Everything you should know about travelling over Christmas 2024, from train alternatives to airport tips

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel email Get Simon Calder’s Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. A spokesperson for easyJet said: “We are operating one of our biggest-ever schedules on Christmas Day this year from six UK airports, to get customers to where they need to be during the festivities, whether that’s visiting friends and relatives or to make the most of the bank holiday.” British Airways will run a fairly comprehensive long-haul schedule on Christmas Day. On a London-Singapore one-way flight, for example, the lowest BA fare on 21 December is £1,837, compared with just £772 on Christmas Day – a saving of 58 per cent open image in gallery The new display of Christmas lights on Bond Street in London Plan travel around the UK carefully No trains will run anywhere in the UK on 25 December, but National Express and FlixBus will operate many hundreds of coach journeys between them, including to and from airports. Don’t fear a total 25 December shutdown abroad The UK is an outlier in closing down the railways on 25 December; in most Continental nations, and countries around the world, Christmas Day has near-normal service. Some local bus services will run on 25 December Southern Vectis runs a near-normal schedule on the Isle of Wight on Christmas Day, and some other local operators have a skeleton service, particularly linking hospitals.