English Riviera to hold ‘Bay of Lights 2025’ from 28 November to 02 January
Following the resounding success of Bay of Lights 2024, the English Riviera BID Firm working in partnership with Torbay Council has launched dates for the 2025 occasion. Working from 28 November – 02 January, Bay of Lights 2025 guarantees to be even greater and brighter this 12 months, that includes dazzling new sights and breathtaking illuminations that can remodel the area right into a festive wonderland.
Bay of Lights 2024 noticed a formidable 37% improve in footfall, marking a big enhance of 1.2 million guests and solidifying the occasion’s standing as a must-visit Christmas spectacle within the Southwest – with overwhelming constructive suggestions from attendees and native companies alike.
Spanning the picturesque seafronts of Torquay, Paignton, and Brixham, the Bay of Lights options an array of enchanting occasions designed to please guests of all ages. Highlights from final 12 months’s pageant, a lot of which can return in 2025, embrace the magical Practice of Lights, an illuminated journey aboard Dartmouth Steam Railway’s classic steam prepare. This distinctive expertise transports passengers by a twinkling tunnel and an enchanted forest earlier than arriving on the glowing riverside city of Kingswear.
One other returning favorite, funded by Torbay Council is the Illumination Path; a charming 1.5-mile mild path by Torquay that includes beautiful shows akin to a seven-foot light-up octopus, a large glowing snowflake, and the favored Torre Abbey Gardens mild tunnel. Whereas there, benefit from the festive Christmas Markets set in Torre Abbey’s historic grounds. This charming market is the right place to browse for distinctive items, take pleasure in scrumptious native meals, and absorb the vacation spirit.
Additionally at Torre Abbey, don’t miss the possibility to expertise the spellbinding present, Alive with Mild. This winter, Torre Abbey is ready to return alive in a panoramic fusion of sunshine, historical past, and festive magic. Audiences shall be taken on a mesmerizing visible journey by the abbey’s wealthy previous, from its founding by the Premonstratensians within the twelfth century to the current day. The immersive expertise will showcase the evolution of Christmas celebrations throughout the centuries, dropped at life with beautiful imagery and an evocative soundtrack that includes music from the Medieval, Tudor, Georgian, and Victorian eras.
Guests may sit up for Santa within the Caves, a one-of-a-kind Christmas journey by the prehistoric Kents Cavern, the place households can take pleasure in an interactive pantomime efficiency earlier than assembly Santa in his festively embellished grotto. A Very Miniature Christmas at Babbacombe Mannequin Village will remodel the attraction right into a magical miniature Christmas wonderland, full of twinkling lights and vacation scenes.
For these on the lookout for a historic vacation expertise, Christmas at Greenway presents a journey again in time on the Nationwide Belief’s Greenway Home, the place guests can immerse themselves in an Agatha Christie-era Christmas, that includes a festive wreath path and historic vacation traditions.
Carolyn Custerson, CEO of English Riviera BID Firm, stated: “We’re delighted to announce the official dates for Bay of Lights 2025. Final 12 months’s occasion was an exceptional success, with record-breaking customer numbers and unimaginable neighborhood engagement.
“Bay of Lights is rapidly turning into a nationwide ‘must-see’ occasion, and we’re excited to welcome guests again for what guarantees to be our most spectacular celebration but. Escape your on a regular basis and expertise Christmas like by no means earlier than on the English Riviera.”
Cllr Jacqueline Thomas, Cupboard Member for Tourism, Tradition & Occasions and Company Companies at Torbay Council stated: “We’re thrilled to announce that the Bay of Lights is again for a fourth consecutive 12 months. The suggestions we’ve acquired has proven us that final 12 months’s occasion was the largest and finest but, and we’re desperate to high that after once more in 2025.
“It was unbelievable to see Torbay come alive over Christmas with pleasure and illuminations. Bay of Lights showcases every little thing the English Riviera has to supply and the onerous work we’re placing in to repeatedly improve Torbay.”
The Bay of Lights Illumination path is free to discover, with some Bay of Lights particular sights and occasions requiring tickets.