December 07-16, 2025
Double Occupancy: $6150 per person
Single Occupancy: $6650 per person
Airfare is not included.
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We invite you to join us for ten unforgettably festive days during the 2025 Christmas season. There is nowhere in the world quite like London at Christmastime. The city dons its best holiday attire and throws a Yuletide party all during the month of December—seasonal concerts, plays, markets, and exhibitions that spill out of theatres, churches, museums, and pubs right into the squares and streets. This is the city of Dickens, after all! So bundle up and join Jane and Tim as we revel together in sights, sounds, and tastes selected specially to dazzle and delight you—and get you back home with plenty of time to open presents around your own Christmas tree.
Filled with one-of-a-kind visits and experiences, this trip will leave you happily tired. It includes days exploring London as a group and some late nights of theatre performances, and the pace is brisk. We average 4-6 miles (approximately 10,000 steps) of walking and 100 stairs per day. Travel is by public transportation (included in the price of the trip), and participants should be able to board Tube trains and buses independently, though we will always lead the way in group activities. The group comes first, so participants who wish to travel by taxi must make their own independent arrangements and expect to pay about $600 extra.
Christmastime in England is considered a Level Two out of three physical ability levels on the Go Learn scale. Learn more about our .
We inaugurated Christmastime in England in 2023, and this, our second Yuletide adventure, is designed to appeal to all our wonderful Go Learn friends, old and new. Here are some of the events we’re planning now—because some need to be scheduled right away to guarantee reservations:
Important Note: This itinerary is provisional. Times and dates of events are subject to change.
We'll arrange your transportation from Heathrow Airport to The Rockwell, our charming boutique hotel in South Kensington—where complimentary breakfast is served every morning. After you're settled in, we'll bundle up and stroll along Regent’s Street, a glitzy shopping thoroughfare spangled for the festive season with some 300,000 holiday lights. Then we’ll head to a great restaurant, and while there, we’ll each draw the name of a fellow-traveler from a suitable receptacle and be issued a crisp £10 note, which will be the strictly enforced ceiling for a small Christmas gift, to be purchased at a Christmas market and bestowed at our Christmas Feast toward the end of the trip. All clear?
Hotel: The Rockwell opens a new window
Meal: D
After our culture and theatre chat, usually held upstairs in a private room at the King’s Head Pub around the corner from our hotel, we’ll attend a fabulous gallery. Free afternoon, and then we’ll get together in the evening for our first play.
Hotel: The Rockwell opens a new window
Meal: B
Activity Level: Moderate to Strenuous (lots of walking)
Today is all about Mr. Charles Dickens, author of, among other masterpieces, A Christmas Carol. We’ll visit his house, part of which is also a museum, for a private tour—and learn how he lived and worked and wrote. Did you know Dickens was also active in advocating social reform to benefit the poor? Makes sense for someone who did some of his growing up in a debtors’ prison. Talk about contrasts: our next stop is one of London’s exalted hotels for a really special treat: High Tea (it’s really a meal), Christmas style. That night we’ll make our way to the Old Vic Theatre to see their renowned version of A Christmas Carol. Each year some celebrated actor takes on the role of Scrooge. Can’t wait to find out who it will be in 2025!
Hotel: The Rockwell opens a new window
Meals: B, L
Activity Level: Moderate to Strenuous (lots of walking)
This is one of London’s lesser known museums, and it’s a jewel! Our brilliant artist and arts educator Kent Christensen will lead us to some specially curated masterpieces of painting and sculpture, as well as some surprises—as in, did anyone actually fight in this armor?! A visit to see the windows and mercantile gorgeousness of Fortnum & Mason store on Piccadilly is a must at this time of the year, so we’ll go pay homage. F&M’s various teas—black, green, white, and herbal—are world renowned. (Plum, Apple, & Cinnamon is my favorite seasonal infusion.) That night after a delicious dinner, we’ll attend a seasonal concert at beautiful Cadogan Hall.
Hotel: The Rockwell opens a new window
Meals: B, D
Activity Level: Moderate to Strenuous (lots of walking)
When we think of Christmas, do we think of Shakespeare? We should: “Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes/Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated,/This bird of dawning singeth all night long;/And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,/The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,/No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,/So hallow’d and so gracious is the time.” See? By special arrangement we’re going to have a private visit to Middle Temple Hall, the Elizabethan masterpiece where the Bard’s Twelfth Night premiered. And that’s also where we’ll have our theatre chat that day. Lunch at a great pub in the area, followed by a quick browse at the South Bank Christmas Market, and then a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre’s intimate Wanamaker Playhouse, the only candlelit theatre in London.
Hotel: The Rockwell opens a new window
Meals: B, L
Activity Level: Moderate to Strenuous (lots of walking)
Queen Elizabeth II called Buckingham Palace her “office,” but Windsor Castle her “home.” If you’ve never been, this is the time to experience this remarkable palimpsest of 700 years of royal history. If you have, it’s time for you to see it in its Christmas finery. We’ll skip the crowds by going with our own private guides just after the castle closes its doors to the public. Before that adventure we’ll have lunch together in a great Windsor eatery, and before that we’ve booked a private tour of St. George’s Chapel, a sacred gothic wonder where the late queen is interred with Prince Philip and other of the Windsor royal family.
Hotel: The Rockwell opens a new window
Meals: B, D
Activity Level: Moderate to Strenuous (lots of walking)
Our business today is to encounter two 19th Century landscape artists who passionately loved their native England—and painted it so differently that they could never see eye to eye. Kent will prepare us for this amazing experience in our morning chat, and then we’re off to the Tate Britain for the Turner and Constable Exhibition. Surprised they didn’t call it Turner VERSUS Constable… Free afternoon, and then we’ll meet for dinner and a play or concert.
