St Pancras station has revealed its 2026 Christmas tree – and it’s a gigantic advent calendar

St Pancras International Rail Station never settles for just any old Christmas tree. In fact, it doesn’t bring in a real tree at all. Instead, it commissions a huge tree-like installation to sit in the middle of its hall for the festive season. Last year, for example, its ‘tree’ was inspired by a music box and created in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital. In 2024, it was an emerald homage to the Wicked movie, and the year before it was made out of more than 3,000 books. 

Now, the St Pancras Christmas tree 2026 has been unveiled. This year, the design is inspired by a traditional German Christmas pyramid, a wooden carousel powered by candles, with multiple tiers decorated with handcrafted figurines. The station has partnered with the German National Tourist Office and Hilton hotels to bring the structure to life. 

At the base of the 11-metre tree are 24 wooden ‘curiosity windows’ that give visitors a glimpse of Germany’s 16 different regions through their landmarks or unique festive customs. Interactive panels invite people to test their Deutschland knowledge and the three rotating tiers above the base display different landmarks from across the country. 

From December 1, the tree will become a giant advent calendar (advent calendars were invented in Germany, don’t you know). One window will light up every day until Christmas Eve. Over those 24 days, visitors to the station will have the chance to enter daily festive prize draws. The prizes up for grabs include rail travel to Germany, stays at Hilton hotels across Germany and, the biggest prize of all, the chance to become a Hilton Honors Millionaire (one million Hilton Honors points equate to around £3,000). 

The installation came together thanks to more than 2,300 hours of work by a group of 18 craftspeople, which included carpenters, graphic designers, electricians and metalworkers. You can see it at St Pancras International from now until January 2. 

The holidays are coming: here’s when every major London Christmas lights display will turn on for 2026. 

Plus: This is when every London Christmas market returns for 2026. 

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