The Lions have Felixstowe's lights going on at 5pm on Saturday 28 November 2026 at The Triangle, Hamilton Road. Free, and the parking page you find is 2015.
Felixstowe’s Christmas lights go on at 5pm on Saturday 28 November 2026, at The Triangle on Hamilton Road, IP11 7AD. The event runs from noon to 6pm and it is free.
That date is confirmed by the organiser, not inferred. The Lions Club of Felixstowe has it in its own events calendar with the times and the location. (Lions Club of Felixstowe)
Checked on 4 September 2026.
What is confirmed, and what is not
Confirmed: the date, the noon to 6pm window, the 5pm switch-on, The Triangle as the site, and free entry.
Not confirmed: the programme. The Lions’ own listing says “TBA” against it. What the club does say it will bring is its barbecue, stalls, music and Santa’s Grotto.
For a sense of the shape of the day, the 2025 event ran on Saturday 29 November on the same 12pm to 6pm pattern, with the lights on at 5pm, a barbecue, stalls, live music and a grotto, all free to attend. (Lions Club of Felixstowe, 2025)
The 2026 date fits the town’s long-standing rule of the last Saturday in November. It was Saturday 30 November in 2024, Saturday 29 November in 2025 and Saturday 28 November this year.
Who actually owns the lights
Not the council. The Lions Club says the town’s Christmas lights started in 1979 and the club has put them up ever since. Each year the club President chooses the tree for The Triangle from Swans Nursery, and a star made by the local firm Kirton Forge was added a couple of years ago. The club works with Felixstowe Town Council and the town’s Business Improvement District on new displays each year.
That matters if you are chasing information: the town council and the BID both publish about the event, but the club’s calendar is the source that carries the date first.
The parking page you will probably find, and why to ignore it
Search for Felixstowe parking on switch-on day and you land on a Felixstowe Town Council post headed “Free car parking all day in Felixstowe for the Christmas lights switch on, Saturday 28 November”. It names Crescent Road, Highfield Road and Ranelagh Road car parks, free from 8am to 6pm.
That post was published on 16 November 2015. It is eleven years old and still live. It reads as though it were written for this year for one reason only: 28 November happened to fall on a Saturday in 2015 as well as in 2026. Do not book your day around it.
Nobody has announced free parking for 2026. East Suffolk Council, which runs the car parks, does normally give each town one free day timed to its switch-on: in 2024 it gave Felixstowe Saturday 30 November and Woodbridge Thursday 28 November, and it announced the whole list on 20 November that year. (Suffolk News, 20 November 2024) The council’s news feed carried nothing festive as of 4 September 2026, and on past form the announcement lands in the third week of November.
What parking actually costs if it is not free
All three car parks in that 2015 post still exist, on today’s council tariff sheet. Charges apply 8am to 6pm every day, bank holidays included, so anyone arriving for the 5pm switch-on pays for one hour of a session and then charging stops.
| Car park | Postcode | Free 30 mins | 2 hours | All day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crescent Road (short stay) | IP11 7PB | Yes | £2.10 | £8.30 |
| Highfield Road (long stay) | IP11 7BZ | Yes | £2.10 | £5.20 |
| Ranelagh Road (long stay) | IP11 7EX | No | £2.10 | £5.20 |
Ranelagh Road is the trap: it is the only one of the three with no free half hour, and a zero fee session still has to be registered at a machine or in an app to count. (East Suffolk Council car park tariffs 2026)
If you would rather park on the seafront and walk up, the seafront car parks are in the council’s seasonal band and the rate drops on 1 November: £2.10 for two hours and £5.20 for the day from November to the end of March, against £4.20 and £8.30 in summer.
Blue Badge holders get no concession. East Suffolk provides designated bays but charges everyone the standard tariff.
Our parking page sets out how the council’s zero fee sessions and penalty rules work in more detail, and roadworks and travel covers the A12 and A14 approaches.
The other switch-ons along this coast
No other town on the coast has published a 2026 date yet. For reference, these were the 2025 dates, and most of these towns keep to the same week of the year. (The Suffolk Coast)
- Aldeburgh, Saturday 22 November 2025, 5pm
- Woodbridge, Thursday 27 and Friday 28 November 2025
- Southwold, Saturday 29 November 2025, switch-on 5pm
- Framlingham, Friday 5 and Saturday 6 December 2025
- Saxmundham, Saturday 6 December 2025, 3pm to 7pm
- Leiston, Saturday 13 December 2025
Woodbridge’s own event has not been announced for 2026 either. We track it on a separate page.
Two other Lions dates before Christmas
- Family Fun Dog Show, Sunday 27 September 2026, 12pm to 5.30pm, Trimley Sports and Social Club
- Model Railway Exhibition, Sunday 11 October 2026, 11am to 4pm, Felixstowe Leisure Centre, Undercliff Road West
Checked 4 September 2026. We will update this page when the Lions publish the 2026 running order and when East Suffolk announces its festive free parking days, expected mid to late November.
Have your say