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London on Boxing Day

Hello, we will be in London on Boxing Day. Any idea if the tourist venues and restaurants will be open, or are things usually closed on this day?

Posted by
3985 posts

Go to the websites of the venues that interest you and look for the general information or planning your trip portion that gives you the hours they're open and which days they are closed. You will then see if Boxing Day is open or closed.

Posted by
713 posts

FWIW, Time Out has a list of what's open on Boxing Day. I have no idea how comprehensive it is, and I'd check with the venues directly before deciding to go. It's here: https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/things-to-do-on-boxing-day-in-london#tab_panel_2

Transport for London has a seasonal travel page which as of today (May 23) hasn't been updated for the 2018/19 Christmas/New Year holiday, but apparently will be updated at some point: https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/major-works-and-events/christmas-travel

Posted by
28 posts

Thank you so much, Suz. This is very helpful information, and I appreciate it.

Posted by
1150 posts

We've been in London on Boxing Day before. Many, many things are closed. Most museums, for example. Also, only a few restaurants - likely chain places - were open. But it was interesting to see such a busy city going slower and everything was much less crowded. It was a great day to take a London Walk tour.

Posted by
4256 posts

No surprise-the stores are open if you want to shop!

Posted by
4684 posts

In terms of public transport, buses will be running, as will tubes, although there may be specific tube closures for engineering works. Other trains will NOT be running.

Posted by
4256 posts

Nigel, we only went to the big dept stores.

Posted by
28 posts

Continued thanks, everyone. Any idea if the hop on/hop off tourist buses will run? Our hotel is situated where we can see a bit on foot, but the buses would be best.

Posted by
344 posts

There is a tourist company that gets rave reviews from everyone called “London walks. “. Go to londonwalks.com and see a listing of the walking tours that they do on each day of the year. You can look up December 26 and see exactly they walking tours on That day to see if any are of interest to you. There is no need and no way to make a reservation, you just show up. The walks are usually 2 to 3 hours and are excellent.

Most museums are indeed closed however you cannot tell unless you go to that particular museums website. Last year I was surprised that the Churchhill war rooms was one of the only museums open on January 1 st. Also, in case you are still in London on that day, there is an enormous parade that also occurs on January 1st.

Have a great trip!

Posted by
28 posts

Oh, wow, SuzieeQQ! Thank you so much! This is incredibly helpful and appreciated.