displays. You stop where the lights are best, hear who hangs them and why, and walk on. Nobody is looking through a window.
This season a walk is also the only way under the lights on Oxford Street. From Monday 26 October 2026 its central stretch, from Orchard Street to Great Portland Street, is closed to buses, taxis and cycles. People on foot still walk it, and the silent-disco walk and the private walks from the opera house and from Bond Street go along it.
Group walks cost $51.91 to $133.49 a person. Several carry something a bus cannot: music on headphones, a glass of mulled wine, a light meal, or a City of taverns and courts.
On foot you stop beneath the lights hung across Regent Street, look up for as long as you like and take the photo without a window in the way. A bus gives you a glimpse; a walk gives you the view.
The lanes of Soho, Seven Dials and the covered arcades are too narrow for a bus, and the central stretch of the shopping street is closed to one. Walks take you through all of them.
The silent-disco walk plays festive music on headphones. The markets walk includes a glass of mulled wine. The lights and bites walk feeds you snacks, a light meal and Christmas cake. The Christmas Carol walk tells the story in the City where Dickens set it.
Most group walks stop at 10 to 15 people, so you can hear the guide and ask questions. A private walk is only your own party.
The fares are closer than you might think. Here is what each costs a person, and what you get for it.
| Fare | Length | Under the shopping street's lights | Group | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silent-disco walk | $51.91 | 1 hr 45 min | Yes, on foot | Up to 40 |
| Markets walk, mulled wine | $60.68 | 1 hr 30 min | No | Up to 10, adults only |
| Walk from Covent Garden | $60.68 | 2 hours | No | Up to 15 |
| Lights and bites walk | $133.49 | 2 hr 30 min | No | Up to 15 |
| Open-top bus | $40.45 | 60 to 90 min | Not this season | Up to 72 |
Check availability from $51.91
The silent-disco walk costs $51.91, not much more than the open-top bus at $40.45. On the bus you sit and cover more ground in less time. On the walk you go slower, stop under the displays and walk the stretch no bus can use. The buses are compared on London Christmas lights bus tours.
If warmth matters most, the bus's lower deck is covered. If the lights themselves matter most, walk.
Ninety minutes on foot from Covent Garden to the square with a guide and a glass of mulled wine, in a group of ten at most. $60.68 a person.
Check availabilityEvery meeting point is on the meeting-point map, and the displays each route passes are on the lights street by street. If you would rather go without a guide, the self-guided route under the lights maps the legs and the times. For the week-by-week dark, see the best time to see the lights.
Want the City's story as well as the lights? Scrooge's City after dark walks you through it.
Rather sit down for the lights? Every way round them is side by side on London Christmas Lights Tours.