Ice skating in London is one of those rare things that is exactly as good as the photographs suggest, provided you skate at the right rink at the right hour and you know which rinks are not running. This winter six festive outdoor rinks are open, from Leicester Square on 31 October through to Somerset House closing on 10 January, and two of the most famous (the Natural History Museum and Canary Wharf) are not open at all. This guide is for visitors planning a trip between November and early January who want the dates, the real prices, the session to book and the honest verdict on which rink suits which kind of traveller.
The quick answer
- Season: 31 October 2026 to 10 January 2027, though most rinks close on 3 January and all close on Christmas Day.
- Price: roughly £14.50 to £28.50 per adult for a 45 minute session, with skate hire usually included. Children from about £9.50.
- Not running this year: the Natural History Museum rink (closed permanently) and Ice Rink Canary Wharf (taking the season off).
- Best all round: Skate at Somerset House, 11 November to 10 January, five minutes from Temple station.
- Book by: early October for December weekends. Weekday mornings cost a third less and stay available far longer.
Which London ice rinks are actually open this winter?
Start here, because two of the rinks you will find at the top of most Google results are not happening. The Natural History Museum rink has closed for good. After sixteen seasons, the museum has turned those five acres of garden into a permanent urban wildlife space, and it says so plainly on its own website. And Ice Rink Canary Wharf is taking the 2026 season off. Their own homepage confirms it: the rink will not be operating this year. Plenty of listicles have not caught up. Do not book a hotel in Canary Wharf or South Kensington expecting to skate downstairs.
Here is what is confirmed and running, in the order the rinks open. Prices are per person for a 45 minute session with skate hire included, unless noted, and they swing with demand: weekday mornings sit at the bottom of each range, Saturday evenings in December at the top.
| Rink | Season | Adult | Child |
| Skate Leicester Square | 31 Oct to early Jan | £14.50 | £9.50 |
| Glide, Battersea Power Station | 6 Nov to 3 Jan | £19.38 to £22.80 | £11.98 to £14.82 |
| Skate at Somerset House | 11 Nov to 10 Jan | £15 to £28.50 | from £11 |
| Queen’s House, Greenwich | 18 Nov to 3 Jan | £13.50 to £21.60 | £9 to £18 |
| Hyde Park Winter Wonderland | 19 Nov to 3 Jan | cheapest of the outdoor rinks | see our full guide |
| Hampton Court Palace | 20 Nov to 3 Jan | £19 to £21 | £14 to £15.50 |
All six close on Christmas Day. Somerset House is the only one that runs into the second week of January, which makes it the safety net if your trip lands awkwardly after New Year. For everything else festive happening around these dates, our Christmas in London guide maps the markets and the lights.
Clara’s tip: the Winter Wonderland rink is the cheapest ice in central London, and it is also the busiest, because entry to the park itself is free and thousands of people are already standing next to it. If your priority is skating rather than atmosphere, pay more elsewhere. If your priority is one big festive evening, the park does that better than anywhere. We have broken the whole thing down in our Winter Wonderland guide.
Skate at Somerset House: the one everyone means
When a Londoner says “the ice rink”, they mean this one. A rectangle of ice laid in the courtyard of an eighteenth century neoclassical palace on the Strand, with a very tall Christmas tree in the middle and the Thames a two minute walk behind you. It is the most photographed rink in Britain and it deserves the reputation.
The 2026/27 season runs 11 November 2026 to 10 January 2027. Sessions last 45 minutes and start on the hour from 9am, with the last session going on at 10pm. Adult tickets start at £15 and climb to £28.50 at peak times. Children aged 12 and under start at £11. Skate hire is included in every ticket, in sizes from a child’s 6 (roughly a two year old) up to an adult 15, and you are welcome to bring your own boots if they are proper ice skates.
Two discounts most visitors miss. A 10 percent family discount applies automatically at checkout, so you do not need a code. And there is a 20 percent concession on selected sessions for students, pension holders, NHS staff and people receiving Universal Credit or PIP, which many overseas students qualify for with a valid card.
