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Christmas Lights in W1 for 2026: Switch-On Dates, What Is Confirmed and a Walking Route

Christmas lights in W1 go up street by street over about ten days in early November, and only one 2026 date has been confirmed so far: Carnaby Street switches on on Wednesday 4 November. Oxford Street, Regent Street, Bond Street and Marylebone usually announce in October. This page lists what is confirmed, what each street did in 2025 so you can see the likely pattern, and a walking route that takes in the lot in about an hour.

2026 switch-on dates in W1, and what each street did last year

The table below shows what is confirmed for 2026 and, for the streets that have not announced yet, the date and design used in 2025. The order rarely changes much from year to year, so the 2025 column is a fair guide to which week to plan around, but treat it as a guide only until each street confirms.

If the 2025 pattern holds, Oxford Street goes first in the first week of November, Carnaby and Regent Street follow within days of each other, and the Mayfair and Marylebone streets light up a week or so later. Carnaby has already moved earlier this year, from a Thursday to Wednesday 4 November.

Carnaby Street: the one confirmed date

Carnaby's organisers have confirmed the lights will be switched on from Wednesday 4 November 2026, and that this year's display draws on 1990s nostalgia. They have said the full festive programme, including details of the switch-on evening, will be announced in October. Carnaby's installations are usually the most playful in the West End, closer to an art piece than a string of bulbs, and the street is pedestrianised, which makes it the most comfortable place to watch a switch-on with children. The streets around it are covered in our Carnaby Street guide.

Oxford Street and Regent Street

These are the two big displays and the two biggest crowds. Oxford Street's lights run the length of the street from Marble Arch to Tottenham Court Road, and Regent Street's angels or winged figures sweep down from Oxford Circus towards Piccadilly Circus. Switch-on nights draw tens of thousands of people and close roads, so if you want to look at the lights rather than the crowd, go on a weekday evening after the launch. Shopping tips for the stretch are in our Oxford Street shopping guide.

Bond Street, South Molton Street and Mayfair

Bond Street's display is usually the most formal of the W1 streets, matching the luxury shopfronts underneath. In 2025 it used 93,000 LEDs in a pattern inspired by the Crown Jewels and switched on on 12 November. The quieter streets either side, South Molton Street and the lanes towards Berkeley Square and Mount Street, are worth the detour once the lights are up. Our Mayfair guide has the rest of the area.

Marylebone

Marylebone High Street does a village-style switch-on rather than a spectacle: in 2025 the street closed to traffic for live music and school choirs on 12 November. It is the most relaxed of the W1 evenings and a good one for families. More on the street in our Marylebone guide.

A walking route through W1's lights

This route takes about an hour at an easy pace, longer if you stop to shop or eat, and works best from late afternoon once it is dark, which in November is before 5pm.

1. Start at Marylebone High Street and walk south to Wigmore Street.
2. Cut down to Oxford Street and walk east to Oxford Circus.
3. Turn south down Regent Street as far as the junction with Great Marlborough Street.
4. Step left into Carnaby Street and wander the Soho lanes around it.
5. Cross back over Regent Street and take Conduit Street into Mayfair for Bond Street and South Molton Street.
6. Finish on Regent Street's lower curve towards Piccadilly Circus, or with a drink in Mayfair.

If you need a table at the end of it, our where to eat in W1 page and afternoon tea in W1 list are the places to start. Getting in and out is easiest by Tube: Bond Street, Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus are all on the route, and our getting around W1 page covers the options.

Tips for switch-on nights

• Arrive early or come later in the week. Switch-on evenings are free but crowded, and roads close.
• Use the Tube exits away from the crowds. Oxford Circus can be exit-only or closed briefly at peak times; Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road are alternatives.
• Weekday evenings are the best time to see the lights. Saturdays in December are the busiest shopping days of the year on Oxford Street.
• Check the date again in late October. We will update this page as each street confirms; the dates for streets other than Carnaby are not yet set.

For more ideas for a winter visit, see free things to do in W1, or head back to the W1 London home page.

Sources

• Time Out London, every major London Christmas lights switch-on date for 2025: timeout.com
• London Now, London Christmas lights switch-on dates confirmed for 2026: london-now.co.uk

Dates checked on 1 October 2026. We will update this page as each street confirms its 2026 switch-on.