Christmas at Ally Pally 2026: ice rink prices and dates

Two things are firmly booked for Christmas at Alexandra Palace: a skating pantomime called Cinderella On Ice, from 3 to 6 December 2026, and a festive murder mystery in the Victorian theatre that runs from 24 November to 17 January 2027. Everything else on the Palace’s Christmas page is either undated or describes last year.

That is the trap on this one. Read carefully before you plan around it.

The Palace’s Christmas page is a year out of date at the top

The page at alexandrapalace.com/christmas opens by telling you that “Mark Gatiss’ spine-tingling retelling of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol returns to our historic theatre, starring Neil Morrissey and Matthew Cottle”, and invites you to “enjoy Sleeping Beauty in this year’s dazzling panto on ice” (Alexandra Palace).

Neither show is on this year. The event list immediately below that paragraph, on the same page, lists Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas in the theatre and Cinderella On Ice at the rink. The introduction was not rewritten.

The carol concert table underneath has the same problem, and it can be dated precisely. It advertises “Tuesday 9 & Wednesday 10 December”, “Saturday 13 December” and “Saturday 20 December”. In 2026, 9 December is a Wednesday, 10 December a Thursday, and both 13 and 20 December are Sundays. Those weekdays fit 2025 exactly. The four listed concerts, including the Haringey Music Service primary school concerts and the Bowes Park Community Choir, are last year’s.

There is also a live but completely blank page at alexandrapalace.com/christmas-temp, which is where a rewritten 2026 version would plausibly land.

The Palace does list a Santa’s grotto, a pop-up Waterstones and the East Court Christmas tree, but with no dates attached to any of them. Take those as intentions until they are dated.

The ice rink: what it actually costs

The rink is open all year, not just at Christmas, and its prices are published.

Source: Alexandra Palace, Book a Skate.

Two rules that catch people out. Anyone going onto the rink side with a group without skating must buy a spectator ticket, at £2.50 or £3.00. And skate aids, the seal, penguin and snowman frames at £7.50 each, cannot be booked online: since 30 March 2026 they are sold in the rink itself, first come first served. Turning up at 11am on a December Saturday expecting one is a gamble.

Session lengths differ. Term-time weekday sessions run two hours, except the last one of the day at 90 minutes; every weekend and holiday session is 90 minutes. The rink advises arriving 15 minutes early.

Opening times: Monday 11:00 to 16:30, Tuesday 13:15 to 17:00, Wednesday and Thursday 11:00 to 17:00, Friday 13:15 to 17:00, Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 16:30. Those are the published year-round hours; the Palace has not published a separate Christmas timetable.

Ice discos are listed as running from 12 September 2026 right through to 3 April 2027.

Cinderella On Ice, 3 to 6 December

This is the rink’s own production, “performed by our talented community of amateur skaters, who train throughout the year”, presented by Alexandra Palace Ice Rink Amateur Productions. It runs two hours with an interval and is billed as suitable for children aged 3 and over.

Source: Alexandra Palace.

Note the weekend times move: the Saturday and Sunday evening shows start at 17:30, an hour and a half earlier than the Thursday and Friday ones. Three separate school-only performances run on Monday 30 November, Tuesday 1 December and Thursday 3 December, bookable only by phone or email through the rink reception, which means the Thursday has a schools matinee and a public evening show on the same day.

The theatre show

Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas takes the theatre’s Christmas slot from 24 November 2026 to 17 January 2027. We have broken down its 68 performances, its two access dates and its dark days on our Christmas shows near Crouch End page.

Getting there and parking

Alexandra Palace station is at the Wood Green gate, on the Great Northern line from Moorgate and King’s Cross. Wood Green on the Piccadilly line is the nearest Tube, and the W3 runs to the ice rink door.

Car parking is charged seven days a week, 365 days a year: free for the first 30 minutes, then £2.20 an hour up to 48 hours, with Blue Badge holders exempt if they scan the badge at the machine (Alexandra Palace car parking). You can pay on leaving or within 24 hours; after that it is a penalty charge. The East Court car park, the one for the rink, runs 05:30 to 00:30 with last entry at 20:00, and hours change on event days.

Be careful in the first week of November: the car parks close entirely for the fireworks festival, which this year is Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November. Street parking nearby is inside a controlled zone, and Muswell Hill’s zone runs on Sundays too. See parking in Crouch End and the roadworks and travel page.

We will update this page when the Palace publishes its 2026 carol dates, grotto dates and Christmas opening hours.