Beyond the standard session, Somerset House runs Skate Lates (DJ sets on the ice after dark, a genuinely good night out and not a children’s event), adult beginner lessons, a kids’ club for ages 6 to 12, and a K-Pop party on 23 November with the Korean Cultural Centre. Accessibility is unusually well handled: wheelchair users can join general sessions or book dedicated wheelchair sessions, and relaxed sessions run with reduced capacity and lower music for neurodivergent skaters.
Getting there: Temple is the closest Tube station, about five minutes on foot, with Covent Garden, Embankment and Charing Cross all within ten. Your exhibition access and the pop up shop come with the rink ticket, which is a nicer deal than it sounds on a wet evening.
Clara’s tip: presale opened at 10am on Friday 25 September for people who registered in advance, and the general public sale had not been announced when we checked. Register your email now even if your dates are not firm. Somerset House peak weekend slots in December vanish in hours, and there is no walk up queue to rescue you.
Book the rest of your festive evening
London Christmas Lights Tour by Vintage Double-Decker Bus
A restored fifty year old open bus that runs after dark past the Oxford Street and Regent Street light displays, with live commentary and views of Parliament, Trafalgar Square and Harrods. The natural thing to do after a late afternoon skate, because you stay warm and the lights are at their best from the top deck.
London Tootbus Christmas Lights Tour
A shorter, one hour non stop illuminated bus loop departing from Coventry Street, two minutes from Skate Leicester Square. Live English commentary plus audio guides in ten languages, onboard wifi and a restroom, which matters with children. Pair it with a 5pm Leicester Square session.
Hampton Court Palace tickets
Palace admission is not included with the Hampton Court rink ticket, so if you are making the trip out to zone 6 you want both. The entry ticket covers the state apartments, Henry VIII’s kitchens, the gardens and the famous maze, with an audio guide in English and nine other languages. Buy it before you travel and skate afterwards.
Royal Observatory Greenwich tickets
The sensible companion to the Queen’s House rink, which sits at the bottom of the same park. Stand on the Prime Meridian with one foot in each hemisphere, then walk downhill to your skate session. The Royal Museums Greenwich Day Pass on the same page adds the Cutty Sark if you want a full Greenwich day.
Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you book, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never decides what we recommend.
The palace rinks: Hampton Court and the Queen’s House
These two are the reason to get out of zone 1, and they are the two that Americans and Canadians tend to love most, because there is no equivalent at home. You are skating in front of buildings that predate your country.
Hampton Court Palace runs 20 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, closed Christmas Day, with the first session at 10:00 and the last at 20:00. Adults are around £19 to £21 and children £14 to £15.50. Historic Royal Palaces members get 10 percent off. Reduced capacity sessions run from 10:00 every day with static lighting and softer music, which is the single best option in London if you are bringing a nervous four year old or anyone sensitive to noise.
The catch that catches everyone: palace admission is a separate ticket. The rink sits outside the walls. If you want Henry VIII’s kitchens and the maze as well, buy both, allow four hours, and do the palace first while you still have daylight and dry socks.
Getting there is easier than the distance suggests. Trains leave London Waterloo for Hampton Court every 30 minutes, the station is in zone 6 so your Oyster or contactless card works the whole way, and the palace is a five minute walk from the platform across the bridge.
The Queen’s House ice rink in Greenwich runs 18 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. Adults are roughly £13.50 to £21.60 and children £9 to £18, with family tickets (one adult plus three children, or two adults plus two) at about £55 to £59. Sessions are 45 minutes, the first at 10am and the last at 8pm. Students pay around £10 with valid ID, and carers go free when booked at the box office.
What makes Greenwich worth the DLR ride is the setting: you are on the lawn of a UNESCO World Heritage site, with the Old Royal Naval College on one side and the Royal Observatory on the hill above. Skate at 4pm, watch the sun go down behind Canary Wharf at about ten to four in December, then walk five minutes to the Cutty Sark and the covered market.
