Hull switches on its Christmas lights on Thursday 19 November, a week earlier than 2025. The Christmas Festival and Santa's parade follow on 21 and 22 November.

Quick answer: Hull’s Christmas lights go on on Thursday 19 November 2026, with a small Christmas market on King Edward Street. Hull’s Christmas Festival follows on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November, with a market, rides, food and drink and live music on stage, and the Santa Arrival Parade leaves Hull New Theatre at 11.15am on Sunday 22 November. That is a week earlier than last year, when the big Christmas weekend fell on 29 and 30 November. The council has not yet published times for the switch-on or the festival, the name of whoever presses the button, or any road closures. We will add them here as they come out.

Is it on this year?

Yes. Visit Hull, the city council’s tourism service, has published the 2026 dates on its Christmas in Hull page:

Date Event What is confirmed
Thursday 19 November Christmas Light Switch-On Date; a small Christmas market on King Edward Street
Friday 20 November Young Traders Market Date; young entrepreneurs selling gifts and festive treats
Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November Hull’s Christmas Festival Dates; a Christmas market, rides, food and drink and live entertainment on stage
Sunday 22 November Santa Arrival Parade Leaves Hull New Theatre at 11.15am
Saturday 28 November Hull Minster Victorian Christmas Market Date and venue

Still to come: the switch-on time and line-up, festival opening hours, the stage programme, where the stalls and rides will stand, and any road closures. Hull City Council has not issued a press release about Christmas yet; last year the full weekend programme appeared on 7 November and the stage line-up on 26 November.

The lights switch-on: Thursday 19 November

Visit Hull says the celebrations begin on 19 November with the switch-on, “bringing festive sparkle to the city centre, alongside a small Christmas market on King Edward Street”. No time has been published. Visit Hull’s events list also carries a separate Christmas Lights Switch On Concert on the same evening at Jubilee Central, 62 King Edward Street, HU1 3SQ; the listing gives no time or price, and it is listed under the venue rather than as the council’s switch-on itself. (Visit Hull)

Hull’s Christmas Festival: 21 and 22 November

The council describes a Christmas market, “exciting rides”, food and drink, and live entertainment on stage throughout the weekend. Opening hours are not published yet.

For a guide to what to expect, last year’s equivalent weekend (Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 November 2025) ran 10am to 4pm on the Saturday and 11am to 4pm on the Sunday. The council said then that over 50 stalls lined Queen Victoria Square, King Edward Street and Trinity Square, with a children’s fairground swing ride, a main stage in Queen Victoria Square with a short pantomime, choirs and a DJ, a second stage inside Princes Quay, street entertainment on Whitefriargate and a Victorian Christmas market in Trinity Square and Hull Minster on the Saturday. (Hull City Council, 26 November 2025) Treat those details as last year’s pattern until the 2026 programme is out.

Santa Arrival Parade: Sunday 22 November, 11.15am

Princes Quay says Santa leaves Hull New Theatre at 11.15am on Sunday 22 November. This is the parade’s 20th year, run with Hull BID and Blank Canvas, with stilt walkers, a walking band, a choir, Disney characters and floats. The route has not been published. (Princes Quay)

More Christmas in Hull city centre

  • Hull Minster Victorian Christmas Market, Saturday 28 November, Hull Minster, South Church Side, HU1 2JJ. Visit Hull says it “returns again this year”; no times yet. (Visit Hull)
  • Supper with Santa, Tuesday 22 December, 4.30pm to 6.30pm, Iron Lilies, Princes Quay (Level 2). £20 a child, and up to two adults go free with each child. Supper for the children, Christmas activities and a meet and greet with Santa. (Princes Quay)
  • Pantomimes: Visit Hull lists The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan at Hull New Theatre (10 to 31 December), and The Wind in the Willows (27 November to 3 January) and Hansel and Gretel (10 December to 3 January) at Hull Truck Theatre. For pantos in the East Riding, see our pantomime page.

Getting there from the East Riding

Northern trains from Bridlington, Driffield, Beverley and Cottingham, and trains from Brough, run into Hull Paragon Interchange, a short walk from Queen Victoria Square. Last year Hull Trains and Visit Hull offered free travel into Hull from Doncaster, Selby, Howden and Brough on selected November and December services; that offer has not been announced for 2026.

If you are driving, expect the city centre car parks to fill on the festival weekend. Check our roadworks and travel page for closures on the way in, and our Christmas travel page for the rail timetable over the holiday. If you would rather stay in the East Riding, the Beverley Festival of Christmas is on Sunday 13 December (see parking in Beverley), and every other town’s date is on our Christmas lights switch-on page and Christmas markets page.

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