Today I want to share my London Christmas lights guide with you. If you love standing in awe of twinkling stars and glowing angels, the UK capital is just the place for you this winter.
London Christmas Lights
Londoners are a little obsessed with Christmas. It’s hard not to be. In winter, the weather is cold and the days are so short we marvel the sun bothers to rise.
But what keeps us from hibernating in our local pub from late October to early January is that the streets are so amazingly bright we can’t help tearing ourselves away from our drinks to get outdoors and into the Christmas spirit.
Liquid overcoats on, we marvel at the night sky made gold by a million lights lining the city’s most famous streets.
The London Christmas lights get bigger and brighter each year as if they know that if they don’t impress us more than the last, we’ll finally make good on our annual promise to move to Barbados and never return.
Sufficiently threatened, London’s Christmas lights dazzle us into believing that we live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And we do. I’m not biased at all.
Each year the bauble-shaped orbs of light on Oxford Street glow silver in front of the bright facades of Selfridges and John Lewis.
Not far away, the giant lights on Regent Street vie with the shiny extravaganza on Carnaby Street for the title of most festive.
Over on Bond Street, lights take the shape of feathers as they float over London’s decadent luxury goods shops. And on Sloane Street giant lights twinkle above all things hedonistic.
With so much bright distraction, it’s hard to remember it’s winter in London, but it’s easy to remember why we love it here so much.
Thank you for the Christmas lights, London. Here’s to another year of putting off plans to decamp to the tropics!
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34 Comments on Lady’s London Christmas Lights Guide
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I think London is a wonderful place to get in the Christmas mood! It’s always a beautiful city but when Chritsmas is getting closer London just gets even prettier!
xx,
E.
Yeah, that’s so true!
LOVE London’s Christmas lights! I’ve started uploading my photos from the past few days to do this post too 🙂 but – call me old-fashioned – I don’t like the sponsored lights on Regent Street! So commercial. The baubles on Oxford Street are so much classier! (How about THAT for a role reversal? haha!)
Haha, yeah, there’s always some controversy over the sponsored lights. I like the baubles, too!
What beautiful displays! I’ve never seen the feather design before – very cool!
Yeah, I love the feathers!
Beautiful photos 🙂
Thanks!
London does look prettier with these lights! I’m sure Christmas must be a bright time despite the cold. How about the church services and carols? How do Londoners celebrate Christmas?
I wrote a blog post a couple weeks ago about all of the things going on in London over Christmas, so feel free to take a look.
So pretty! I will forever associate London with Christmas thanks to Love Actually 🙂
Me too! I love that movie!
My favorite London lights were always in and around Sloane Square. So pretty. (And I love the phrase “liquid overcoats” – haha!)
Yeah, the ones in Sloane Square are so pretty!
Oh, London looks so pretty at Christmas!
Yeah!
How lovely! The lights are reminiscent of those cities used to put up when I was a kid, and yet contemporary and fresh. Thank you for sharing them!
You’re welcome!
Beautiful shots – I agree London’s Christmas lights make it all worth it 🙂
Thanks! Yeah, they’re great!
Lovely London! Have a great holiday season, Julie!
Thanks Ilana!
Gorgeous photos! x
Thanks!
These are gorgeous and I would sooooo enjoy walking these streets and enjoying the lights, Lady! It amazes me the time and artistic ability folks have to put together and coordinate such a wonderful lighted celebration. It’s snowing here today in Reno so Barbados sounds a little enticing lol 🙂
Yeah, the lights amaze me every year! Glad you like the idea of Barbados!
These lights are so great. I recently wrote a blog post about the Christmas Lights in Zurich, but this makes me want to fly to London to see its gorgeous lights too.
Nice! I will have to take a look at your blog post. I love Christmas lights!
I think this is one of the best destinations for Christmas… So beautiful! I live in Asia now, and I miss this fantastic atmosphere… It’s not the same here!
Yeah, London is amazing at Christmas. I was in Singapore for Christmas a few years ago and they do great lights there, too. Might be worth a trip if you’re nearby!
You can’t beat Oxford Street at this time of year. always brings a smile to my face, even if the crowds are stunning!
Yeah!
I’m so sad that I was only in London for a day and a half and didn’t manage to go to Oxford Street! The lights look beautiful during Christmas. I guess I’ll just have to make another UK trip in the future to go to both Oxford Street and to celebrate the Christmas festivities 🙂
That’s too bad! You’ll have to come back for sure!