Buying Christmas decorations in London (and a tree you don't have to put up)

The best Christmas decorations are still in the shops, and the easiest route starts on Piccadilly and heads north. Fortnum & Mason, Liberty and Selfridges are all within about half an hour of each other on foot, and between them they do glass baubles, tree toppers, crackers and table pieces better than almost anywhere on the internet. Harrods, a short ride west in Knightsbridge, rounds it off.

The department stores

Fortnum's Christmas range covers decorations, crackers, hampers and food, and the shop itself gets dressed for the season. The decorations lean traditional and very English, and buying them alongside a hamper means the whole festive table comes from one address. Go on a weekday morning, because from early December the ground floor on a Saturday afternoon moves at a shuffle.

Liberty on Great Marlborough Street is worth the trip for the mock-Tudor building alone. Its Christmas department is where to look for decorations with more character, such as hand-finished glass and pieces with a sense of humour, and in December it hosts Wild at Heart's wreath-making masterclasses. Selfridges on Oxford Street is broader and more contemporary, while Harrods does scale, with more of everything from cheap baubles to collectors' pieces. Both go big on their Christmas windows, which are worth a walk past after dark.

Set a budget per piece before you go in. Hand-blown, hand-painted ornaments at the top stores can cost as much as a good bottle of wine each, and a tree needs a lot of them, so plenty of people buy a few special pieces a year and fill the rest with plain glass baubles in one or two colours, which looks more deliberate than mismatched showpieces. If the decorations are going home with you, ask for them packed for travel, since mouth-blown glass rarely survives a suitcase otherwise.

Wreaths, greenery and the tree

Wild at Heart, the London florist, makes some of the city's best Christmas wreaths: dense natural greenery with dried citrus, pine cones and eucalyptus, and no glitter. They deliver across central London, so there can be one on the apartment door the day you arrive, and they do table arrangements in the same style.

For something looser and cheaper, go to Columbia Road Flower Market in east London on a Sunday morning in December, where among the usual flowers the stalls sell wreaths, holly, mistletoe, fir and eucalyptus by the armful. Get there before 9am; by eleven it's packed. A few branches in a tall vase and a row of white candles will make a rented dining room feel like Christmas faster than anything else.

Pines and Needles delivers real trees across London, and its full service covers setting up, lights and decorating, useful if you want a tree in the apartment without the faff. Tell the residence first, as some buildings have rules on real trees and reception will want to know when one's coming up in the lift. Order in November for delivery in the first half of December, and measure the ceiling before you choose, because serviced apartments in period buildings often have high ceilings on the first floor and much lower ones at the top.

Seeing it done properly

Some of London's best Christmas decorating is in the hotels, where the lobby trees are designed and dressed by professionals. The Lanesborough at Hyde Park Corner does a festive afternoon tea in December, the easiest excuse to spend an hour under the decorations. Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, a few minutes' walk away, is the other end of the scale, with rides, markets and lights from late November to early January.

Expect cold and often wet weather. December highs are around 8°C and it rains on roughly twelve days of the month, so the walk from Piccadilly to Oxford Street wants an umbrella and a stop for tea. Staying in Mayfair, Marylebone or Knightsbridge puts all these shops within walking distance.

London weather by month

July is the warmest month, averaging 23°C by day. July has the fewest wet days (9) and October the most rain (80 mm). For sightseeing on foot, June scores best on our combined warmth-and-dryness measure.

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Rain	Wet days	Chance a 7-day stay sees a washout	Record high / low
January	8°C	2°C	74 mm	13	53%	16°C / -12°C
February	8°C	2°C	51 mm	10	43%	18°C / -8°C
March	11°C	4°C	45 mm	9	44%	23°C / -7°C
April	14°C	5°C	54 mm	10	44%	26°C / -3°C
May	17°C	8°C	54 mm	9	39%	30°C / -1°C
June	20°C	11°C	58 mm	9	35%	34°C / 2°C
July	23°C	13°C	52 mm	9	34%	34°C / 4°C
August	22°C	13°C	68 mm	9	37%	37°C / 4°C
September	19°C	11°C	62 mm	9	39%	29°C / 2°C
October	15°C	8°C	80 mm	11	47%	27°C / -2°C
November	11°C	5°C	76 mm	12	52%	18°C / -6°C
December	8°C	2°C	69 mm	12	50%	16°C / -8°C

Calculated NOAA GHCN-Daily observations at the Hampstead weather station, north London (records 1960–2015; averages from about 25 years per month). A wet day has 1 mm of rain or more.