Black cab Christmas lights tours run after dark under the West End displays, for about seven weeks between the November switch-on and early January. A glass-roofed cab is on offer for looking straight up at the lights, rather than craning at a window.
Two and a half hours after dark with a driver who also holds a guiding badge, and hotel pickup and drop-off in central London. Photo and refreshment stops are built into the run.
From $486 per group, up to 6
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Three hours under Oxford Street, Regent Street, Bond Street and Carnaby Street in a cab with a panoramic glass roof, finishing at a different address if you want it.
From $473 per group, up to 6
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Two and a half to three hours after dark, driven between the displays, with the cab stopping wherever a photograph is worth getting out for. It exists for about seven weeks a year, between the November switch-on and the first days of January, and outside that window neither of these tours runs.
The route is the streets rather than a list of attractions: Oxford Street, Regent Street, Bond Street, Carnaby Street, and on one of them Mayfair, Belgravia, Marylebone and Covent Garden as well. Reviewers add Battersea Power Station, Chelsea, the King's Road and Elizabeth Street.
The displays are overhead, strung across the street. One of these tours runs a cab with a panoramic glass roof, which is not a marketing line here: it is the difference between craning at a window and simply looking up.
London is dark by about four in the afternoon in December. A walking tour of the lights is two hours outdoors in a British winter; this one is two and a half hours in a heated vehicle with the doors opening when you choose.
Oxford Street to Covent Garden to Belgravia is a long walk in the cold and a slow journey by any other means, because December traffic in the West End is the worst of the year. A driver who knows the back routes is the whole product.
Both tours build photo stops in and one adds coffee and comfort breaks. Reviews describe drivers rearranging the run when a street was blocked and moving the pickup so that older travellers did not have to cross town.
Walking the West End displays is free, and it is a fair alternative for some people. Here is where the line falls.
| A lights tour by cab | Walking them yourself | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $473 to $486 for the whole cab | Nothing |
| Covers | Four to eight streets, plus Mayfair and Belgravia | Whatever you can walk in an evening |
| Comfort | Heated, seated, doors on demand | Two hours outdoors in December |
| Commentary | A licensed driver, and on one a badged guide | None |
| With children | Straightforward | Hard work after an hour |
| Photographs | Stops chosen by somebody who does this weekly | Wherever you happen to be |
| Suits | Families, groups, and anybody who feels the cold | Couples with an evening spare |
The tipping point is children and distance. If you want Oxford Street and nothing else, walk it. If you want the displays across the West End in one evening with a five-year-old, the cab is not a luxury.
Pick your evening before December does it for you.
Check AvailabilityYou get the cab and its driver after dark, hotel pickup and drop-off in central London, photo stops throughout, and on one of them coffee and comfort breaks. One route is guided by a driver who also holds a Blue Badge, City of London, City of Westminster or Clerkenwell and Islington guiding badge.
You don't get food or hot drinks in the fare, any entrance fee, or a tip included. One route charges extra for a pickup outside central London and names Heathrow and Gatwick specifically; on the other you are welcome to bring your own drinks and snacks aboard.
Season. Late November to the first days of January, and no longer. The switch-on dates move each year, street by street.
Book in October. The evening slots go first and December has no slack in it.
Time of evening. An early slot if you have children, because the displays are lit well before bedtime and the streets are quieter before seven.
Price band. $473 to $486, for the whole cab up to six. At six travellers that is about $80 each for the evening.
Anybody visiting outside the season. These two do not run from January to November. What does run all year is on the sightseeing page, and the month-by-month page sets out what each month gives you.
Anybody who wants to shop. This is a driving tour with photo stops, not a retail evening. The stops are for pictures.
Couples with a free evening and warm coats. Walk Oxford Street and Regent Street yourselves; it is free and it is lovely.
The private black cab tours of London and every other route are on Black Cab London Tours.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead on both lights runs listed here.
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