The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker runs 3 December to 13 January at the Royal Opera House, from £10. English National Ballet's opens at the Coliseum on 17 December.
Two full productions of The Nutcracker run in Westminster this Christmas, both in the streets around Covent Garden. The Royal Ballet’s opens at the Royal Opera House on Thursday 3 December and runs to Wednesday 13 January, with tickets from £10 to £238. English National Ballet’s opens at the London Coliseum on St Martin’s Lane on Thursday 17 December and runs to Sunday 10 January, from £27.25 including fees.
Both are on general sale. Neither page marks a date sold out, but the Coliseum’s calendar already labels some dates “selling fast” and “limited tickets”.
The quick answer
- Royal Opera House (The Royal Ballet): 3 December 2026 to 13 January 2027, Bow Street, WC2E 9DD. £10 to £238. About 2 hours 10 minutes. Ages 5 and over.
- London Coliseum (English National Ballet): 17 December 2026 to 10 January 2027, St Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4ES. From £27.25 including fees; under-16s get 25% off. About 2 hours. Ages 5 and over, except at the family-friendly performance.
- Under fives: only at English National Ballet’s family-friendly performance, Saturday 9 January at 2pm. The Royal Opera House admits no under-fives.
- Christmas Eve: the Royal Opera House has a 12.30pm matinee; the Coliseum a 1.30pm matinee.
- Something shorter for small children: The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre, near Holborn, from 21 November, 1 hour 40 minutes, suitable for all ages.
The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House
The Royal Ballet and Opera’s production page gives the run as 3 December 2026 to 13 January 2027 on the Main Stage, with tickets from £10 to £238. It is Peter Wright’s production, after Lev Ivanov, to Tchaikovsky’s score, with designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman.
The performance lasts about 2 hours 10 minutes: a 50-minute first act, a 30-minute interval and a 50-minute second act. The house says it is suitable for ages 5 and over, that children under five are not allowed into its theatres, and that every child needs their own ticket and must sit next to an adult. There are flashing lights and dry ice.
These are the public performances in the booking calendar:
| Date | Time |
|---|---|
| Thursday 3 December | 7.30pm |
| Friday 4 December | 7pm |
| Saturday 5 December | 2pm and 7.30pm |
| Tuesday 8 December | 7.30pm |
| Wednesday 9 December | 7.30pm |
| Friday 11 December | 7.30pm |
| Monday 14 December | 7pm |
| Wednesday 16 December | 1.30pm and 7pm |
| Saturday 19 December | 7pm |
| Monday 21 December | 7.30pm |
| Tuesday 22 December | 1.30pm and 7pm |
| Wednesday 23 December | 1.30pm and 7pm |
| Thursday 24 December | 12.30pm |
| Tuesday 29 December | 1.30pm and 7pm |
| Wednesday 30 December | 7.30pm |
| Thursday 31 December | 2.30pm |
| Saturday 2 January | 1.30pm and 7pm |
| Tuesday 5 January | 7.30pm |
| Thursday 7 January | 7.30pm |
| Friday 8 January | 7.30pm |
| Tuesday 12 January | 7.30pm |
| Wednesday 13 January | 7.30pm |
There are also schools’ matinees on 4 and 14 December at 12.30pm and a special matinee on Saturday 19 December at 1.30pm, which the calendar lists separately from the standard performances. There are no performances from 25 to 28 December.
Access performances. The production lists audio-described, captioned, family-friendly and touch-tour performances. In the booking calendar, the Saturday 5 December 2pm matinee carries the audio-described, captioned and touch-tour tags, Tuesday 8 December 7.30pm is captioned, and Wednesday 16 December 1.30pm is audio described with a touch tour and marked family friendly. Check the tag on the date before you book.
English National Ballet at the London Coliseum
The London Coliseum’s event page gives 17 December 2026 to 10 January 2027, with tickets from £27.25 including booking fees. Children under 16 get 25% off, up to two per full-price adult, though not on top-price seats. English National Ballet’s own production page credits the choreography to its artistic director Aaron S. Watkin and Arielle Smith, with sets and costumes by Dick Bird, and the English National Ballet Philharmonic plays the score live.
