The Snowman™ Afternoon Tea Bus Tour is a 1-hour-15-minute sightseeing ride on a decorated double-decker, running from 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027 on the dates open in the booking calendar. It departs from the London Eye (Belvedere Road, SE1 7NA) at 12:00pm, 3:00pm and 6:00pm, and from Aldwych (outside The Waldorf, Bus Stop D) at 12:15pm, 3:15pm and 6:15pm. A full afternoon tea is served at your table and a souvenir mug is included. There is no live guide: the soundtrack is the music from The Snowman™ and Christmas carols. From £39 per adult, free cancellation up to 72 hours before.
Afternoon tea, but the room is moving
The idea is simple enough that it works on children and adults for opposite reasons. The tea is a real afternoon tea — sandwiches and wraps, mince pies, sultana scones with jam and clotted cream, cupcakes, snowball truffles — served at a table with a pot of tea, coffee or hot chocolate. What is different is that the table is on the top deck of a bus going past Big Ben.
There is no guide talking over it. The accompaniment is the score from The Snowman™ and a set of carols, which is why the tour works for small children who would not sit through a commentary, and why adults tend to describe it as the least effortful hour of their December.
View the afternoon tea menu
Choose the evening run if you want the lights
This matters more than the seating class, and it is easy to miss when booking. The three departures are not the same tour. The midday and mid-afternoon buses cover the same route in daylight: you get the landmarks, not the illuminations. Only the evening departure — 6:00pm from the London Eye, 6:15pm from Aldwych — runs after dark, when the Oxford Street and Regent Street lights are on.
12:00pm & 3:00pm — the daylight runs
Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus in daylight. The easier option with very young children, and the one where the photographs of the buildings come out best.
6:00pm — the illuminated run
The same route after dark, with the Christmas lights of Oxford Street and Regent Street lit. It is the departure that sells out first, and the reason most people book this tour.
What to settle before you book
Three conditions decide whether this tour is right for your group, and none of them is negotiable on the day. Children under 3 cannot travel, in any seat. Children aged 15 and under must be accompanied by a paying adult. And you choose the menu when you book: vegan and gluten-free must be booked at least 48 hours before departure — if you need one, book earlier.
Practical things worth knowing: there is no toilet on board for the 75 minutes, tables may be shared with other guests, and wheelchair users must sit in one of the fixed seats on the lower deck. Alcohol — Prosecco, mulled wine, a Snowball cocktail — must be added when you book; non-alcoholic upgrades such as the deluxe hot chocolate can be bought on the day.
The open-top and Singalong buses
Three of our tours cover the Christmas lights, and they are different products. The Christmas Lights Tour is open-top and panoramic, and the cheapest of the three. The Singalong Christmas Lights Tour is a closed-top bus where you eat mince pies and sing — but it does not admit under-5s. This one is the seated, unhurried version: a full tea at a table, and the youngest age limit of the three at 3 years.
