With the festive season fast approaching; it stands to reason that whilst most people won’t be travelling on Christmas Day itself, a large number of people still require transportation up and down the UK, regardless of the public holiday, and with rail services halted – the open road is the way to go.
In 2019, roughly 100,000 people were estimated to have travelled on coach services on Christmas Day itself, an increase of 40,000 year-on-year.
We’ve compiled a list of a number of companies operating long-distance bus and coach services throughout the country across the season – including those offering routes on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
National Express
Claiming it to be its ‘Christmas Tradition’; National Express has pledged to run services right the way through the festive period, with no stops on a wide range of routes up and down the UK.
The operator, which prides itself on its non-stop holiday services, will continue running routes to and from destinations such as Hull, London, Gloucester, Swansea, Plymouth, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Cambridge, Nottingham, Edinburgh and more.
Kids can also travel free as part of a current promotion run by the operator which allows up to three children up to the age of 15 to travel with one adult for the price of one adult ticket – with the offer currently valid for bookings until 04 January 2026.
National Express policy allows for 1 x large suitcase (or 2 x medium cases) and 1 x soft hand luggage item onboard its coaches.
Full route details are available on the National Express website.
Flixbus
Quickly rising to become one of the UK’s most recognisable operators; passengers can rest assured that they will be able to hop onto a big green bus across the entirety of this festive season.
Flixbus has confirmed that it will run a large number of its usual services right through the holidays – including services on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
The operator will continue running services to more than 70 destinations across the UK, including increased to and from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
In order to accommodate the potential for increased demand; FlixBus will also be adding additional services for London, Manchester and Birmingham between 21 December and 04 January.
Flixbus policy allows for 1 x piece of check-in luggage and 1 x piece of hand luggage onboard its coaches.
Full details and routes are available via the Flixbus website.
Megabus
Despite its shift to a reduced UK network in October 2024; Megabus will provide a number of services between England and Scotland across the festive period, including several on Christmas Day itself.
The operator will be running routes to and from Glasgow, Manchester, London, Bristol, Plymouth, Stirling, Edinburgh, Dundee and more throughout the festive period, with services also available on New Year’s Day.
Megabus policy allows for 1 x large suitcase (or 2 x medium suitcases) and 1 x piece of ‘soft’ hand luggage onboard.
Full details and routes are available on the Megabus website.
easyBus
Despite predominantly operating a shuttle service between airports and city centres; easyBus will continue to run a number of routes across the festive period this year.
Routes operating on Christmas & New Year’s Day consist of its typical destinations across a set of UK airports, including London Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Heathrow and Stratford Airports.
Some limitations will apply for routes to and from Brighton, and for more details, tickets and service information, check the easyBus website.
Scottish Citylink
The Scottish operator has confirmed that it will be running an extremely limited number of services on Christmas & New Year’s Day, with Sunday Services set to run across a portion of routes throughout the period.
Those looking to travel on the 900 service between Glasgow and Edinburgh will be able to utilise a limited service on both Christmas and New Year’s Day, whilst the M9, M10, M90, M91 & M92 services (Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh to Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness) will operate special timetables on New Year’s Day, with no services running on Christmas Day.
For more information, visit Scottish Citylink’s website.
