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Christmas in London - Itinerary Recommendations Please

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Flights booked: arriving Christmas Day, departing New Year’s Eve – all recommendations welcome!

Would anyone recommend the Christmas lights open-air bus tour? I’ve heard mixed reviews.

A bit of context: we’ve been to London a dozen times or more (for work and pleasure), so we’ve done all the major sites. We’re specifically looking for Christmas-oriented activities we might not have thought of (2 adults, no kids) and any restaurant recommendations, in particular.

Thursday, Dec 25 – Recommendations for church services and dinner walkable from Covent Garden would be appreciated, as well as advice on taxi services. (We usually use Uber and request one after landing, but thinking we should pre-book since it’s Christmas Day.)
Arrive London Heathrow
Hotel in Covent Garden

Friday, Dec 26 – Boxing Day shopping; Christmas Carol at The Old Vic

Saturday, Dec 27 – Open all day, probably a mix of shopping, Christmas lights, Buckingham Palace Christmas Market

Sunday, Dec 28 – Evening theatre booking, appreciate recommendations for Sunday Roast near Covent Garden

Monday, Dec 29 – Day trip to Hever Castle (booked)

Tuesday, Dec 30 – Ritz Christmas Afternoon Tea

Wednesday, Dec 31 – V&A Marie Antoinette Exhibit; night flight home

Are there any must-do Christmas experiences we’re missing?

Thank you!

Posted by
1023 posts

As I'm guess you realise, Christmas Day is a tricky one from Heathrow, given no public transport, hence high demand for cars. I'd recommend prebooking a car service - more reliable and likely cheaper than Uber. I've never used them, but Blackberry is often recommended.

Church - depends on what time you arrive - Westminster Abbey is the obvious one, and they have three services on Christmas Day, including a 3pm Evensong service if you're arriving later. I do also like St Martin-in-the-fields, but I think that's just a single Christmas Day Eucharist. And then there is St James' Piccadilly, but i don't know what time their services are. There's also the Chapel Royal at St James' Palace, but not sure if they have a Christmas Day service. I'm sure others also have recommendations.

On the Christmas lights, depending a little bit on when you want to do that, I'd recommend walking rather than bus tour - I've seen the open top bus tours absolutely gridlocked in the lead up to Christmas, particularly along Piccadilly and Regent St. Traffic is a bit lighter after Christmas.

Posted by
1028 posts

London Walks is open and giving guided walking tours on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. I think this would be a lovely thing to do if not much is open: https://www.walks.com/

Posted by
1885 posts

Something to watch out for is that a lot of places that usually serve a Sunday roast will not bother on a Sunday that close to Christmas because everyone will have just eaten a roast 3 days earlier, plus leftovers on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas which is also a public holiday here and a sort of mini Christmas where you spend time with family you maybe didn’t see on the day itself). Make sure you check before travelling to a pub or restaurant.

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