Hello,
We are headed to London the week before Christmas to experience the seasonal festivities. In past trips (almost always in the summer/fall), we have enjoyed the #11 and #15 bus routes to see around the city. But I was wondering if anyone could recommend a route (or two) for seeing Christmassy things? Or is the hop on/hop off bus tour the best option?
Thx in advance!
I had stumbled across this website a couple of weeks ago. It might be helpful.
https://www.tootbus.com/en/london/product/e523c7aa-32d7-4cbd-84b2-81e348707191
Tootbus looks expensive to me for a relatively short route
You could compare the route on the Tootbus site with this one from TfL and work out how best to replicate it (or most of it).
https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/visitors-and-tourists/
Getting the number 10 from Tottenham Court Rd to the Royal Albert Hall and then the number 9 back to Aldwych would cover much of the route at much lower cost.
You could start at Piccadilly Circus and walk up to Carnaby street to see its lights. It’s not a long walk and you’d cover both Regent and Carnaby Streets’ lights. While at Carnaby Street, stop into Liberty for its decorations. From there it’s another short walk up to Oxford Street and its lights.
Last year, we stopped to look around Selfridges (decorated window displays) then picked up a regular city bus that took us along Oxford St, past Marble Arch, around Hyde Park, Harrods, and we got off on Cromwell Rd. by our hotel. There are side streets off of Oxford Street that also have lights.
There’s a small Christmas market at Leicester Square, and places like Burlington Arcade and Fortnam & Mason are nicely decorated.
I don’t recall the bus number, but got it from Google maps. It worked well for finding bus numbers at the last minute to wherever we were going. Remember that when taking the city busses, you tap when getting on, but not off. City busses are much less expensive.
TFL has you covered! TFL buses are cheap as chips. Routes 139 and 22 are listed first, but there are more. https://londonblog.tfl.gov.uk/2023/12/06/festive-bus-routes/
Thank you all. That list of festive rides looks particularly promising. Thanks so much Volva!
