Hotels near Alexandra Palace Park

The Alexandra Palace Fireworks and Drone Festival runs on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November 2026, with gates at 16:00 on both days. The two nights differ. Saturday is the late one: display at 20:00, a German beer festival, live music and DJs. Sunday is the family day: display at 18:00, children's entertainment, smaller capacity. Both nights carry a bonfire, funfair, ice rink and street food. Early-bird tickets start at GBP 10.50 (about EUR 12) for ages 11 to 15 with fees included, and under-10s go free on Sunday early-bird tickets while they last.

Presale access opened on Wednesday 2 September 2026 at 12:00 for people registered on the mailing list, the practical route to the cheap tiers. The setting does the rest: 196 acres on a ridge more than 300 feet (91 metres) high, with the fireworks going up against a view of the whole city. The palace itself, rebuilt by 1875 after fire destroyed the original in 1873, is where the BBC made the world's first regular public high-definition television broadcasts in 1936.

The honest downside is the hill and the exit. Everyone who walks up from Wood Green station on the London Underground (Piccadilly line), fifteen minutes uphill, walks back down it in a crowd. Alexandra Palace railway station, on Great Northern services to Moorgate, is closer at about ten minutes and drains into rail rather than one tube line. Saturday 7 November is a Saturday, so the Piccadilly line Night Tube does run that night; Sunday 8 November it does not.

Pro Tip: Register for the presale, then take Sunday 8 November if anyone in your group is under 10, since they go free on early-bird Sunday tickets and the 18:00 display finishes before bedtime. Leave down the east side to Alexandra Palace railway station for Moorgate rather than joining the Wood Green crawl.