Hello and happy #TravelTuesday! Last week I shared my favorite things to do in my hometown of NYC during the holidays, which got me thinking a little bit about our London trip exactly a year ago to the day.

I never shared a London travel guide last year because my photos were all shot on an iPhone and honestly traveling so close to the holidays made it a little chaotic at the time. BUT now (because I’m super nostalgic everytime I look at my Timehop and Facebook Memories) couldn’t be a better time to share some of my favorite festive things that we did while in London last Christmas.

Since I don’t have many photos I’ll keep this as quick and easy as possible and share my top 5 holiday-centric things we did while in London. If you are interested in a more in-depth London travel guide, I’d love to share one! Just comment below and I promise I’ll get around to it in the new year!

ThePreppyMAG’s Top 5 Christmas Spots in London

1| Winter Wonderland. This is a Christmas-themed amusement park popped-up right in the middle of Hyde Park and it was one of our favorite parts of our trip. We went the night we arrived in London and it was the perfect way to kick-off our holiday-themed EuroTrip. The park is full of Christmas themed rides, games, food and drinks and is truly a dream come true. As soon as we arrived we grabbed a cup of spiked hot chocolate and took in all of the sights. We loved all of the different bars and restaurants tucked in every little corner, it seriously felt like we could explore the place for hours (and we did!). Other than ALL of the delicious food (We had raclette, a stuffed pretzel, a Yorkshire pudding, mini Nutella pancakes and so much more), our favorite part of the experience was a bar called Thor’s tucked in a back corner of the park. It is set up in a huge tent and when you walked inside you were transported to the coziest of bars. You can order anything from baileys hot chocolate, mulled wine, beer, etc. and everyone took their place around huge open fire pits to warm up. We loved sitting around the fire and meeting new people. It was hands-down our favorite part of the trip.

2|Sketch Christmas Tea. Of course, I heard a TON about Sketch before our trip and saw the all-pink venue splashed all across Instagram so I always knew it would be a stop along the way. What I didn’t know was how special and delicious their Christmas Tea was going to be. Whenever I go to Instagrammy places like Sketch, my expectations are always super low but I was SO pleasantly surprised. The tea and finger sandwiches were so yummy and surprisingly filling. I was absolutely expecting to have to grab a second meal afterward but I was wrong! During the holidays it is extra special because they have a choir that comes in and out of the room about every 30 minutes to sing Christmas carols and a champagne special that you just can’t pass up. This is a MUST-DO whenever you are in London, but especially during the holidays.

3|Carnaby Street. This is located in the SoHo area of London and is one of the most festive streets in the city. The street was decked out in holiday lights (perfect for all of the Instagrams!) and was absolutely adorable. In addition to the Christmas lights, there are a ton of shops for Christmas shopping and restaurants in the area to grab a quick bite.

4| Covent Gardens. Speaking of shopping, Covent Gardens was also a great spot to shop for my family right before the holidays. It is essentially an outside shopping mall full of London’s most popular stores. It’s also not far from some of the city’s best antique markets where we also did quite a bit of shopping for our families (they have amazing antique brooches, teacups, etc.). One of my favorite parts of the Gardens was the festive poinsettia displays they had all over. Perfect to grab the perfect, festive photo for the following year’s Christmas card.

5| Your Cozy Hotel. This one is kinda random, but given how cold it is in London during the holidays you will actually spend quite a bit of time in your hotel (we stayed at The Batty Langley) so it is important that you choose one that is festive around the holidays and has a cozy common area. The Batty Langley had three cozy common areas off the lobby that were decorated adorably for the holidays and were complete with a bar. When it got too cold to walk around, we loved coming back to the hotel to grab a drink, meet some new people who were also staying at our hotel and enjoy the warmth before heading up to bed. The Batty Langley is located in Shoreditch so it is a bit off the beaten path compared to some of the other well-known hotels and tourist spots, which made it that much cozier.

I can’t believe our trip to London was already a year ago! I’d honestly go back in a MINUTE! It was seriously incredible. Tom and I are always trying to try new spots but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t trying to sneak London back on the itinerary in 2020.