Plan your journey for Christmas

Find out more about when tickets are released, any engineering work and what festive treats we have in store this Christmas.

Festive tickets available now

Trip to the Christmas markets, panto with the kids or heading home to see your loved ones? Tickets for all travel dates over Christmas and New Year are now on sale, so you can start making plans for the festive period. Buy tickets now.

We’re lifting Peak restrictions

To keep you moving this Christmas and to help you save those pennies, we’re lifting our Peak restrictions. That means all Avanti West Coast services from Friday 20 December to Sunday 5 January inclusive are Off-Peak. Buy an Off-Peak ticket for these dates and get all the flexibility you need – travel at any time.

Fancy a First Class festive treat? From 21 December to 5 January, you can enjoy our delicious weekend menu in First Class. Check it out here.

Strike action

The RMT union has announced strike action affecting Avanti West Coast on 31 December and 2 January, along with all Sundays from 12 January to 25 May 2025. On these dates, our timetables and operating hours will be significantly reduced and trains that do run are expected to be busy.

This New Year, we strongly recommend you travel either side of the strike dates. If you booked tickets to travel with Avanti West Coast on 31 December or 2 January before the industrial action was announced on 17 December, you can now use them to travel any time from Monday 30 December to Saturday 4 January inclusive. Alternatively, if you no longer wish to travel due to the strike action, you can claim a full refund of your prebooked tickets from where you bought them. Find out more here.

Find out more

Engineering work

Network Rail are carrying out major upgrade work over the festive period. Check out the summary below to help plan your journey or click your travel date for more info. Use our online journey planner to find the quickest way from A to B, even during engineering work.

How will my journey be affected this Christmas and New Year?

Sat 21
December

Normal service expected

Sun 22
December

Normal service expected

Mon 23
December

Normal service expected

Tue 24
December

Normal service,
early shutdown 

Wed 25
December

No trains

Thu 26
December

No trains

Fri 27
December

Engineering
work

Sat 28
December

Engineering
work

Sun 29
December

Engineering
work

Mon 30
December

Engineering
work

Tue 31
December

Strike action: limited service

Wed 01
January

Engineering work

Thu 02
January

Strike action:
limited service

Fri 03
January

Normal service expected

Travelling on 27 December

Travelling on 28 - 31 December

Travelling on 1 January

Travelling on 2 January


Travelling to or from London Euston?

London Euston station is expected to be extremely busy this festive period, with reduced timetables due to engineering work as well as extra passengers from diverted Great Western Railway services. If you can, we recommend travelling to or from London Euston before Christmas Eve (24 December) or after 2 January 2025.

What upgrade work is happening?

Network Rail will be carrying out vital maintenance and improvement work to the West Coast Main Line this Christmas. This includes major resignalling work in the Crewe area, along with track renewals and improvements to help deliver more reliable journeys on the busy routes north and south of Milton Keynes.
Find out more.

Want to find out more?

Check out how engineering work will affect other routes and train operators up and down the network on the National Rail Christmas and New Year travel page.


Passenger Assist

Need some extra support during your journey? We're here to help. At this busy time of year, we strongly recommend booking Passenger Assist in advance if you can.

Find out more and book online, via the app or by phone here.


Last trains on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve

Due to engineering work the following day, trains finish much earlier than usual on Tuesday 24 December (Christmas Eve) and Tuesday 31 December (New Year’s Eve). Most of the last trains of the day will leave their origin stations before 8pm, with our longest distance routes setting off before 5pm, so be sure to check before you travel and arrive in plenty of time for your train.

On Tuesday 31 December (New Year's Eve), a combination of engineering work and strike action means the timetable is significantly reduced and trains will finish even earlier than initially planned. We'll share these last trains as soon as the strike timetable is finalised.

The last direct trains to and from our key destinations on Christmas Eve are listed below. If your destination isn’t listed, just pop your journey details into our journey planner and then try clicking ‘See later trains’ until you find the last one.

What are the last Avanti West Coast trains to London Euston? 

Tuesday 24 December

Leaving from

Last train

Birmingham New Street

17:21

Manchester Piccadilly

17:55

Liverpool Lime Street

16:43

Glasgow Central

16:40

 

What are the last Avanti West Coast trains from London Euston?

Tuesday 24 December

Going to

Last train

Birmingham New Street

18:40

Manchester Piccadilly

18:13

Liverpool Lime Street

17:43

Glasgow Central

16:30

 

What are the last Avanti West Coast trains to London Euston? 

Tuesday 31 December

Leaving from

Last train

Glasgow Central

13:35

Preston

14:55

Manchester Piccadilly

15:16

Birmingham New Street

16:21

 

What are the last Avanti West Coast trains from London Euston?

Tuesday 31 December

Going to

Last train

Glasgow Central

13:29

Preston

14:29

Manchester Piccadilly

14:43

Birmingham New Street

16:14

 

Which ticket type should I choose?

If it’s best value you’re after, Advance fares are for you. You can save up to 70% by booking as soon as tickets are released! Check the calendar above to see which festive dates have tickets available and which are coming soon. You can set a Ticket Alert if your preferred travel date isn’t available yet and we’ll let you know when our great range of tickets go on sale.

If it’s flexibility you’d prefer, take advantage of our festive Off-Peak travel window and try an Off-Peak Return. As long as tickets are on sale for your outward travel date, you can keep your options open and return within one month. Just click ‘Anytime’ tab when you’re choosing your return options on our website, or tap ‘Open return’ on our app. When you’re ready to head back, be sure to check before you travel to see all the confirmed departure times on your route and for live updates about any disruption.

FEEL GOOD Christmas with Avanti West Coast

You can visit some of the best places in the UK with Avanti West Coast. At Christmas, we can whisk you to winter wonderlands up and down the country, with some brilliant festive attractions. From Manchester’s Christmas markets and Birmingham’s Bullring, to Edinburgh Castle and Blackpool Illuminations, great Christmas adventures start onboard our trains.

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London's Christmas Events

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Top Christmas Tips

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Best Christmas Markets

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Book direct with Avanti West Coast

This festive season make sure that you book your train tickets with Avanti West Coast to ensure that you have the best offers available. Here's why:

  • No booking fees - Book direct with us and you won’t pay a penny in booking fees. We also guarantee to give you the best price for your journey. If you find a cheaper Avanti West Coast ticket elsewhere, we’ll refund the difference (T&Cs apply).

  • Priority boarding alerts - Sign up for an Avanti account and get notified by SMS with the platform number before everybody else if you're travelling from London Euston.

  • Choose your seat - Choose the seat that's just right for you and if you change your mind you can also change your seat.

  • Seat upgrades - Be treated like a VIP from A to B. Even if you’ve already booked your train ticket, you can upgrade to Standard Premium or First Class via our website or app.

Discover more benefits of booking direct with Avanti West Coast.

Get more this Christmas
with Club Avanti

From 10% off everything on your first journey to a complimentary First Class ticket.

Join Club Avanti this Christmas and see how rewarding it can be!

Discover Club Avanti