Silverstone Lap of Lights 2026 runs from Friday 11 to Thursday 31 December 2026 (closed Christmas Day). You drive your own car along a two-mile trail of lights on the British Grand Prix circuit after dark, through ten light installations, 7,000-plus lights and 35 laser shows, with tickets from £50 a car. Around it, Christmas at Silverstone adds Santa’s Garage in the F1 garages (until Christmas Eve), an ice rink overlooking the start-finish straight, curling, karting and the museum.
In short
- Dates: 11–31 December 2026, every day except Christmas Day. The last night is New Year’s Eve.
- Lap of Lights: from £50 per car (not per person), slots from 4.30pm, about 30 minutes behind the wheel; Silverstone suggests allowing an hour.
- Santa’s Garage: from £18 per child, one adult free with each child ticket, 11–24 December only, sessions from 1pm. It sold out in 2025.
- Also on: Ice Trak skating from £8.50, curling from £33, Kart Silverstone from £35 (ages 6+), Silverstone Museum from £24.
- Save: a Family Bundle (Lap of Lights + Ice Trak + Santa’s Garage) takes 10% off the total.
- Book: timed tickets at silverstone.co.uk.
What is the Silverstone Lap of Lights?
It is a Christmas light trail laid out on a Formula 1 track, and you drive it. Silverstone’s own line is that it is “the only festive experience in the world” where visitors can drive an F1 circuit after dark, and in its own marketing it calls itself the UK’s only Christmas light trail on a Formula One circuit. The press release that landed with us this week sums it up as Christmas lights, reimagined.
The route is a two-mile trail laid out around the Grand Prix circuit, with the famous corners and straights each dressed as a set piece. For 2026 Silverstone promises ten light installations, more than 7,000 lights and 35 lasers sweeping across the track, with sound and an interactive story for children along the way. You stay in the car throughout, which is the whole point in December: the heating stays on and nobody needs a hat.
Cars, vans and people carriers of up to eight passengers are all welcome. Motorbikes are not, for safety reasons, and the driver needs a valid, in-date licence. If you are coming in a minibus, Silverstone asks you to contact it before booking. It also says it has facilities for guests with accessibility needs; contact the team before you book if you need them.
Silverstone hasn’t published the 2026 route map yet (it says “coming soon”), but the press release promises Copse, one of the fastest corners on the circuit, lit up “like nothing you’ve seen before”, with laser beams across the night sky.
Lap of Lights 2026 tickets and prices
Every price Silverstone has published so far is a “from” price, so treat these as the lowest you will pay and check the price for your date and time before you set your heart on a slot.
| Experience | From | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Lap of Lights | £50 per car | A timed drive round the lit circuit; slots from 4.30pm |
| Santa’s Garage | £18 per child | 40-minute Elf Engineer experience, toy to take home, photo with Santa; one adult free per child ticket; 11–24 December, from 1pm |
| Ice Trak | £8.50 | Skating inside the F1 garages; standalone or with a lap |
| Curling | £33 | New for 2026; all ages, no experience needed |
| Kart Silverstone | £35 | Karting on the new circuit; ages 6+, 115cm minimum; 10% off with a Lap or Santa ticket |
| Silverstone Museum | £24 | Discounted for Lap of Lights and Santa’s Garage ticket holders |
What a family day actually costs
Take two adults and two children doing the three headline experiences at their lowest prices. The lap is £50 for the car. Santa’s Garage is £36 for two children, and because each child ticket carries a free adult, both parents go in at no extra cost. Ice Trak adds £34 at the lowest advertised £8.50 a head (assuming, as rinks usually do, that the price is per skater; adult and peak-time prices may be higher). That is £120, or £108 once the Family Bundle’s 10% comes off, before anyone buys a hot chocolate. Santa’s Garage, and so the bundle, stops on Christmas Eve.
The better-value route is the lap alone. Because it is priced per car, a people carrier of eight pays the same £50 as a couple in a hatchback: £6.25 each. Grandparents, cousins and the neighbours’ children all count.
| People in the car | Lap of Lights cost each, at £50 a car |
|---|---|
| 2 | £25 |
| 4 | £12.50 |
| 5 | £10 |
| 8 (people carrier) | £6.25 |
A people carrier of eight pays the same £50 as a couple in a hatchback.
Santa’s Garage: the grotto in the pit lane
Santa’s grotto this year sits in the Formula 1 garages, and the story is that his sleigh has made an unscheduled pit stop. Children sign up as “Future Elf Engineers”, help the elf mechanics give the sleigh its once-over in the Elf Toy Workshop, and each makes a toy to take home before a personal meeting with Santa at the chequered flag. The whole thing takes 40 minutes from the briefing to the goodbye.
It is the part of the event most likely to sell out: Silverstone says it did in 2025, so book early. It runs from 11 to 24 December only, with sessions from 1pm, so it pairs naturally with a lap once it’s dark. If the dates you want have gone, our guide to Santa’s grottos across the UK lists more than 270 alternatives by county, including quiet sessions.
Ice Trak, curling and the rest of the site
Ice Trak is the rink, built inside the F1 garages and dressed as a “North Pole training rink”. According to the press release, the spot was home to Lando Norris’s car during this summer’s British Grand Prix, and the rink overlooks the start-finish line. It can be booked on its own or alongside a lap or Santa ticket.
