Travel Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for road warriors and seasoned travelers. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I would like to present to my sister a journey to London. I found an economic flight around mid-December.
I have two questions:
As a native Londoner:
The weather in the UK is notoriously variable, so the only way to know for sure is to check nearer the time. But it's likely to be around freezing, maybe as low as -10C or as high as +10C. I would certainly bring some warm clothes. Snow is possible, but doesn't happen every year. If the weather is very cold or snowy, prepare for potential public transport delays.
London is normally dressed up for Christmas, yes. You should find Piccadilly Circus/Oxford Street in particular will have Christmas decorations up. Depending on how close it is to Christmas, prepare for potential crowding in some popular tourist areas (e.g. Oxford Street is often busy).
London has a lovely atmosphere around Christmas, though. Hope you enjoy your trip! Like all enormous cities, plenty will be happening. Time Out is a good place to look for events / restaurants / etc.
There is normally a 'winter wonderland' in Hyde park with fairground rides and stalls:
The South Bank normally has a German style Christmas market.
There is also normally a couple of outdoor ice rinks one of which is at Somerset house which is very pretty.
If you are here for Christmas Day there is no public transport. And a reduced service normally on the 26th December.
Partial answer:
Arguably the best way to get non-subjective weather information is to use the actual numbers. A number of websites have records from many years gone by, one such site is Weather Underground.
There you can see the weather for all of December 2011, or why not December 2010. From my own quick look it seems that the temperature during day time is between 0 and 10 degrees C. And a rather high humidity, so wind chills should be taken in to consideration.
Good luck and have a great journey!
EDIT: I would assume from what I've heard that there are indeed lots of Christmas decorations about in London. But I've never been there myself.
While the other answers tell you what temperatures you can expect, as a Londoner I think it is important to prepare for possible continuous rain, especially if you plan to be out in the open a lot.
Also, while it may snow, it is very rare for it to settle on the ground in central London.
From my observations, Italian and other Southern European tourists often wear quilted "puffa" coats which are great in dry or snowy cold conditions, but are rarely waterproof (I own one too!).
I'd advise a decent waterproof jacket with a hood and reasonably waterproof shoes for puddles. An umbrella is an option, but I find them inconvenient and tend to lose them.
