[Lily]

Hello everyone! 🎅

This year I am staying home, but for those of you who are visiting family and friends in other parts of the UK, I thought this information might be useful.

These are the best and worst times to drive in the run-up to Christmas 2025 in the UK:

📆 Date	🎅 Leisure trips by car	🚦 Worst times to travel	⏰ Best times to travel
Wed 17 December	3.3m	3pm to 8pm	Before 3pm
Thu 18 December	3.2m	3pm to 7pm	Between 10am and 3pm
Fri 19 December	3.6m	3pm to 7pm	Between 9am and 3pm
Sat 20 December	4.1m	12pm to 7pm	Before 12pm
Sun 21 December	3.5m	10am to 7pm	Before 10am
Mon 22 December	3.1m	10am to 5pm	After 5pm
Tue 23 December	3.0m	11am to 5pm	Before 11am
Wed 24 December	4.2m	1pm to 7pm	Before 11am

Approximately 3.5m journeys are expected on Sunday 21^st while a further 5.3m trips are set to take place at some point between the 19^th and 21^st.


Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and safe travels!! 🎄

[Drivingforfun]

This is helpful

I drove to a retail park on Friday and the traffic in the car park but also the surrounding roads was quite comical. I personally found London driving isn't the issue people say it is, but this!! Worse than London - at least most London drivers clearly do it routinely and realise they're all in the same boat and work together to keep things moving ... no such luck on Friday, the stand offs for the parking space closest to M&S was something else 😂

[Rolebama]

My plan is to leave at 6am Xmas morning to go to the daughters. Hopefully the roads will still be relatively empty, but according to the Met Office, it will be very cold. Due to the high probability of icy roads though, I will stick to decent roads avoiding the lanes.

My wife watched me type this, and I made a typo. Ivy instead of icy. She is still asking me what an ivy road would look like, and would it be more comfortable to drive on.

[Rolebama]

My wife set her alarm for 4.10am Xmas morning, and we ended up leaving around 5. On the M25 around 5.20. Amazed at the amount of traffic going the other way. Same all the way up on A405, A414, and the A1(M). Yet so very little going our way. Only saw about 6 cars going our way the whole route. Similarly, coming home Boxing day night. Saw maybe 5 cars our way, very busy on the other side. Took a relaxing slow drive both ways.

[Lily]

@Drivingforfun glad you found it helpful! I happened to drive by my local Big Tesco's the Sunday before Christmas and it was awful: just cars parked for miles and miles. Can't imagine the amount of people inside. I was glad I was done with my food shopping by then!

Of course, I did end up getting some last minute bits in Marks and Sparks on Christmas Eve but everybody was already at home.

Talking about London, once I decided to escape town a few days before Christmas (was going to my sister's in Devon) and my husband and I were stuck in the same corner for two hours, beacuse the entire South London was leaving at the same time. Learned my lesson, I leave super early now.

@Rolebama early in the morning or early in the evening it's the best approach. I did end up in traffic, beacuse I ignored my own advice and left around 10 am on the 27th to visit a National Trust house near Bristol. A trip that usually takes one hour ended up taking almost three. 😟

Hope you both had an amazing time!