Top 24 Most Instagrammable Places in London at Christmas

Twenty-four places in London that photograph well at Christmas, from department store windows to a 67-foot tree in the City. Most of the notes below describe the 2024 displays. The shops and streets change their themes each year, so treat the specifics as a record of that season and the locations as the thing to go back for.

What Are the Most Instagrammable Places in London at Christmas?

These are the Instagrammable Places in London at Christmas, 24 of them. Nearly all look best after dark.

1. Covent Garden

Covent Garden puts a tall Christmas tree in the piazza and hangs oversized baubles and mistletoe chandeliers inside the covered market. In 2024 it added installations where visitors could pose with a sparkling carriage and life-sized nutcrackers.

There is also a light show set to carol singing. Look up at the lit arches and the big floral arrangements.

2. Regent Street Lights

Regent Street has the best-known Christmas lights in London. The 2024 display brought back the Spirit of Christmas: golden angels with outstretched wings, suspended above the road along the length of the street.

Go after sunset. Stand at Piccadilly Circus or Oxford Circus for a wide shot that takes in the curve of the street and the crowds.

3. Fortnum & Mason

Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly does some of the most elaborate Christmas windows in London. The 2024 theme was Feast of the Season: animals preparing a Christmas dinner.

The façade is lit in gold, with wreaths hanging down it. Inside, the food hall and the gift displays are dressed for the season too.

4. Carnaby Street

Carnaby Street's 2024 lights were called Into the Light: six-metre sculptural light forms over the street, lit by more than 60,000 low-energy LEDs in a warm gold, with a light show every hour from midday.

The design was meant to reflect the creative, rebellious side of Soho. Carnaby said the installation would be reused in future years rather than scrapped.

5. Harrods

Harrods lights its whole façade for Christmas. The 2024 windows took a winter garden theme: fairy lights, snow and frosted flowers.

Inside, the staircases are hung with garlands and lights, and the food hall sells seasonal food in gift packaging.

6. Grosvenor Square: Ever After Garden

In 2024 the Ever After Garden filled Grosvenor Square with thousands of illuminated white roses. In 2025 it moved to Duke of York Square in Chelsea. It is run with The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity: for a small donation you dedicate a rose to a loved one.

Go after sunset, when the roses glow against the dark. The Mayfair architecture around the square makes the background.

7. Somerset House

Every winter the courtyard of Somerset House becomes an ice rink with a large Christmas tree beside it. In 2024 the rink was paired with an exhibition of illuminated winter sculptures.

8. St. Pancras International Station

The 2024 tree at St Pancras was themed on the film Wicked, made with Universal Pictures and standing in the main retail arcade. Built into it was a diorama of locations from the film: the Emerald City, Shiz University, Kiamo Ko Castle. More than 200 lights. Over 1,000 miniature flowers. Hidden references to the story were worked in for fans to find.

Around the tree: themed music, a gilded replica of the Wizard's head to pose with, and a seating area playing the soundtrack. It stayed up until 31 January 2025.

9. Annabel's in Mayfair

Annabel's, the members' club on Berkeley Square, dresses its façade every Christmas. The 2024 design put a peacock inside a huge blue snow globe, framed by gold detailing and lights, with garlands, oversized baubles and a Christmas tree hung with handmade ornaments.

It was unveiled on 16 November 2024 with a choir and champagne. The display supported the Caring Family Foundation's Food from the Heart campaign. You do not need to be a member to see it; it faces the square.

10. Southbank Winter Market

The Southbank Winter Market runs along the Thames in wooden chalets strung with fairy lights, selling crafts, food and mulled wine. The London Eye is directly behind it.

11. Kew Gardens: Christmas at Kew

Christmas at Kew is a light trail through the gardens: tunnels of lights, lit trees, illuminated fountains. The 2024 trail added a fire and ice section. Everything is photographed after dark.

12. Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge is lit after dark and reflects in the Thames. Go at twilight, when the lights on the buildings along the river are on too. For another angle, shoot it from The Queen's Walk or from the deck of an Uber Boat.

13. The Churchill Arms

The Churchill Arms in Kensington is known as London's most Christmassy pub. The outside is covered in lights, wreaths and Christmas trees, stacked up the front of the building. Popular with locals, and a good backdrop for a drink.

14. Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree

The Trafalgar Square tree has been a gift from Norway every year since 1947. It is dressed in plain white lights, with carol singers underneath.

Frame it with Nelson's Column behind for the standard shot.

15. Leadenhall Market

Leadenhall is a Victorian covered market, and at Christmas it looks like a Harry Potter set. A tall tree, hanging lights, and the market's own Victorian architecture. Go early in the evening once the lights are on.

16. Bishopsgate Plaza: London's Tallest Christmas Tree

One Bishopsgate Plaza, next to the Pan Pacific London hotel, had London's tallest Christmas tree in 2024. Sixty-seven feet, 65,000 LED lights, 800 red and gold baubles, put up by The Christmas Decorators.

There was a selfie competition: tag @ecbidlondon and @panpacificlondon for a chance to win afternoon tea. The tree was lit until 4 January 2025.

17. King's Cross Tunnel of Light

The tunnel that links King's Cross and St Pancras is lined with lights that shift colour and pattern as you walk through. Good for video, and for long-exposure stills.

18. Bond Street Lights

Cartier, Tiffany & Co. and Bulgari all dress their Bond Street shopfronts for Christmas. The 2024 windows, one by one, are in this post. Go in the evening when the windows are lit.

19. Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park is a funfair and market: a big Ferris wheel, rides, rows of chalets. Go after dark, when the whole site is lit with fairy lights.

20. Big Ben & Houses of Parliament

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament get Christmas lights along Westminster Bridge, and the whole thing reflects in the river. The usual shot is from across the Thames near the London Eye.

21. Battersea Power Station

Battersea Power Station puts on a Christmas market, an ice rink and lights across the site. The pull is the contrast: an ice rink with the power station's chimneys behind it.

22. Christmas in Belgravia Decorations

Belgravia keeps its decorations restrained. Elizabeth Street and Motcomb Street get lights, and the shop doorways get wreaths. The Belgravia Christmas Trail links the decorated windows and the winter floral installations, and there is mulled wine at the cafés along the way.

23. The Royal Exchange: Candy Cane Stripes

For Christmas 2024 the Royal Exchange's neoclassical front was wrapped in red and white stripes like oversized candy canes, with lights and wreaths.

Inside, the boutiques run Christmas collections and gifting events, and there is a Fortnum & Mason pop-up café for mulled wine or hot chocolate.

24. Sloane Square Lights

Sloane Square's 2024 lights were soft white and gold, draped over the trees and across the streets. The scheme was meant to match the area's reputation for understated luxury.

There are market stalls in the square selling gifts, food and hot drinks, and live performances at times. King's Road and Peter Jones are a few steps away.

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All photos were taken by Ina/WithinLondon, unless stated otherwise.