Hyde Park Winter Wonderland
Each year, Hyde Park gets transformed from pretty park to Winter Wonderland. The annual favourite returns in 2024 for its seventeenth year, bringing a sleigh-load of festive fun with it. As you make your way around the space, you’ll find fairground rides, a child-friendly Santa Land (including Santa’s Grotto, where presents may be waiting) and traditional Christmas markets where you’ll be able to buy gifts for all your loved ones.
Other highlights include circuses and, of course, the biggest outdoor ice rink in the UK. It surrounds the Victorian bandstand and is lit up by more than 100,000 lights – if that doesn’t get you feeling festival, nothing will, especially as your ears will be full of Christmas tunes as you glide around the ice. There’s also the Real Ice Slide and ice scultpting workshops, so get ready to get frosty. Warm yourself up later with frothing steins at the German-style Bavarian Village.
The usual line-up of rollercoasters and fairground rides is sure to keep thrill-seekers happy. A good alternative for those who prefer to stay on solid ground is the selection of themed bars with real fires, except for the Bar Ice (for obvious structural reasons), where even the glasses you drink from are made of ice.
If you’re skating, be aware that while there’s no minimum age for skaters, under-12s must be accompanied by someone 16 or over and the smallest skates
