Car-free trips to seeChristmas Lightsaround the UK

Brighten up the gloomy winter months with these fabulous displays of festive wonder. Flowers, animals, incandescent waterfalls... you're sure to be enchanted. Here are all kinds of skilfully-created extravaganzas that can lighten dark November nights with illuminated works of art. Make sure you book ahead as some of these sell out fast. Bring sturdy shoes, warm clothes, and plan how you'll get away at the end (not all buses are as frequent as we'd like in the evenings). New light trails this year include one in Hatfield Park in Hertfordshire - scroll to the end for more details.

County: around the UK
Great for: Christmas | family fun | forests | gardens | historic houses | Shopping |
Refreshments: cafes and kiosks, often pubs nearby
Please note: researched/updated in November 2023. If anything’s changed or you have more tips to share, do get in touch: features@goodjourney.org.uk

1. Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire

The Christmas extravaganza at Blenheim is always spectacular. Inside the palace for 2022, the Kingdom of the Snow Queen involves supersized snowflakes and silver-frosted forests shimmering through the procession of state rooms. Every room glitters with detailed and intricate decorations. Seasonal music, stirring and haunting by turns, also swirls around the spectacular mile-long trail of Christmas lights that winds through Blenheim’s gardens. There are lasers, pulsing vines, tunnels of pea lights and a rose garden full of flaming torches. There are also beautiful moments when coloured lights pick out the intricacies of a craggy oak or stately cedar or sweep across the wooded banks of the huge ornamental lakes that make Blenheim’s park so attractive at any time of year.
- How to get to Blenheim Palace: follow Good Journey’s directions. There are regular buses from Oxford and Oxford Parkway stations to the gate of Blenheim Park in the pretty market town of Woodstock so it’s easy to visit – and make a day of it.
- When? 18 November 2023 – 1 January 2024
- How much? See the Blenheim Palace website for the range of tickets.
- Last bus back? Bus S7 and bus S3 run regularly back to Oxford via Oxford Parkway station until late at night so there’s no problem heading back after you’ve walked through the gardens if you plan ahead.

2. RHS Wisley, Surrey

More lights, more fire, more spectacular fountains than ever before. The Glow Festival at RHS Wisley is back with a new trail to enchant the whole family. The route, with its colourful illuminations, projections and music reveals the Jellicoe Canal, the old Laboratory and the Wisteria Walk in a dazzling new light. Follow a path through the twinkling gardens to the Glasshouse. Inside, there is a white Christmas-themed horticultural display, made from white poinsettias, and a glittering stream that flows from the waterfall. In the village square, festive chalets sell seasonal faves like bratwurst, toasted marshmallows, hot chocolate, mulled wine and lots more.
- How to get to RHS Wisley: follow Good Journey’s directions.
- When? 24 November 2023 to 2 January 2024.

3. Kew Gardens, London

Kew’s Christmas light trail started ten years ago and has gone from strength to strength. This year there are some new features, including the illusion of a watery abyss in the lake, as well as the iconic, Instagram-able projections and lasers playing over the Palm House and lots more. Enjoy coloured lights reflected in the lake and fountains, illuminated flowers and feathers, an animated walkway of shining lily pads and sparkling silver trees (thanks to Christmas at Kew, Sony Music and Richard Haughton for the photo).
- How to get to Kew Gardens: Follow Good Journey’s directions.
- When? 15 November 2023 to 7 January 2024.

4. Wakehurst, West Sussex

There’s also a light trail at Wakehurst, Kew’s wilder sister garden in Sussex, featuring a lantern walk, immersive soundscapes, and the UK’s tallest living Christmas tree, decorated with 1,800 fairy lights. Glowing yellow bees, three feet long and realistically buzzing, hover over incandescent flowers; a giant woodpecker clings to a tree trunk and a luminous frog stands guard over a lily pond. Thousands of imaginative lanterns are handmade for Glow Wild by community groups and local art collective Same Sky. The trail passes a wishing tree hung with visitors’ messages for the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) in December.
- How to get to Wakehurst Gardens: Bus 272 stops outside Wakehurst (Monday to Saturday). It runs from Crawley, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill. There is a bus back to Crawley at 6.44pm. Follow Good Journey’s directions.
- When? 23 November 2023 until 1 January 2024.

5. Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire
Christmas at the UK’s best-known arboretum is a special treat. At Westonbirt’s Enchanted Christmas, the trees are twinkling and the paths are sparkling with a spellbinding display. Meet mischievous elves along the way and visit the Christmas village to warm up with hot chocolate or mulled wine…
- How to get to Westonbirt Arboretum: Follow Good Journey’s directions.
- When? Selected evenings from 24 November – 21 December 2023.
- Last bus back? Yay! This year, bus 69 runs back from Westonbirt to Stroud at 7.11pm so, if you’ve booked tickets for fairly early in the evening, you should be able to see the lights by bus.

6. Chatsworth House, Derbyshire
The halls have been well and truly decked. There’s a Nordic-themed wonderland to explore at Chatsworth this year, where the designers have invoked the spirit of the mischief-making Norse god Loki to enchant Chatsworth’s visitors this Christmas. Deep Midwinter: A Nordic Christmas at Chatsworth will conjure up walls of sculpted ‘ice’ and pine forests that twinkle in the dark. There’s candlelight, lantern light and traditional wooden Christmas decorations to evoke a Hans Christian-Andersen fairytale.
- How to get to Chatsworth: follow Good Journey’s directions.
- When? 4 November 2023 to 7 January 2024, with a Christmas Market included in until 23 November.
- Last bus back? Bus 218 runs back to Sheffield until 7.17pm.

8. Christmas at Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire

Trails of winter lights, a legendary Christmas Fair, festive afternoon teas, and twinkling decorations all make Christmas at Waddesdon a dazzling experience. Free with admission to the huge grounds of this ornate mansion, there will be projections on the walls, multicoloured and dancing lights, multi-sensory displays and exciting installations under artfully-lit trees. Waddesdon Manor’s chateau-style turrets look like a fairy tale castle at any time of year, but they’re even more surreal bathed in iridescent colours that shift in sync with the soundtrack. It’s open from noon although the lights only start glowing from dusk. There’s a Christmas Market too with dozens of different stalls selling crafty gifts and artisanal food.
- And this year, along with a longer-than-ever light trail, the rooms inside Waddesdon Manor are decked and open to the public for the first winter season since 2019. Wander through the conservatory, with its ferns and marble statues, and the Red Drawing Room, with its gold ceiling, candelabras and portraits by Gainsborough.
- How to get to Christmas at Waddesdon: Follow Good Journey’s directions.
- When? Selected dates from 22 November 2023 to 1 January 2024
- Last bus? There are buses to Aylesbury from Waddesdon until 7.25pm or book a taxi to Aylesbury Parkway railway station, just three miles away, where there are direct trains to London Marylebone and stations in between at 7.40pm or 9.12pm.

9. Leonardslee Gardens, West Sussex

Leonardslee’s Grade 1 listed gardens will see colourful projections onto the historic buildings and a silver moon floating over the lake. Plus imaginative installations, live music and family-friendly theatrical performances.
- When? 24 November to 21 December 2023
- How to get here? Bus 17 to and from Horsham railway station and Brighton stops just outside until well after 7pm, but do plan ahead.

10. RHS Bridgewater's Glow

RHS Bridgewater Gardens are hosting a light trail again this winter. Follow a dazzling display through the new site to see it at its festive best.
- When? Selected days from 15 November to 30 December 2023.
- How to get to RHS Bridgewater car-free? Follow Good Journey’s directions.
- Last bus? Buses stop near the gates until late at night.

11. Bluebell Railway

The fabulous Bluebell Railway will be hosting SteamLights this winter. Book ahead to ride a steam train, covered in colourful lights, which will brighten the wintry landscape with seasonal music and decorations. The first standard gauge preserved steam railway in the world to run a public passenger service, the Bluebell railway also boasts the longest tunnel and longest viaduct of any UK heritage railway and more steam locos than anywhere outside the National Rail Museum in York.
- How to get to the Bluebell Railway car-free: from London Victoria, take the train to East Grinstead station. Then there’s a very short walk to the Bluebell Railway.
- When? Selected dates from 13 November to 31 December 2023.

12. Hatfield Park

Hatfield Park, where Elizabeth I grew up, has a brand new light trail for 2022. This spectacular house and gardens are right opposite the railway station at Hatfield in Hertfordshire so it’s really easy for car-free visitors to get there!
- How to get to Hatfield car-free? Follow Good Journey’s directions.
- When? 30 November – 31st December 2023.
- Tunnels of lights and ancient floodlit trees, jewel-bright colours, glittering effects and hot drinks to warm you up at the end of it. What are you waiting for? Wrap up warm and set off for some Christmas magic.