AD | Press event
The festive season has officially started here in Norfolk and there are so many great things to do. We visited Luminate Sandringham for the first time this year.
Booking tickets
Luminate Sandringham is open from 11th November to 18th December 2022. The trail opens at 4:45pm and the last timeslot is at 8pm. The trail closes at 10pm. Tickets must be booked in advance and you must choose a timeslot to arrive. If you miss your timeslot, you may be unable to access the light trail.
2022 Prices
Mon-Wed
(up to Wednesday 23rd November 2022)
Adult: £16.50
Child: £11.50
Family: £52.00
Carers: Free
Thurs-Sun
(plus everyday from Monday 28th November 2022)
Adult: £21.00
Child: £15.00
Family: £65.00
Carers: Free
Getting to Luminate Sandringham
Information from Sandringhamestate.co.uk
By car
Sandringham is 6 miles north-east of King’s Lynn and is signposted from the A148 Fakenham road and the A149 Hunstanton road.
Newer satellite navigation systems should recognise the Royal Park’s postcode of PE35 6AB.
The North and West car parks are open all year for parking. On event days and at busy times, we may open other car parks on site. Please follow signs and directions from our staff and do not park your vehicle anywhere except in designated car parks. Parking charges apply.
By bus
The bus stop for Sandringham is in the Royal Park.
To King’s Lynn
National Express run coaches to King’s Lynn Bus Station, for detailed timetables and enquiries please phone 0871 781 8181 or visit www.nationalexpress.com
From King’s Lynn
Bus number 35 from King’s Lynn Bus Station or from Hunstanton.
Tel: 01553 611955 (Lynxbus)
By train
The nearest train station is King’s Lynn (6 miles approximately), where you can connect to the First bus service.
King’s Lynn train station has the following connections:
- London (Kings Cross): Hourly service to and from King’s Lynn
- Peterborough: Hourly service to and from King’s Lynn
- Norwich: Hourly service to and from King’s Lynn
How long is the trail?
The trail for Luminate Sandringham is roughly 1 mile long and can take anywhere from 1 hour to walk around. The length of time really depends on how quickly you walk and how long you stop to look at the lights. I love taking photos so I stopped quite often and I really wanted to take everything in so we spent around 1 hour 45 minutes walking around.
The halfway point
Around halfway through the light trail there’s a great place to stop and have a break. Here you will find toilets as well as somewhere to buy hot drinks such as hot chocolate, mulled wine or coffees. You can also buy marshmallows to toast on the open fires (which have ropes around to create barriers). Erin absolutely loved this part of the trail. For £2.50, Erin got 2 large marshmallows on a long stick, making it safe for her to be around the fire.
What else is there to do?
In the courtyard you’ll find a vintage fairground, all lit up. It’s a pretty spectacular sight. The rides require tokens, which you can buy from a kiosk or online. In this area you’ll also find a variety of food trucks, selling things like pizza, loaded fries and churros. 9″ pizzas start at £8.50 while regular cones of fries will set you back £4.
Luminate Sandringham
From the minute we arrived at Sandringham, we could feel the magic of Luminate. Everything looked so spectacular, with everything all lit up just as it was getting dark. None of us had ever been to something like this before so we didn’t know what to expect. However, the excitement started immediately and that was such a nice feeling.
When it’s your timeslot you can head to the hut at the start of the trail. Before that though, it’s a good idea to have a look around the courtyard and make use of the toilets before you start. There are more toilets around the halfway mark though.
The trail for Luminate Sandringham is marked out with lights around the floor so it’s really easy to follow. There are stewards dotted around as well keeping an eye on anything and answering any questions if you have them.
We were all blown away by the light trail. There are so many different areas, with beautiful music playing in the background and it was just so stunning to walk around. You’ll see all sorts from reflective ribbons, to disco balls to huge light tunnels. Everywhere you look there is something magical and at every point you’ll find yourself looking to see what else you can find.
At various points in the trail, there are little things for guests to do. We loved playing racing games to light up a Christmas tree, making music and finding out which of us was naughty and who was nice. These little additions around the trail are great for children (and adults) and really help to break up the time a bit.
For our first visit to a light trail, we couldn’t have asked for better than Sandringham. We had a truly magical evening and Erin is still talking about it now and telling all of her friends where we went. Luminate Sandringham is such a great event for the whole family, and something to remember for a long time to come.
