Travel the season

Journey planner

There's plenty of festive fun to be had with First Bus!

Whether you're looking for the best hot chocolates in town, searching the city for Christmas presents or heading to your local theatre to enjoy a classic panto with family..."He's behind you!!"... you can do it all and more with a £2 Single bus ticket.

Travelling in a group? We're pleased to introduce our new Festive Five ticket on the First Bus App for just £10! Available to purchase from the 1st to 31st of December, our Network Festive Five allows unlimited travel for five people of all ages, all day. Perfect for those work-dos, or going Christmas shopping with your mates! Please note that this ticket will only be valid on the day of purchase. Please see our website for full T's & C's.

Simply download the First Bus App to plan your festive adventure, track your bus live on a map and buy your £10 Festive Five ticket before you travel. The ticket will only be valid for travel on the day of purchase. You'll find it under Norfolk & Waveney Network tickets.

Please note that routes 509, 510, 511, school, and contract services are exempt from this offer.

Over Christmas and New Year, our buses may be operating to different timetables than usual. Please click here to head over to our dedicated page with all the details you need.

Discover Christmas in Norfolk & Suffolk

Watch a festive show at Norwich Theatre Royal, or Ipswich’s Regent Theatre

This year, the region's theatres are packed with all the festive shows you could ask for!

Experience mischief with Dr Seuss' The Cat in The Hat (Norwich) or head over to the land of Fairytales with Jack & The Beanstalk (Ipswich). Join Joe Tracini in Aladdin (Norwich), or discover why Eloisa Scrooge is the world's worst boss in Ghosted (Norwich).

Click here to book tickets for Norwich, and here for Ipswich.

Find the perfect present

Ensure you’ve bought for everyone, and visit one of Norfolk and Suffolk’s shopping centres. Chantry Place, Market Gates, and Sailmakers are all top destinations with plenty of small independent and larger high street names to visit meaning you’re bound to find the ideal gift, and whats more, you can catch our buses to get to all three!

Have a wobbly skate at Winter Wonderland

Open Friday to Monday each week between the 22nd November and 5th January, Norwich’s Winter Wonderland is back for another year at the Royal Norfolk Showground. Enjoy a magical winter experience with outdoor ice skating, a classic funfair and plenty of food and drink options. Then, check if you're on the nice list with a visit to Santa's Grotto. Make sure you book tickets in advance, it's very popular!

It's also open on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, and then every day from Friday 27th December until the 5th January.

It's easy to get there; our Excel services A, B, and C stop right outside!

Download our FREE First Bus App

Have everything you need to travel at your fingertips:

Plan your festive journey
Buy your tickets on the app
Track the bus to your stop

Mill Road, Burgh Castle

Due to the closure of Mill Road, combined with temporary traffic lights at Beccles Road we are diverting our service 3 to maintain punctuality across the majority of the route.

After Crab Lane the service will operate direct to Belton and turn right on to Stepshort, resuming usual line of route at Burgh Castle.

Unfortunately this means that Lords Lane, Laurel Drive and Mill Lane will not be served on services operating towards Burgh Castle. They will however be served on journeys operating towards Great Yarmouth.

We apologise to all customer affected by this diversion.

South Park Avenue (Pink 10 & Blue 25)

Due to gas main replacement works taking place on South Park Avenue, it will be closed from Monday 25th November to Friday 6th December.

During this time, service 10 will operate along Peckover Road, Pettus Road, then back onto Peckover Road to return back to the city.

Service 25 will operate via Colman Road & The Avenues.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to your journey.

Guidance on CPCA Tiger ticket validity

Please be reminded that CPCA Tiger U16/16+ tickets are only valid for travel *from* stops within CPCA. These fare stages are Peterborough, Thorney, Thorney Toll, Guyhirn & Wisbech.

This means that we can sell a discounted ticket from Peterborough to Kings Lynn - but we cannot sell a discounted ticket from Kings Lynn to Peterborough, as Kings Lynn is not within the CPCA area. Our drivers will not be able to offer you this ticket, and you will need to purchase a regular Adult/Young Person Single to complete your journey.

If you have any specific queries on ticket validity, please contact our Customer Services team who will be able to advise.

Ravensmere, Beccles (Coastlink X2/X21/X22)

Due to Openreach works taking place on Ravensmere in Beccles, our Coastlink X2/X21/X22 services will need to take a diversion route from Monday 18th November to Thursday 28th November between 19:00 & 06:00 each night.

This will only affect services from Norwich, which will need to operate via the A146 & George Westwood Way - meaning they will be unable to serve Gillingham in that directio only. Services from Lowestoft will be able to operate normal route.

Any passengers from Gillingham towards Lowestoft will need to wait on the bypass at a safe point for buses to stop during this closure.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Stowmarket Town Centre (88)

Due to a major gas replacement scheme taking place across Bury Street, Tavern Street & Finborough Road between Monday 28th October & Friday 13th December - our Stowmarket Swift 87/87A & 88 will need to take diversion routes in two parts.

Part One (28th October to 8th November) of these works will mean that service 88 will serve the stop at Argos as normal, but will operate onto Bury Street, then onto Bury Road, St Edmunds Road, Windermere Road then as normal onto Onehouse Road, Chilton Way & Northfield View. Heading towards Ipswich, services will omit Bury Street and instead operate via Gipping Way to join normal route at Barnards.

Service 87/87A will instead move to depart from the Argos stop, as an alternative to the Bury Street stop.

On Gipping Way, a temporary stop will be in place at the cycle lane commencement road sign - just before the junction with Union Street West. Service 88 towards Ipswich will operate from here in lieu of Bury Street.

Part Two (11th November to 13th December) of these works will mean that service 88 will serve the stop at Argos as normal, but will operate onto Station Road West, then onto Bury Road, St Edmunds Road, Windermere Road then as normal onto Onehouse Road, Chilton Way & Northfield View. Towards Ipswich, services will be able to operate normal route into Bury Street and as a result, service 87/87A will operate as normal too.

We apologise for any inconvenience these works may cause to your journey, however these works are essential and cannot be delayed any further.

A47 Hopton-Lowestoft (1/X21)

Due to National Highways project work taking place along the A47 between Hopton & Lowestoft on weekday nights only (20:00-06:00), our services will be on diversion between Monday 7th October & Friday 6th December. Please see the table below, which explains the different closures that will be in place as the project progresses. On top of the below diversions, please expect some delays due to these diversion routes and increased traffic levels on them.

Dates	Diversion
Monday 7th October to Friday 11th October	The A47 will be closed between Long Lane roundabout & Tesco roundabout. Services will operate via the A12 & Bentley Drive in both directions, meaning that the Gunton Hall & Blundeston Road stops will not be served.
Monday 14th October to Thursday 17th October	The A47 will be closed between Long Lane roundabout & the Tesco roundabout. Services will operate via the A12 & Bentley Drive in both directions, meaning that the Gunton Hall & Blundeston Road stops will not be served. Additionally, Artillery Way will be closed - services leaving Lowestoft won't be able to serve the Old Nelson Street stop in the town centre.
Friday 18th October to Thursday 7th November	The A47 will be closed between the Tesco roundabout & Hollingsworth Road. Services will operate via Bentley Drive, A12, Oulton Road & Hollingsworth Road to join normal route. The Foxburrow stop won't be served.
Friday 8th November to Wednesday 27th November	The A47 will be closed between Hollingsworth Road & St Peters Street roundabout. Services will operate via Hollingsworth Road, Oulton Road, Church Road & St Peters Street. Stops between Hollingsworth Road & Manor Court will not be served.
Wednesday 4th December to Friday 6th December	There will be no diversions - but please expect delays as we will need to be escorted through the road closure on these evenings.

Additionally, on the following dates - service X21 will be on diversion within Lowestoft.
Monday 14th October to Thursday 17th October - services will leave the town via Katwijk Way & Station Square.
Friday 18th October to Friday 25th October - services will enter the town via A47 & Gordon Road.
Friday 22nd November to Wednesday 27th November - services will enter & leave the town via the Gull Wing Bridge & Denmark Road.

Many thanks for your patience as National Highways undertake these essential maintenance works on the road network.

Have a First Bus App account?