It’s that time of the year again when Alton Towers throws on its festive fun Christmas event and for the second year running the beautiful festive lantern display, Lightopia returns with a new route and big finale for 2022.

Christmas markets, Santa Sleepovers at the Alton Towers hotel and numerous rides open including everything inside CBeebies Land, Hex, The World of David Walliams and even Spinball Whizzer.
Markets sell everything from cheese to chocolate, knitted goods and even moonshine! There’s something for everyone but we will say that the prices are a little steep here and there but that’s to be expected smack bang inside the UK’s biggest theme park.
Entry to the market is free but ticket options are available for the rides and Lightopia (charged at £15).
Beautiful Christmas trees line Towers Street as you enter the gates but this is nothing compared to what they look like at night time as the entire street beautifully lights up and the atmosphere around the markets is lovely no matter the weather.
A bandstand sits front and centre of the market area with a roaming band playing all sorts of festive tunes doing the circuit of the market before playing some tunes on the bandstand itself.

There’s a two-tier bar to sit on and overlook the market and the world going by and there are numerous little huts to sit in whilst snacking on the various food and drinks on offer. I was surprised that none of the huts were equipped with heaters though as that could really come in handy during these chilly winter days and nights we’re having currently.
A marshmallow fire pit is just around the corner though so worst comes to the worst you can huddle around that for warmth.
Bratwurst, Yorkshire pudding wraps, Greek food and Crepes are just a select few food options available as has been the case for many of the 2022 Alton Towers seasonal events, the Crepes aren’t too bad in terms of pricing but the others are a little pricey.
Lightopia is a beautiful event as a whole trail of light, projections and ambient music immerses you into this beautifully festive experience that you absolutely must do.
For £15 it’s a bargain compared to other events out there charging much more for much less.

The event this year felt a little shorter in terms of the walk with the trail taking 90 minutes to complete last year vs the 60 minutes it took to complete this year. This is no doubt because of the work going on around the Nemesis rollercoaster and as a result that whole section of the park is closed off so the trail cuts through the woods and cuts off a large portion of the walkthrough compared to last year.
There’s a beautiful forest light show and a water display finale with projections that sadly weren’t working on opening night when we went however the second we saw a video online from that same night but later on, both were working, typical!
They both looked fantastic but there were a few teething issues on opening night with some lanterns turned off, projection walls not working correctly and the lack of the garden/water show when we walked past. We did wait a good 10-15 minutes at each section but they just didn’t want to work for us. Stage fright is an understatement. 

This year there is a great interactive element to Lightopia where you hit bongos that send lights around a giant tree, this was a great touch and everyone was getting involved in that before seeing the beautiful dragon lantern finale.
With this particular dragon sitting directly in front of the towers you have to walk past it to get to Hex and The World of David Walliams so for me this kind of spoiled the finale as we had done the rides earlier in the day and had seen it all. It’s a shame they didn’t cover this somehow throughout the day.
Lightopia is a wonderful event and despite it being a little lacking in terms of immersive audio and lights in certain sections of the walkthrough it’s still well worth the money if albeit not as good (for me) as it was last year.
Check out our VLOG of the Lightopia walkthrough below