Glide at Battersea and Skate Leicester Square: the easy wins
Glide at Battersea Power Station is the newest of the big rinks and the one with the most ice. It runs 6 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, closed Christmas Day, with up to 15 sessions a day from 9am to 10pm and an extended skate option that can stretch to nearly four hours if you genuinely want to be out there that long. Adults are about £19.38 to £22.80, children £11.98 to £14.82. There is a vintage fairground, a 30 foot tree and river views, and the whole thing sits beside a restored 1930s power station that is now a shopping centre, which is a very London sentence.
Battersea Power Station has its own zone 1 Tube station on the Northern line, opened in 2021, so you are about fifteen minutes from Leicester Square. For visitors this is the most frictionless of the outdoor rinks: fast to reach, lots of session slots, and cafes and loos indoors when the weather turns.
Skate Leicester Square is the opposite proposition: small, circular, right in the theatre district, open earliest (from 31 October) and cheapest of the proper standalone rinks at about £14.50 adult, £9.50 child and £40 for a family. Sessions start every 15 minutes from 10:15am to 9:15pm, which means it is the one rink where turning up on spec has a decent chance of working. A Christmas market and a bar sit alongside it, and ticket sales support The Brain Tumour Charity.
Clara’s tip: Leicester Square is the right choice if you are already seeing a show. Book a 5pm session, skate for 45 minutes, and you are ten minutes’ walk from almost every stage door in the West End with time for a drink. Do not book it as a destination in its own right: it is a small rink in a very busy square.
London 4 Dummies
London 4 Dummies: the rink edition
- The queue is the real sport. Britain has one national pastime and it is standing patiently in a line. At the skate hire counter, do not drift toward the front, do not fan out, do not ask if this is the line. Find the end, join it, look mildly resigned. You will be adopted instantly.
- Your card is your ticket, your Tube pass and your everything. Tap the same contactless card or phone on the yellow reader going in and coming out. No ticket machine, no paper, no Oyster card needed. Zones 1 to 2 stop charging you after £8.90 in a day. Just do not switch between your card and your phone, or the cap quietly stops working.
- It gets dark at four o’clock and this is not a mistake. On 30 November the sun sets at 3:55pm. Not dusk, dark. Your first reaction will be that something has gone wrong with the day. It has not. This is why London puts fairy lights on absolutely everything from mid November, and it is why a 3pm skate session is the most beautiful one.
- Cold here is wet, not cold. It will be about 50F. You will think that is mild, and it is, right up until you have been standing still outdoors for forty minutes in damp air. The trick is layers you can shed and a jacket that is waterproof rather than thick. Save the parka for Toronto.
- Chips are fries. Crisps are chips. Nobody is confused but you. After skating you will want hot chips, which are fries, from a paper cone, with salt and vinegar. If you ask for chips and receive a crinkly bag of potato crisps, you have said the wrong word. Say chips, gesture at something hot, all will be well.
- The hot chocolate queue is longer than the skate queue. Every rink in London has one cafe, roughly twelve people in front of it, and a session that just ended releasing eighty skaters simultaneously. Send one person ahead five minutes before your session ends. This is the single most useful piece of advice in this article.
How much does ice skating in London really cost?
The ticket price is not the whole number. Here is what a family of four actually spends on a December Saturday at a mid priced rink, so you can plan honestly.
| What | Typical cost |
| Two adult peak tickets | £38 to £45 |
| Two child tickets | £24 to £30 |
| Booking fee (most rinks) | £1 to £3 per order |
| Skate aid for a small child | £5 to £8 where offered |
| Locker or bag drop | £1 to £3 |
| Four hot chocolates afterwards | £16 to £24 |
| Tube, zones 1 to 2, daily cap each | £8.90 |
Call it £110 to £150 for the outing. Three ways to cut that meaningfully. First, skate on a weekday morning: the same ice costs a third less before noon Monday to Thursday. Second, go in the second half of November rather than December, when peak pricing has not fully kicked in. Third, check the concession: students, over 60s and benefit recipients get real discounts at Somerset House and Greenwich, and nobody advertises them loudly.
