Every winter, London sprouts a crop of temporary ice rinks in some of its most photogenic spots, and Secret London has rounded up the seasonal rinks returning across the city this year.
The headline act is usually Somerset House on the Strand, where skaters circle a courtyard framed by an 18th-century neoclassical building and a towering Christmas tree. Sessions there tend to sell out on weekend evenings, so booking ahead is wise. Over in South Kensington, the Natural History Museum puts a rink against one of the city's grandest Victorian facades — you can pair a skate with the museum's free galleries in the same trip.
Hampton Court Palace runs one of the most scenic options, letting you glide in the shadow of Henry VIII's Tudor palace on the edge of southwest London. Elsewhere, Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park packs its rink into a full-scale festive funfair with markets, rides and a giant wheel, while Canary Wharf offers a slicker, quieter option for east Londoners. Alexandra Palace in the north is worth flagging too: it's one of the few year-round rinks in the city, so if you miss the seasonal window you can still skate there.
Most seasonal rinks open from late November through early January, with tickets typically in the £10–£20 range depending on the venue and time slot. Off-peak weekday sessions are cheaper and noticeably less crowded than weekend evenings, which draw big post-work crowds. Expect a time-limited session — usually around 45 minutes to an hour — and note that skate hire is often included but gloves are usually required for safety.
Practical tips: dress warm, because even indoor-feeling rinks here are genuinely outdoors, and book online to avoid disappointment at the bigger venues. If you're visiting with kids, check minimum age and accompanying-adult rules at each rink, as they vary. And since these rinks are temporary, dates shift slightly each year — check the venue's site before locking in travel plans.
For a visitor, this is one of the easiest ways to add a festive, very London moment to a winter trip: an hour on the ice, a mulled wine nearby, and you've done a proper December evening without spending much.