Curling is new for 2026, also on the ice in the garages, and pitched at all ages with no experience needed. It is the one activity here that works as well for a group of adults as for a family, which makes it a reasonable shout for an office outing.
Kart Silverstone is open throughout, on what Silverstone describes as a new world-class circuit, for drivers aged six and over and at least 115cm tall. The Silverstone Museum is open too, with a pop-up display of F1 cars, supercars and MotoGP bikes, and there are racing simulators, a Christmas shop in the garages and a festive food village selling mulled wine, luxury hot chocolate, bratwurst, turkey baps and loaded fries. Box Box Pizza is on site as well.
How to plan the day
The published start times do the planning for you. Santa’s Garage runs from 1pm, the lap from 4.30pm, and in mid-December the sun sets in Northamptonshire shortly before 4pm. So the natural shape of a visit is Santa in the afternoon, skating, curling or the museum while the light goes, food, then the lap as the finale.
- Book Santa first. It is the experience with the least availability, so fix that slot and build the rest around it.
- Book a lap slot, not only a date. Tickets are timed; the lap takes about 30 minutes but Silverstone suggests allowing an hour in total.
- Go early in the run if you can. The first week, 11–17 December, falls before most schools in England break up, and weekday evenings are likely to be quieter than weekends.
- Charge the phone, clean the windscreen. Every photo you take will be through glass.
- Know the route before you arrive. One 2025 reviewer took a wrong turn and had to restart; Silverstone’s map for 2026 is due shortly.
What’s new for 2026, and the dates that matter
| Experience | When |
|---|---|
| Lap of Lights, Ice Trak, curling, karting, museum | 11–31 December, closed Christmas Day |
| Santa’s Garage | 11–24 December only, sessions from 1pm |
| Curling | New for 2026 |
| Kart Silverstone | New circuit, open throughout |
The practical point is the split after Christmas. From 26 December Santa has gone, but the lap, Ice Trak, curling, karting and the museum carry on until New Year’s Eve, which makes the gap between Christmas and New Year a good moment for older children and adults who would rather skip the grotto.
Is the Silverstone Lap of Lights worth it?
On the numbers, plenty of people think so: Silverstone says more than 120,000 visitors came in 2025. The fairest view we can find is mixed rather than gushing. The family-travel site Mini Travellers enjoyed the day but felt the 2025 trail was shorter and less magical than in previous years, and that the Santa visit was rushed. The same review praised the rink, with plenty of seating for spectators, and the food.
Our view: what you are paying for is the novelty of the place. Driving Copse and Stowe under a laser show is something no other light trail in the country can offer, and for a family with a motorsport fan in it, that is the whole appeal. If nobody in the car cares that it is Silverstone, a walk-through trail nearer home may give you more lights for your money. The £50-a-car lap on its own is the lowest-risk way to find out which camp you are in.
Getting there, and staying over
Silverstone Circuit is at Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN, off the A43 between Towcester and Brackley; the circuit itself straddles the Northamptonshire–Buckinghamshire border. It is a wartime site: the track was laid out on the perimeter track and runways of RAF Silverstone, a former bomber-training airfield, and hosted the first round of the new Formula One World Championship in 1950. Since you need a car for the lap anyway, driving is the only sensible way to come.
To make a night of it, Escapade Silverstone, the hotel and restaurant overlooking the circuit, is running festive overnight packages, with 10% off for Lap of Lights and Santa’s Garage ticket holders.
More Christmas days out
- Christmas light trails 2026: every walk-through trail we could verify across the UK, from Kew to Longleat, with Silverstone as the only drive-through.
- Santa’s grottos 2026: where to meet Father Christmas across the UK, county by county.
- UK Christmas markets 2026: dates and opening times for this year’s markets.
- UK Christmas fairs 2026: craft and gift fairs worth the trip.
- Your December Christmas to-do list, for fitting a day out around everything else.
- How many days until Christmas? The live countdown.
Silverstone Lap of Lights: your questions answered
When is the Silverstone Lap of Lights 2026?
Friday 11 December to Thursday 31 December 2026, every day except Christmas Day. Lap slots start from 4.30pm.
How much are Lap of Lights tickets?
From £50 per car, whatever the number of passengers, up to eight in a people carrier. A Family Bundle with Ice Trak and Santa’s Garage saves 10%.
How long does the Lap of Lights take?
About 30 minutes of driving. Silverstone recommends allowing an hour in total.
Can you do the Lap of Lights on a motorbike?
No. Cars, vans and people carriers are welcome, but motorbikes are not allowed, for safety reasons. The driver needs a valid, in-date licence.
When does Santa’s Garage run?
From 11 to 24 December 2026, with sessions from 1pm. It does not run after Christmas Eve.
Do adults need a ticket for Santa’s Garage?
Each child ticket, from £18, includes one free adult. The experience lasts 40 minutes, and children make a toy to take home.
Can you ice skate at Silverstone without doing the lap?
Yes. Ice Trak, from £8.50, and curling, from £33, can be booked as standalone experiences as well as alongside a lap or Santa ticket.
By Linda Garrould · Published 26 September 2026 · Updated 26 September 2026. Prices and times from Silverstone’s published information and its press release of 23 September 2026; all prices are “from” prices, so check your date when booking. Photographs courtesy of Silverstone. Christmas Countdown has no commercial relationship with Silverstone.
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