London Christmas Lights Short Walk

6.3km (3.9 miles)

A walk to take in the best of the Christmas lights in London's West End. The lights are normally illuminated from mid November to the 6th of January, but note that the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square is usually not set up till December, with its lights going on in the first week of that month.

Places visited on this walk include:

Villiers Street: A side street off the Strand, but it usually has nice lights. Before descending the steps from the station to the street, walk along the high level walkway a short distance to find a balcony where you can view them from above

The Strand: Traditionally not one of the best streets for lights, but it has been improving in recent years.

Covent Garden Market: This former fruit and vegetable market usually has a fabulous display. The streets around are also lit in interesting ways.

Slingsby Place: A small courtyard off Long Acre in Covent Garden that sometimes has quite striking illuminations.

Seven Dials: In Victorian times this junction of streets in Covent Garden was a byword for poverty. Now it is one of the more cheerful places, with a usually creative approach to Christmas lights

Carnaby Street: This famous pedestrian shopping street, the centre of London fashion in the 1960s, always makes a big effort to be creative with its lights

Regent Street: For years this has had a stunning display of illuminated angels. Very striking, though one year they might change it...

Oxford Street: Famously rather feeble with its lights (the idea, maybe, being that it is such a famous shopping street that it doesn't have to make an effort...), but it has tried a bit harder in recent years, perhaps due to online shopping reducing footfall. There have been plans to pedestrianise this street for about 20 years, but it never seems to happen.

St Christopher's Place: This courtyard just off Oxford Street has has a tradition of being very creative with its lights. It leads to a Barrett Street, a small piazza which has a number of charming eateries.

Selfridges: The facade of the store and its surrounding lights is usually worth a look, and the shop sometimes has interesting Christmas displays in its windows.

South Molton Street: Another of these small side streets that traditionally has a good display of lights in order to tempt shoppers off the main drag.

Bond Street: As well as the street lights, large fashion brands such as Dior, Chanel and Cartier compete to have the most Instagrammable shopfront decoration. In the lower part of the street note the sumptuously lit Royal Arcade on the right (as well as Burlington Arcade on the left once you turn left into Piccadilly).

Fortnum & Mason: One of the last shops in London to do a proper Christmas window display, often full of charm and quirky touches. Worth lingering over. The interior of the shop also looks very festive (though is probably not the cheapest place to buy things...)

Jermyn Street: This home of traditional gentlemen's outfitters has discreet but usually quite charming lights.

Piccadilly and Leicester Square: Not usually that notable for Christmas lights, but cheerful places to walk through on your way back to Charing Cross.

Trafalgar Square: Don't omit to visit the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree, donated by the City of Oslo every year since 1947 in gratitude for British support for Norway in the Second World War. It is decorated in a traditional Norwegian style and there is usually a crib nearby. Carols are often sung under the tree by community choirs in the early evening. As noted above, this tree is not usually erected and illuminated until early December.

The walk starts and ends at Charing Cross station (start on the concourse of the main line station). The station is also served by the Northern and Bakerloo lines of the Underground and is a short walk from Embankment station (District and Circle lines).

This is the West End, so there are numerous options throughout the route, but a few suggestions:

For a festive cup of thick Italian hot chocolate early in the walk you could seek out Venchi in Covent Garden market.

Barrett Street just beyond St Christopher's Place has lots of eateries in a charming little piazza, if you want a stop in the middle of the walk.

At the end of the walk, the top of Whitehall (the road running south from Trafalgar Square) has various pubs.

If you walk across the railway bridge from Charing Cross to the South Bank of the river, there is usually a Christmas market on the riverside in front of the Royal Festival Hall

After the walk, please leave a comment, it really helps. Thanks!

You can also upload photos to the SWC Group on Flickr (upload your photos) and videos to Youtube. This walk's tags are:

National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Dec-24 Peter