Many of these ice rinks are in beautiful surroundings. The rinks have music and different colour lights, making the experience even more exciting. You can rarely see so many people enjoying themselves in one place. There are quite many people skating in one session, and it can get a bit crowded, though. Here are our top 3 ice rinks in London.
Somerset House
Our favourite ice rink is the one in the Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court of the Somerset House. Somerset House celebrates 20 years of skating this year. The buildings surrounding the courtyard provide a magnificent backdrop for your skating experience. Somerset House is in West End and close to other activities like theatres and musicals. The skate lounge offers drinks and delicacies from Fortnum & Mason.
The ice rink is open from 13th of November to 12th of January.
Tower of London
The ice rink is right next to the walls of the Tower of London in a dramatic location. On one side you have the Thames and views towards the Tower Bridge and the Shard. The City of London skyscrapers are visible in the other direction. This feels like the biggest ice rink of these three but we don’t have the numbers. The Ice Drink Cafe and Bar offers pasties and hot pies as well as warm drinks.
The ice rink is open from 16th of November to 5th of January.
Natural History Museum
The ice rink is in the corner of Cromwell Road and Exhibition Road right next to the museum, which provides an impressive background to the ice rink. It provides the same facilities as all of the locations, i.e. food and drinks. Skating here also supports the museum, which is nice. There are also other events around the rink, such as live music evenings on Thursdays and the Flowerbomb Hour every Friday between 7PM and 8PM (1/11 - 20/12).
The ice rink is open from 19th of October to 12th of January.
Practical information
The skating is arranged into one-hour timeslots where 45 minutes is for skating and 15 minutes for getting skates on and off. After showing the tickets and getting in, the next thing is to get the skates. You will leave the shoes in for the skates and get them back when returning them. It’s all very well organised.
Bags are not allowed when skating, and you need to leave it in the cloakroom. Best do that before queuing for the skates.
Tickets are around £15 for all locations varying based on the time and date. Check the prices on the website of each location.