Hotel: The Rockwell opens a new window
Meals: B, D
Activity Level: Moderate to Strenuous (lots of walking)
Our first treasure at the Tower of London is a beautiful choral matins service at St. Peter ad Vincula. The second we’ll see when we stroll into the vault next door to examine the Crown Jewels (including Cullinan I, the largest clear cut diamond in the world, which sits atop the Sovereign’s Scepter with Cross). And now for something completely different: Dennis Severs, a Californian ex-pat, bought a run-down, condemned Georgian townhouse on Folgate Street and over many years restored it and turned it into an immersive historical fantasy. Especially magical at Christmas, Dennis Severs’ House is indescribable; you just have to go. Properly charmed, we’ll walk the short distance to Spitalfields arts and crafts Market, all decked out for Christmas, where food trucks also await. Free evening.
Hotel: The Rockwell opens a new window
Meal: B
Activity Level: Moderate to Strenuous (lots of walking)
After our morning chat, we’ll visit the splendidly decorated Leadenhall Christmas Market with its iconic 18ft high live Christmas tree. Then it’s off to beautiful, Old London City church, St. Michael’s Cornhill for their annual Festival of Lessons and Carols. By now we will have found our absolutely-strictly-£10-or-under-no-cheating gift for the fellow traveler whose name we drew back at the beginning. Be sure to bring it along to our own private Christmas Feast and Gift Giving. There will be traditional English seasonal food and drink; there will be Christmas crackers; there will be jollity and reminiscing and relaxing. Hurrah! And then in the early evening, as twilight turns to darkness, we’ll be entering the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for the breathtaking Christmas at Kew light and music display. You might want to slip off to Father Christmas’s Grotto to speak to him if you’ve been good; perhaps just grab some mulled wine or cider if you’ve been naughty.
Hotel: The Rockwell opens a new window
Meals: B, L
Activity Level: Moderate to Strenuous (lots of walking)
We’ll get you back to the airport, or wherever you’re going next, with good Yuletide London memories and best wishes for a very Merry Christmas!
Meal: BTim and Jane bring their expertise and enthusiasm to Go Learn from also directing the University of Utah's Beacons of Excellence Award-winning Theatre, Fine Arts and Humanities in London Learning Abroad student program—for fifteen years and still going strong.
Tim is a Professor in the Department of Theatre, where he teaches Playwriting, Dramatic Literature, Shakespeare, and Contemporary Drama. Tim is also a produced screenwriter, a published novelist, and an award-winning playwright with plays produced off-Broadway and in the US, Britain, and Canada.
Jane teaches Introduction to Theatre and Dramatic Literature in the Department of Theatre and administers London Learning Abroad programs for both the Theatre and English Departments. She attended the London School of Economics for post-graduate studies and, in addition to her many London and UK tours, has led travel programs in Bali and Japan.
Pre-Departure
Like all Go Learn journeys, the adventure begins at home. We'll make sure you have all the information you need before you arrive in London—we'll answer questions about what to pack, how to get around, and our daily itinerary. We want you to arrive in London ready to learn!
A trip reunion about a month after returning will be the perfect conclusion to our journey. We will exchange pictures and stories while remembering the highlights of our tour. Go Learn expeditions are designed to be small, boutique experiences where one returns with a group of friends. Good food, drink, and company await us at this reunion.
About London
It’s hard to fit what London is into one sentence, but let's give it a shot: London is the capital of the United Kingdom (and hence has all the Washington D.C.-type buildings), and it also has hundreds of historical sites from a Roman temple to Jimi Hendrix's apartment, and it's also the biggest city in the European Union (8.5 million) with the most diverse population (270 nationalities and 300 languages—imagine what that means for restaurants, yum), and it’s also one of the world’s premiere financial and commercial hubs (um, shopping), and it has the most museums in the world (173, with 11 of them national museums, and unlike other European cities, they're mostly FREE); it also has the most restaurants in the world (37,450), 5,000 acres of parks (8 of them Royal) and 214 theatres to which 14.2 million people flock each year (including us); plus it has fourteen football clubs, including 6 Premier League teams, is home to the tallest building in the Britain (the Shard) and has hosted the Olympic Summer Games 3 times. Whew! But it isn't all about bigness and most-ness. London is also home to quiet nooks and curious crannies—truly adventure around every corner.
Weather: The temperature range in December is 38º-46º, and there is always a good chance of rain. Bring a warm coat, winter scarf, hat, boots, warm clothing, and an umbrella to be ready for British weather. Snow is unlikely but always possible. The days will be short but all the better to see the thousands of Christmas lights adorning the city.
Activity levels and restrictions
Filled with one-of-a-kind visits and experiences, this trip will leave you happily tired. It includes days exploring London as a group and some late nights of theatre performances, and the pace is brisk. We average 4-6 miles (approximately 10,000 steps) of walking and 100 stairs per day. Travel is by public transportation (included in the price of the trip), and participants should be able to board Tube trains and buses independently, though we will always lead the way in group activities. The group comes first, so participants who wish to travel by taxi must make their own independent arrangements and expect to pay about $600 extra.
Christmastime in England is considered a Level Two out of three physical ability levels on the Go Learn scale. Learn more about our .
Starting in 2025, U.S. travelers will need a UK ETA 'visa' for travel to or through the UK, including transfers and layovers. In the last quarter of 2026, U.S. travelers will need an ETIAS 'visa' for many European countries.
Dates
December 7-16, 2025
Size
Group Size is limited to 20 participants
Cost
Double occupancy: $6,150 per person
Single occupancy: $6,650
Payment options are available upon request. Contact golearn@utah.edu for information.
See for payment and cancellation details.
Included
Not included
Kensington Palace Orangery
(English afternoon tea in the garden next to the palace)