Since 2007, the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland in London has become a more and more growing Christmas and winter tradition. You could describe it best as a mixture of Christmas market and holiday-inspired fair. In November 2023, I visited it the second time of my life – and did better by doing so on a Thursday – during the weekend, the Hyde Park area might be absolutely packed with people. Here is my review.

 

 

Winter Wonderland – Location & Admission

Winter Wonderland is located on the very East side of London’s Hyde Park. There are four entrances. The most popular ones among visitors are likely the Red and the Golden Entrance in the North, which you can both reach easiest from Marble Arch station (Central Line). In the South, there is Green Gate and Blue Gate. The closest public transport connections are Knightsbridge and Hyde Park Corner, both served by the Piccadilly Line. The attraction is so popular that it might over-crowd Underground Stations, so that Bond Street or Green Park are valid options.

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland opened in late November 2023 and closes at 1st January 2024. There is no operation at Christmas Day. This is roughly about the same time every year. Gates open at 10:00 and close at 22:00 – bars close at 21:45. Admission is split between off-pea, standard and peak, which is majorly afternoon weekend visits.

You have a time slot of two hours to enter the park, but can stay until park is closing. You should definitely pre-book your visit. Standard admission is 5 GBP, peak time 7.50 GBP. This is park admission only and neither includes rides or shows, nor drinks or food. If you purchase tickets or tokens of more than 25 GBP per person in advance, admission is free. You may not bring food or drinks, but empty bottles.

 

Winter Wonderland – Atmosphere

Winter Wonderland is split into different areas, which all comes with a different style. We used the Gold Gate for entering Winter Wonderland and went straight into the kisch Santaland. This is a bit of an American-style (better a bit too much than too less…) Christmas park with some classic rides. You may even buy an unlimited ride pass for the fair-alike attractions (25 GBP). Some other areas are named Thrill Zone (with some coasters and real action rides) or the cozy Christmas Markets, which is have 100 traditional wooden chalets on its own.  Winter Wonderland is huge – and if you really want to stroll trough it, having some rides and playing some arcades, you will be there a couple of hours.

 

Evening

Of course, at about 17:00 when the daylight is fading, Hyde Park Winter Wonderland spreads its real magic. The illumination is beautiful, I absolutely enjoyed it. You have to say that even on standard days, people start storming into the park now. When we left at about 19:00, there were long queues to get into the park – even though there were just some three hours left for the visit.

One of the areas which become especially crowded is the Bavarian Village, which comes with Octoberfest alike food and music. Even though it might feel stereotypical at first sight, it actually really nice there. In general, though, the illumination is great and leads to a memorable experience. You pay the majority of attractions by tokens (1 token is 1 GBP), which you can get at designated booths.

 

Winter Wonderland – Special Attractions

As said, the admission does not include any attraction. Some attractions can (and should) be explicitly pre-booked. One of them is the some ten minute ride with the Giant Wheel. You can either take a normal time slot ticket or take a fast pass and skip the lines. It was nice, but also not too cheap (11 GBP adult general / 16 GBP fast track), especially regarding it is a sponsored attraction. The overview of the park is great, you don’t have a that impressing view of the British capital, though – London Eye is still the local leader in it.

We also pre-booked sliding on a rubber tube down a real ice slide. The two-ride experience for 5 GBP was really fun. Some other key attractions are a real ice rink for skating (roughly 15 GBP per adult), an ice sculpting workshop and the Magical Ice Kingdom castle, which we had visited during our previous visit a few years earlier.

 

Winter Wonderland – Eat & Drink

Even though Mr. Bratwurst is a bit too present in the Bavarian Village, the range of different food items is massive. Typically, the restaurants are cashless. You have a huge range from typical Christmas Market food to burgers, Asian food and some really exotic options like a duck burger. Apart from German grilled sausage, Spanish churros seem to be the local favorite. It is absolutely sensible to compare the different vendors. Some offer a significantly better value for money. But finally, prices are rather high – and if you want to spare money at Winter Wonderland, you have to be really, really disciplined.

We also loved the different options of pubs and bars – apart from the beer tents already mentioned above.

 

Winter Wonderland – Shows / Entertainment

One thing I really loved about Hyde Park Winter Wonderland 2023 was that there is a lot of entertainment. Not only in the Bavarian Village, there are stages with musicians or small shows. There is even a Christmas song sing-a-long from time to time. That lead to a lot of atmosphere.

 

Zippo’s Circus

The large Circus tent in the North of the park hosts two shows. During the daytime, there is the family-friendly Zippos Circus, while Cirque Berserk is offering more action like motorcyclist driving in a metal ball. My wife and I went to the traditional circus alike Zippo’s Circus. Honestly, I did not expect that much, but the show was really great and even children stayed on their seats and enjoyed the different kinds of acrobatic and entertaining show acts. The show is about 45 minutes long (roughly 15 GBP adults, depending on the time, free seating). I especially enjoyed the acrobatic shows like an Ukrainian couple who did amazing rope acrobatics.

 

Winter Wonderland – Service

Hyde Park is fully covered by tiles, which worked very well in most of the areas. Only around the Gold Gate, there was a rather muddy area. There are several zones with a lot of toilets, which was very handy. You also have water refill stations. Unfortunately, there are not given on the park map. Some areas also offer mobile phone recharging.

 

Winter Wonderland – My View

Visiting Hyde Park Winter Wonderland is not a bargain at all. And it can be really, really packed. You should bear in mind that when you visit it. However, also compared to our previous visit, we were really impressed. The park is huge, the atmosphere is lovely, The organizational level is very good and you feel the year-long experience. You simply feel comfortable and have a great time once you passed one of the four gates. A lovely way to get into Christmas mood. I absolutely liked it.

 

Christmas-related Attractions

Here are all my Travel postings, which are related to Christmas:

 

Amusement Parks – More Postings

Here are all postings about Amusement Parks: