Disclosure – this is a sponsored post

For the last few years we’ve spent a day in London looking at all the beautiful Christmas lights. We love a day in London, it can be an inexpensive day out, if you know where to look! We knew we wanted to visit the main streets of central London so planned our day out carefully, taking the Underground from where we live into Kings Cross and walking. We did try taking the bus a few times, we even saw a special Christmas Lights tour bus, but it was super busy, so we ended up walking everywhere.

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The best places to see Christmas lights in London

Regent Street – did you know that Regent Street was the first central London location to boast Christmas lights? They were first switched on back in 1954. This year sees the street lit up with ‘The Spirit of Christmas’, each of the sixteen individual Spirits is a three-dimensional sculpture, hand-crafted in London using cutting edge techniques. The Spirits’ impressive 17-metre wing spans are studded with LED pea lights which really twinkle. The displays are switched on from early evening on a timer everyday for a more sustainable display.

Oxford Street – using the same display as last year, thousands of dazzling stars have been hung up between the shops. In order to save energy, the stars will shine for a slightly shorter period each day this year. The lights are also made of LED lightbulbs made from recycled polymer, which are 75 percent more efficient than standard lightbulbs.

Carnaby Street – this year’s theme is ‘Carnaby Universe’, where a solar system of neon lights has been strung up in the sky above Carnaby’s brilliant shops.

Covent Garden – for the first time in almost a decade, Covent Garden has introduced a brand new Christmas installation inspired by traditional golden bells.  There are over 40 gigantic bells with bows, 12 giant baubles and 8 spinning mirror balls, all displayed in the iconic Market Building.

You can take a selfie on the Covent Garden Swing Seat; take a photo on the traditionally decorated Christmas sleigh (a reconditioned 1884 carriage hand-painted by British artist James Gemmill); shop at ‘The Story Knit Store’, a pop up store stocked with 500 pre-loved jumpers, donated by vintage retailer Beyond Retro.