It runs about 2 hours with one 20-minute interval. The age guidance is 5 and over; under-fives are only allowed in at the family-friendly performance.
| Date | Times |
|---|---|
| Thursday 17 December | 7.30pm |
| Friday 18 December | 7.30pm |
| Saturday 19 December | 2.30pm and 7.30pm |
| Sunday 20 December | 1.30pm and 6.30pm |
| Tuesday 22 December | 1.30pm and 6.30pm |
| Wednesday 23 December | 2.30pm and 7.30pm |
| Thursday 24 December | 1.30pm |
| Sunday 27 December | 1.30pm and 6.30pm |
| Monday 28 December | 7.30pm |
| Tuesday 29 December | 2.30pm and 7.30pm |
| Wednesday 30 December | 2.30pm and 7.30pm |
| Thursday 31 December | 1.30pm |
| Saturday 2 January | 2.30pm and 7.30pm |
| Sunday 3 January | 1.30pm and 6.30pm |
| Tuesday 5 January | 7.30pm |
| Wednesday 6 January | 7.30pm |
| Thursday 7 January | 1.30pm and 6.30pm |
| Friday 8 January | 7.30pm |
| Saturday 9 January | 2pm and 7pm |
| Sunday 10 January | 1pm |
Access and family performances, from the Coliseum’s page:
- Audio described: Saturday 19 December, 2.30pm, with a touch tour at 12.30pm.
- Relaxed: Thursday 7 January, 1.30pm. This is also listed as a schools performance.
- Family friendly: Saturday 9 January, 2pm. Under-fives are allowed in, and children under 16 pay only the booking fee, up to two per full-paying adult.
One trap: parts of both the Coliseum’s and English National Ballet’s pages give the family-friendly performance at 2.30pm, and one English National Ballet answer gives Saturday 3 January. The Coliseum’s booking calendar has Saturday 9 January at 2pm, which matches the headline listing on both sites.
Which one to book
Both are traditional Christmas productions with a live orchestra. The practical differences are on price and timing:
- Cheapest seats: the Royal Opera House starts at £10, against £27.25 at the Coliseum.
- Children: the Coliseum’s 25% under-16 discount and its family-friendly performance, the only one either house opens to under-fives, make it the easier choice with young children.
- Dates: the Royal Opera House starts two weeks earlier, from 3 December, if you want to go before the school holidays.
- Length: the Royal Opera House version runs about ten minutes longer because of its 30-minute interval.
The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre
For younger children, Sadler’s Wells has a new production of The Snowman at its Peacock Theatre, nearest station Holborn, from Saturday 21 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027. It runs 1 hour 40 minutes, including a 20-minute interval, and tickets start at £18 plus a £4 transaction fee. It is suitable for all ages; children aged two and over need a ticket. Family tickets are £105 for three and £140 for four at off-peak performances, and £150 and £200 at peak ones.
Its access performances are a relaxed performance on Wednesday 2 December at 2.30pm and an audio-described performance with a touch tour on Saturday 12 December at 2.30pm.
Getting there
The Royal Opera House is on Bow Street, a few minutes from Covent Garden station, and the Coliseum is on St Martin’s Lane, closest to Leicester Square and Charing Cross. Covent Garden station gets very busy in the run-up to Christmas; Leicester Square and Charing Cross are the easier stations for both. If you are driving, our Westminster parking zones and hours page explains when the meters stop, and our roadworks and travel page has the closures. Rail and Tube changes over the holiday are on our Christmas travel page.
For the other big shows of the season, see the Palladium pantomime and the carol services.
Sources
- Royal Ballet and Opera, The Nutcracker, production page and booking calendar, read 31 October 2026
- London Coliseum, Nutcracker 2026, read 31 October 2026
- English National Ballet, Nutcracker, read 31 October 2026
- Sadler’s Wells, The Snowman, read 31 October 2026
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