Christmas Lights in Liverpool 2026

Liverpool BID Company has confirmed its Christmas lights for 2026 and describes them as a citywide festive trail. This year they light Lime Street, Williamson Square, Church Street and its side streets, Bold Street, Hardman Street and Hope Street, as well as Castle Street, Derby Square, Old Hall Street and St Paul's Square. Myrtle Street joins the list for the first time in 2026.

The switch-on date for 2026 has not been announced yet. In 2025 every BID light in the city centre was on by 18 November, and the BID funded 85% of that year's display.

The red line on the map below is a 4.0 km walking route through the lit streets, about 53 minutes on foot without stops: from Lime Street station by Williamson Square to the tree at Liverpool ONE, then along Church Street, Bold Street, Hardman Street and Hope Street to Liverpool Cathedral. It starts next to St George's Plateau, where the Liverpool Christmas Market runs from 21 November 2026 to 3 January 2027; its opening times are in the guide to the Christmas Markets in Liverpool.

Photo (December 2019): Christmas lights on Bold Street by Rodhullandemu (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Liverpool ONE, the shopping district at 5 Wall Street, adds new Christmas decorations from Friday 6 November 2026 to the city's Christmas lights scheme. The centrepiece is a 30 m walk-through Christmas tree at Paradise Place.

A canopy of light hangs over Peter's Lane and Keys Court, a curtain of light marks the Keys Court entrance on Church Street, and Peter's Square has a light drape with a giant suspended bauble. The bauble arch, the reindeer and the angel wings return from earlier seasons.

No switch-on ceremony has been announced. Two events are planned: the Christmas Toy Parade with Walk The Plank on Saturday 14 November 2026, and the first Wishmas day on Saturday 5 December.

Liverpool ONE is 0.8 km south-west of St George's Plateau, and the walking route on the map passes the tree at Paradise Place and the lit lanes around it.

Photo (December 2019): Light trees on South John Street, Liverpool ONE by Rodhullandemu (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Noel is a light and sound show inside Liverpool Cathedral, on St James Mount, from 27 November to 5 December 2026. Its makers, Luxmuralis, turn the cathedral into one of the world's largest interior light and sound installations. In the Nave, Byzantine-inspired projections tell the Nativity story to an original soundtrack with a new take on The First Noel; in the Well, projections of old decorations and toys play to a reworking of the Nutcracker Suite. Constellation, by Peter Walker, suspends thousands of paper stars carrying messages as a glowing sculpture.

The show runs from 16:30 to 21:00 each evening in timed slots and lasts about 40 minutes; visitors should be ready for the ticket check ten minutes before their slot. It is ticketed, and booking ahead is recommended for popular dates and times. A sensory show runs on Wednesday 2 December from 16:30 to 17:00. A lift reaches the Main Space, while the Well has step access only, with an accessible viewing point from the top. Only service dogs are admitted.

In 2025 the show was The Light Before Christmas: The Gift, the fourth year of Luxmuralis shows at the cathedral. The cathedral is the last stop of the walking route, 1.3 km south of St George's Plateau.

Photo (August 2016): Liverpool Cathedral at night by Veguiv (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Lanterns and Light, written Lanterns & Light by the zoo, is the evening light trail at Chester Zoo, 21.2 km south of Liverpool city centre, from Friday 13 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027. Tickets for the 2026 season are on sale.

New installations for 2026 include suspended glowing jellyfish, fibre-optic tunnels and floating, glistening feathers. They join the trail's cathedral of light, fire gardens and laser-lit trees, and the soundtrack partnership with Sony Music returns.

The trail is open from 16:30 to 20:00, and on selected dates a quiet hour starts at 16:00. The zoo is at Upton-by-Chester, Chester CH2 1EU, outside the Liverpool City Region, so the map shows it as an arrow on its edge with the distance. It is the furthest of the seven places on this page, and the only one in Cheshire.

Photo (June 2023): Flamingos at Chester Zoo by Mike Peel (CC BY-SA 4.0)