Christmas travel is a familiar ritual in the UK, and 2025 is shaping up to be another extremely busy festive season. Drawing on last year’s insights from the RAC and other national travel sources, millions of drivers are once again expected to hit the roads as the Christmas rush begins. The pattern is likely to follow a similar rhythm: rising traffic levels as schools close, sharp peaks in the final days before Christmas Eve, and long delays on several key motorways.
Here is what you can expect for Christmas 2025, and how both petrol/diesel and EV drivers can prepare for their journeys.
How busy will the roads be this Christmas?
In 2024, the RAC predicted nearly 29 million leisure journeys in the run-up to Christmas, the highest festive travel volume in almost a decade. Congestion peaked between 21st-24th December, as you might expect, fuelled by commuters, holidaymakers and last-minute shoppers all hitting the roads. With Christmas falling the usual one week day later this year, we are expecting to see similar Christmas traffic trends.
The RAC asked drivers why many people continue to favour driving over alternative transport during the festive period. Flexibility played the biggest role, with more than half (53%) of respondents highlighting that travelling by car allowed them to choose their own schedule. Thirty-five per cent said their journey would take too long via public transport, while a third (34%) said public transport wasn’t a practical option because they were travelling with several people or had lots of luggage.
Source: The RAC
Christmas Eve traffic: expected peak times in 2025
Christmas Eve is traditionally one of the busiest days of the year. In 2024, the worst delays were reported between 10am and 4pm, with many major routes experiencing heavy slowdowns.
If you can’t avoid travelling on Christmas Eve, travelling earlier in the day or after 6pm will help avoid the worst traffic.
Boxing Day traffic: where the roads will be busiest
Boxing Day saw noticeable congestion around retail parks, family travel locations and football stadiums. If your travel is flexible, it’s best to set off earlier in the morning and try to avoid these busier hotspots.
EV drivers: charging pressure points and smart travel choices
As of the end of November 2025, over 1.75m cars on UK roads are fully electric – that’s around 5.2% of all the cars on the road. As more households travel long distances and colder temperatures affect range, motorway service areas may see higher demand for charging.
EV drivers planning their journeys over the festive period should anticipate this extra demand, especially on chargers located midway between large cities and near holiday regions. The UK’s charging infrastructure continues to expand, with a 22% growth in public charge points reported since October 2024, but even with this improvement, drivers will benefit from planning stops in advance and checking live availability.
Planning a winter EV journey
Cold temperatures shorten range and increase charging requirements, so EV drivers travelling during the Christmas season would benefit from small adjustments. Refer to our EV Road Trip Planning Guide for more information on planning longer journeys.
Christmas driving tips
To ensure you’re well prepared to tackle the Christmas traffic, here are some practical steps to help reduce delays and improve journey planning:
Plan your route in advance: Live navigation apps, such as Waze or Google Maps, provide updates on congestion, roadworks, accidents and alternative routes. Many also highlight EV charge points with live availability data too. If you drive a petrol or diesel car, you can use the esure app to check the location of local fuel stations and the price of the fuel there.
Plan ahead for tolls and charges: The esure app gives you information on any tolls or city charges specific to the vehicle you’ve registered on it. You can pay them in advance from the app too, so no need to navigate various websites. So if you’re heading into town and need to pay the ULEZ, or hitting the M6 toll near Birmingham, you can pay any charges you need to ahead of time – one less thing to worry about.
Check traffic and weather before you set off: Icy conditions, heavy rain or fog frequently disrupt travel during late December. Reviewing the weather forecast on the morning of travel allows time for route adjustments or earlier departures if needed.
It’s also worth taking a moment to prepare both yourself and your vehicle for winter conditions. For more detailed seasonal advice, visit our related blogs for practical guidance to help you travel confidently throughout the festive period:
10 Essential Tips for Safe Driving in Winter Weather
Preparing Your Car for Winter: Breakdown Cover and Cold Weather Tips
Drivers setting out during the 2025 Christmas period can reduce delays with early planning, flexible departure times and informed route choices. Motorway hotspots are well documented each year, making it easier to anticipate congestion, avoid peak times and use live updates to stay on the move. A little preparation goes a long way towards keeping festive travel stress-free, no matter where the journey leads. Happy Holidays!
Sources:
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/getaway-gridlock-rac-predicts-record-29m-festive-trips-before-the-25th/
https://www.zapmap.com/ev-stats/how-many-charging-points
https://amtauto.co.uk/news/roads-to-avoid-this-christmas
https://nationalhighways.co.uk/
https://www.zapmap.com/ev-stats/ev-market
You might also be interested in
Preparing your car for winter: breakdown cover and cold weather tips
Why winter might be a good time to consider breakdown cover
MOT backlogs in the UK
How to plan ahead and beat the rush