On transport, use a contactless bank card or your phone and simply tap in and out. It works exactly like an Oyster card, and the daily cap for zones 1 to 2 is £8.90, with zones 1 to 6 (which covers Hampton Court) capped at £16.30. The weekly caps are £44.70 and £81.60. The only rule that matters: use the same card or device every single tap, or the cap will not apply.
When to book and which session to choose
Booking windows in London are earlier than visitors expect. Somerset House and Hampton Court sell their December weekend slots months ahead. The pattern that works:
- Book December weekends by early October. If you are reading this in autumn with fixed dates, book now. Nothing is gained by waiting, and the good slots do not come back.
- Book November weekdays two to three weeks out. There is usually availability and sometimes early bird pricing.
- For a January trip, Somerset House is your only outdoor option after the 3rd, and it runs to the 10th.
On timing within the day: the golden slot is the last hour of daylight, which in London in late November means roughly 3pm to 4pm, because the sun sets before 4pm and you get both the light and the lights. The first session of the morning gives you the emptiest ice and the best photographs without strangers in them. The 8pm and later sessions are adult territory and often have a DJ.
Avoid the 11am to 1pm block on weekends entirely. That is when every London family arrives, the ice is at capacity, and the queue for skate hire eats a third of your session.
Clara’s tip: arrive 30 to 40 minutes before your slot, not 10. Every rink in this guide requires you to queue for boots, lace them properly and stow your bag, and none of that comes out of the operator’s clock. It comes out of your 45 minutes. The single most common complaint in rink reviews is people who turned up on time and skated for 25 minutes.
Indoor rinks that skate all year and cost half as much
If the festive rinks are sold out, or you are visiting in February, or you simply want to skate for an hour without the pageantry, London has four permanent indoor rinks. They are cheaper, less crowded, and considerably better ice.
| Rink | Where | Adult | Notes |
| Alexandra Palace | North London, N22 | £11.75 to £12.75 | Under 12s £10.50 to £11.50, festive decor in December |
| QUEENS Skate Dine Bowl | Queensway, W2 | £8 Mon and Tue | £12.75 to £13.75 other days, bowling and food too |
| Lee Valley Ice Centre | Leyton, E10 | £15 | Two Olympic sized rinks, skate hire £3 |
| Streatham Ice Arena | Streatham, SW16 | £10.75 | Children £10.15, under 5s £1.60 |
QUEENS is the one to know if you are staying in central London. It is a two minute walk from Bayswater and Queensway stations, it has been a rink in one form or another since the 1930s, and it combines ice, bowling and a diner under one roof, which is a rainy Tuesday solved. Lee Valley reopened in 2024 with two full sized rinks and is where actual figure skaters train, so expect to be outclassed by nine year olds.
Alexandra Palace is worth the trip for the building alone, a vast Victorian pleasure palace on a hill with one of the best free views in London from its terrace. Combine the rink with the view and you have a half day that costs almost nothing, which fits neatly alongside our other things to do in London with kids.
What to wear, and what actually happens at the rink
London in November and December is not cold in the way Chicago or Toronto is cold. Daytime highs run around 13C (56F) at the start of November, falling to about 10C (50F) by the end, with overnight lows near 6C (42F). It rarely freezes. What it does is rain, roughly two inches across the month, and get dark absurdly early: sunset is 4:33pm on 1 November and 3:55pm on 30 November.
That combination (mild, wet, dark) is what to dress for, and it is different from dressing for an outdoor rink back home.
- Gloves are not optional. Not for warmth, for your hands when you fall on ice that other people have just skated over. Thin ones are fine. Every rink sells them at a markup.
- Thick socks, not two pairs of thin ones. Hire boots are stiff and two pairs bunch and blister.
- Leave the long scarf and the puffy coat. You will be warm within five minutes and a trailing scarf is a genuine hazard. A fitted jacket beats a parka.
