Christmas in London w/ family
 

The first question is... Why am I doing this again??? Anyhow my real first question is can anybody suggest a few activities in or around London on Christmas and the day after? We (Wife,Me+In-Laws and 3 teens)will be in London from 18 Dec.-29 Dec.Amy and all ideas welcome.

Any Ideas not Amy Sorry!!

Christmas day you will be on your own. All tourist attractions and public transport are shut down. Few restaurants are open, mostly ethnic places. Your best bet for Christmas dinner is at your hotel. Other than that - it is a great day for long walks because there is no traffic.

On Boxing Day (the 26th) many things are still closed, but some tourist attractions and many shops are open.

Clabo,

I have a file that was sent to me by the London Tourist Board listing events on and around Christmas. Would be happy to email it to you if you contact me (email address below).

In general however, Christmas day is very quiet in London--Boxing Day (Dec 26th) is a little less so, with a few more visitor attractions open. But since you will be in town from the 18th to the 29th, you can take advantage of other holiday events.

Let me know if you want a copy of the events file.

David White
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Some things will still be open the 24-25-26th, but they are few and far between. Buy a Time Out and other local mags when you get there, and check the LondonTown and London Tourist Board websites.

From my itinerary from last year, here's what we found open:

24th
* Harrods (Yay!)
* Several London Walks tours
* Somerset ice rink
* Two Christmas concerts at Royal Albert Hall

25th
* Several London Walks tours
* Christmas masses/services with choral performances
* Evansevans London Panorama half day tour

26th
* Several London Walks tours
* Somerset ice rink
* Some theatre performances start again (Mama Mia, Mousetrap, We Will Rock You, Phantom)

Movies also started up again either Christmas Day or Boxing Day (mock me if you will, but we live in China where we only get a handful of foreign movies a year, so it was a real treat for us!).

If you plan ahead, you can still find some activities. You can also plan to just do some walking around or self-guided tours - but thank goodness for London Walks!

Go to a panto. The teenagers may well think it all too childish, but the grown-ups might have some fun. The outer London theatres (Richmond, Greenwich) tend to have a better reputation for panto than any West End offerings.

You have had useful answers. I can add that from 18 to 22 December everything is up and running, plus two seasonal specialities. The first is lunchtime recitals of in old churches of Christmas music, with carols for the audience, mulled wine and mince tarts. I plan to put a list of these on this forum about 1 December. As Mr London says, the second is pantomime, knockabout farce with the audience putting much into the action. This is best in the suburbs: again, I hope to put up a list.

Andrea expat has a good list. A few matters of idiom, to help you explain yourself amoung us Brits.
Somerset House ice rink (Somerset is a county in the West Country)
Christmas services, with choirs. These choirs do not think they are performing: they think they are praising God. Few of the services are Masses: most are Eucharists or Morning or Evening Prayer.

Welcome back

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Just another clarification - the Somerset House ice rink is in London itself, very convenient . . . despite its namesake which (to me, whether true or not) sounds like it's far away!