Oxford switches on its Christmas lights with the free Light Festival, 13 to 15 November 2026. First events listed, last year's programme and what is to come.

Oxford does not hold a single Christmas lights switch-on ceremony. It holds a free three-day Christmas Light Festival instead, and in 2026 that runs from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 November. The festival’s own site says: “Oxford’s Christmas Light Festival is back for 2026 from 13th-15th November”. The full programme has not been published.

The festival is led and funded by Oxford City Council with a partnership of cultural organisations, according to oxlightfest.com. The council’s own round-up of last year’s festival described it as “marking the switch on of the Christmas Lights”.

The quick answer

  • Dates: Friday 13 to Sunday 15 November 2026, across the city, free.
  • No single switch-on moment. Last year more than 40 events ran from Cutteslowe to Blackbird Leys.
  • The 2026 programme is not out yet. Last year’s was online by 8 November, a week before the festival.

Events already listed for 2026

The festival’s website has started updating individual event pages with 2026 dates, although its home page still says only “hold the dates”. Treat these as provisional until the programme is launched:

Event Date and time listed Where
Victorian Christmas Market Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 November; Friday and Saturday 10am to 7pm, Sunday 10am to 5pm Broad Street
Oxford Christmas Light Bus Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November Routes inside the ring road
Cutteslowe Light Trail Saturday 14 November, from 4pm Cutteslowe Park, OX2 8NP

All three are listed as free and fully accessible. The Victorian Christmas Market is run by LSD Promotions with the council; its own site still says only “We will be back in 2026”. The Christmas Light Bus is an open-top City Sightseeing bus covered in lights that tours the city; routes and times are published on the festival page nearer the date. The Cutteslowe Light Trail, from The North Wall Arts Centre and Cutteslowe Community Association, leads through the park at dusk past craft stalls, music, shadow theatre and the park railway.

The Victorian market is a separate, four-day event from the six-week Christmas market that opens on Broad Street a week later, on 21 November. Our Oxford Christmas market page covers that one.

What happened last year

The 2025 festival ran from 14 to 16 November. The council’s round-up published on 20 November 2025 said:

  • More than 40 events took place, “from Cutteslowe in the north to Blackbird Leys in the south”.
  • Events ran from 10am into the night across the three days, more than 170 hours in all.
  • More than 11,600 people visited events and 2,574 took part in workshops.
  • 282 artists and 44 organisations were involved. Storm Claudia hit the weekend.

The 2025 programme, from the festival’s archived What’s On 2025 page, included:

  • Lantern making and procession with Fusion Arts, Park End Street, on the Sunday: decorating at 3pm, then a lantern walk at 5pm around St Ebbes, St Thomas and Osney.
  • Creative Lights Festival: Brilliant Bugs at Rose Hill Community Centre: drop-in crafts, a free community meal and a parade.
  • Glow Gallery, Talking Gift Box Puppets and Flick and Natty at Pegasus Theatre, East Oxford.
  • Diwali Glow with OVADA, Saturday 5pm to 8pm: a diya procession with dhol players from Leiden Square in the Westgate to the OVADA warehouse on Osney Lane.
  • Leys in Light in Blackbird Leys, running into December.
  • Stories at the Story Museum, a family day at the Science Oxford Centre, Breakfast with Santa and the Down’s Syndrome Oxford Choir.

The city centre’s lights themselves come from Gala Lights. The council’s October 2025 announcement said the scheme mixes replica lanterns from the Covered Market with traditional twinkling lights.

Getting there

For Christmas in the city centre last year, the council asked visitors to come by bus, bike, on foot, by train or by Park and Ride. Check our parking in Oxford page if you are driving, and the roadworks and travel page for what is dug up that weekend.

What is still to be confirmed

  • The full 2026 programme, expected by early November. The 2025 programme page was first archived on 8 November 2025.
  • The Light Bus routes and times.
  • Whether the Fusion Arts lantern procession and Diwali Glow return. Their festival pages still show 2025 details.

We will update this page when the programme is out. For the rest of the season, see our Christmas market, pantomime, Santa’s grottos and Santa trains and fireworks pages.

Sources: Oxford’s Christmas Light Festival and its event pages; Oxford City Council news, 20 November 2025; Christmas in Oxford 2025; Oxford City Council news, 22 October 2025; Oxford Victorian Christmas Market. All checked 25 September 2026.