- Trousers, not a skirt or shorts. You will sit down on wet ice at some point, and so will everyone.
- A small bag only. Lockers are limited and sometimes charged.
At the rink itself: you show your ticket, queue for boots, hand over your shoes or stow them, lace up (tight at the ankle, looser at the toe), and go. Most rinks offer skate aids, plastic penguins or seals that small children push around, usually for a few pounds and usually limited in number, so ask at the gate the moment you arrive rather than after the session starts. Marshals in high visibility jackets circulate on the ice and will help anyone who is struggling. There is no shame whatsoever in holding the barrier for the full 45 minutes: on a London rink in December, about a fifth of the people out there are doing exactly that.
Afterwards, everything is better with something warm. Somerset House and Battersea both have decent cafes on site. If you want to make a proper afternoon of it, book a festive afternoon tea for an hour after your session, allowing time to get your own shoes back on and your circulation restarted.
Visiting from abroad? What to know
🇺🇸🇨🇦 From the US and Canada
You will need a UK ETA, not a visa, and it costs £20 and covers trips of up to six months. Apply before you book anything else. London is five hours ahead of New York and eight ahead of Los Angeles, so plan your first rink session for the afternoon rather than the morning, when jet lag hits hardest. Expect daytime highs around 56F in early November falling to 50F by December, which is milder than most of the northern US but considerably damper, so waterproof beats thick. Tipping is not expected at rinks, cafes or on the Tube, and restaurant bills usually include a 12.5 percent service charge already. Skate prices here are per 45 minute session, not per day, which surprises people used to Rockefeller Center style pricing.
🌎 From Latin America
Check GOV.UK for your specific nationality before you book: Mexican and Brazilian citizens currently need a UK ETA rather than a visa, at £20, but requirements differ by country and it is worth confirming on the official site rather than a blog. London runs three to five hours ahead of most of Latin America depending on your city and the time of year. The cold is the real adjustment: around 10C in daytime, but wet and windy, and dark by 4pm. Bring gloves, because buying them at the rink costs three times what they should. Card payment is universal, contactless works everywhere, and almost nowhere in London expects cash any more.
🇦🇺🇳🇿 From Australia and New Zealand
Australian and New Zealand citizens need a UK ETA rather than a visa, costing £20 and covering stays of up to six months, so sort it before you fly. London is ten to eleven hours behind Sydney and twelve to thirteen behind Auckland, which means your body will want to skate at 3am; book your first session for a late afternoon slot on day two rather than day one. Coming from a southern hemisphere summer, the shock is not the temperature (around 10C, which is a Melbourne winter) but the darkness: the sun is gone by 4pm. Rink tickets are for a 45 minute session with boots included, tipping is not expected, and your contactless card works on every bus, Tube and train without any local card.
🇪🇺 From Europe
EU and most European citizens now need a UK ETA before travelling, at £20, valid for stays of up to six months. This is the change most Europeans still miss, so check GOV.UK before you get to the airport. London is one hour behind most of continental Europe and on the same clock as Lisbon and Dublin. The weather will feel familiar if you are coming from Amsterdam or Paris, milder and wetter than Berlin or Vienna. Note that sterling is not the euro and nowhere accepts euros; use a contactless card and you will never touch cash. Skating here is more expensive than a municipal rink at home, because these are temporary commercial rinks in landmark settings rather than public facilities.
Where to stay if skating is the plan
One Aldwych
Directly across the road from Somerset House, which is the entire argument. You can walk from your room to the ice in under three minutes, which in December with children is worth more than any amenity. The West End theatres are a five minute walk the other way.
Strand Palace
A large, reliable 1909 hotel a couple of minutes from Somerset House and Covent Garden, at a fraction of the luxury price for the same postcode. Good for families who want central London walkability without a central London suite budget.
art’otel London Battersea Power Station
Inside the Battersea Power Station development, so the Glide rink, the shops, the cafes and a zone 1 Northern line station are all downstairs. The best base if Glide is your rink of choice, and a genuinely striking building.
The Z Hotel Covent Garden
Small, smart, deliberately compact rooms in the middle of the theatre district, walkable to both Somerset House and Skate Leicester Square. You are paying for location rather than square footage, which is the right trade when you plan to be out on the ice.
Before you fly: the essentials
Keep planning your trip
EnjoyChristmas in London 2026: Markets, Lights & Things to Do
EnjoyHyde Park Winter Wonderland 2026: Dates, Tickets and Insider Tips
See20 Things to Do in London with Kids 2026 (Family Guide)
TasteThe Best Afternoon Tea in London for 2026
Stay21 Amazing Neighborhoods to Stay in London: Friendly Guide
GoDo Americans Need a Visa for London? UK ETA Explained (2026)Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to book London ice rinks in advance?
For Somerset House, Hampton Court, Greenwich and Battersea, yes, and well in advance for December weekends. These rinks sell timed sessions and rarely have walk up capacity. Skate Leicester Square, with sessions starting every 15 minutes, is the one place where arriving on spec has a reasonable chance of working.
Is skate hire included in the ticket price?
At Somerset House it is included in every ticket. Most of the other festive rinks also include boots in the headline price, but always check the specific session you are booking, because some operators list hire separately. At the year round indoor rinks, Lee Valley charges about £3 for hire on top of the session.
Which London ice rink is best for young children?
Hampton Court Palace, specifically its reduced capacity sessions that run from 10:00 daily with static lighting and softer music. Fewer people on the ice means fewer collisions. The Queen’s House in Greenwich also does relaxed sessions, and both rinks offer skate aids for children to push. Avoid weekend midday slots anywhere.
Is the Natural History Museum ice rink open this year?
No, and it will not reopen. After sixteen seasons the museum has permanently closed the rink and converted those gardens into an urban wildlife area. Many travel articles still list it, which is why people arrive in South Kensington confused. Ice Rink Canary Wharf is also not running this season.
How long is a session and how long should I allow in total?
Sessions are 45 minutes almost everywhere. Allow two hours door to door: 30 to 40 minutes before your slot for the boot queue and lacing, 45 minutes on the ice, and 20 minutes afterwards to change and warm up. Turning up at your start time will cost you a third of your skate.
Can you ice skate in London in February or March?
Not outdoors. Every festive rink has packed up by 10 January at the latest. The indoor rinks run all year: Alexandra Palace, QUEENS on Queensway, Lee Valley in Leyton and Streatham Ice Arena. They are cheaper, quieter and have better ice, they just do not come with a Christmas tree.
About the Author
Sources and fact-check (8)
- Skate at Somerset House, times, tickets and FAQs
- Hampton Court Palace ice rink, Historic Royal Palaces
- Natural History Museum Ice Rink, closure notice
- Ice Rink Canary Wharf, 2026 season notice
- Visit London, best ice skating rinks in London
- Time Out London, ice skating in London
- Transport for London, adult pay as you go fares 2026
- GOV.UK, get an electronic travel authorisation
Clara Whitby is Welcome2London’s AI travel curator, known to readers as The Londonologist. She was created by our editorial team to help first time visitors plan London and the rest of the UK with confidence: where to stay, how to get around, what is worth your money and what you can happily skip. Every guide she presents is researched from official sources and checked by the Welcome2London team before it goes live.
London, next two weeks
-
Theatre Fri 9 Oct, 13:00Buy tickets for Stranger Things: The First ShadowStranger Things: The First Shadow
Phoenix Theatre WC2H, London
See prices Buy tickets -
Theatre Fri 9 Oct, 14:00Buy tickets for Shakespeare's Globe, Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespeare's Globe, Much Ado About Nothing
Globe Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe SE1, London
See prices Buy tickets -
Concerts Fri 9 Oct, 18:00Buy tickets for Ultimate Ozzy UK
Ultimate Ozzy UK
O2 Academy2 Islington N1, London
See prices Buy tickets
Ticket links are affiliate links. They cost you nothing extra and they keep this site free.
