Ally Pally Darts 2026/27: Where to Stay and How the Ticket Ballot Works

The World Darts Championship runs at Alexandra Palace from 11 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, and this year is different: the event moves into the bigger Great Hall, and every ticket goes through a ballot for the first time. If the darts is the whole point of your trip, stay in Finsbury Park. If you want nightlife and sightseeing around a session, stay at King's Cross and ride the Victoria line. Below is how the ballot works, the four areas we would actually book, and the late-night trains nobody seems able to agree on.

The dates that matter for 2026/27

The Paddy Power World Darts Championship starts on Friday 11 December 2026 and ends with the final on Sunday 3 January 2027, the first Sunday final in the event's Ally Pally history. There is the usual Christmas pause between 24 and 27 December, and the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final all land in the New Year window.

The venue itself is the story this year. After nearly two decades in the West Hall, the tournament moves into Alexandra Palace's Great Hall, taking each session from about 3,200 spectators to more than 5,200 and the total ticket pot to around 180,000. Last season 125,000 fans got in across the whole tournament, so this is the biggest capacity jump the event has ever had. The PDC has also committed to Alexandra Palace until at least 2031, so the venue is not going anywhere.

How the ticket ballot works, and the deadline that comes first

Tickets used to sell out in a July scramble that regularly crashed the PDC's site. For 2026/27 that is gone: every ticket is allocated by ballot, in two waves, and the first deadline arrives before either ballot opens.

• Sunday 30 August, 11.59pm: the cut-off to hold an active PDCTV annual membership. Join after this and you can only enter the general ballot.
• Tuesday 1 to Monday 7 September: the PDCTV members' ballot. Opens midday on the 1st, closes 11.59pm on the 7th.
• Tuesday 8 to Monday 14 September: the general ballot, open to everyone, one entry per person.
• During September: every applicant is emailed the result, successful or not. Entry does not guarantee tickets, and there may be nothing left after the ballots close.

Accessible tickets sit inside the same ballot, clearly marked, and each comes with a complimentary carer ticket; you will need proof of PIP or an equivalent award. If the ballot does not go your way, official hospitality packages such as the 501 Club are the remaining route in, though most hospitality areas ban full fancy dress, which rather changes the evening.

Where should you stay for the darts?

Alexandra Palace has no hotels on its doorstep, so every darts trip is really a transport decision. Four areas work, for four different sorts of trip.

Finsbury Park is the one we would book for an evening session. It is the start of the W3 bus route, which stops right by the venue, and Great Northern trains from Finsbury Park reach Alexandra Palace station in 6 to 7 minutes, roughly every 10 minutes. Stroud Green Road next to the station is lined with proper pubs and independent food, so the pre-session pint sorts itself.

🏨Our pickFinsbury Rose, a two-minute walk from Finsbury Park station, with self check-in and quadruple rooms that fit a darts group→

The bigger rooms at Finsbury Rose run to 30 square metres with their own kitchen, which is rare at this level in Zone 2 and useful when four of you are splitting the trip. There is no lift and no parking, so it suits train travellers rather than drivers.

King's Cross is what darts forums have recommended for years, and they are right if the darts is one night of a longer stay. From King's Cross you either take the Victoria line to Finsbury Park and jump on the W3, or catch the direct Great Northern train to Alexandra Palace. We do not list anywhere at King's Cross itself. One Victoria line stop north, and one stop short of Finsbury Park, the Highbury & Islington Hub has two self-catering flats about 70 metres from the station, with their own kitchens and a door code instead of a reception; they are on the first floor with no lift, so pack accordingly.

East Finchley gives you space. The Bishop, a 1930s mansion on The Bishops Avenue, is our closest place to Alexandra Palace as the crow flies, about two miles away, with free reserved parking and suites big enough to hold a pool table. Be honest with yourself about the journey though: no bus runs from East Finchley to the Palace door, so it is a short taxi or a drive over Muswell Hill, and the walk to East Finchley tube is 13 to 14 minutes. Best for drivers and families who want somewhere quiet.

Enfield is where your money goes furthest. The Roza Hotel opposite Enfield Town station opened in January 2026, so the rooms are new, air-conditioned and quiet, with a food court downstairs. One thing to know before you book: the direct train to Alexandra Palace leaves from Enfield Chase, not Enfield Town, and Enfield Chase is a 12 to 15 minute walk from the hotel. Manage that and the train itself takes about 11 minutes.

Wood Green is the closest tube station and the obvious-looking choice, and we would think twice. The hill walk up to the Palace takes 15 to 25 minutes, and the High Road is loud until the small hours; light sleepers facing the street will hear the buses, the bars and everything else. As a place to get a quick pint and a Piccadilly line train it is ideal. As a place to sleep before an early Eurostar, less so.

Getting home after the evening session

This is the question every darts forum asks and none of them answers with actual times, so here they are, from the current National Rail timetable.

Evening sessions run from 7pm to roughly 11pm. From Alexandra Palace station, at the bottom of the hill, trains towards Moorgate leave at 11.31pm, 11.46pm, 12.02am and 12.16am, and direct trains to King's Cross leave at 11.41pm, 12.11am and finally 12.46am, which calls at Finsbury Park at 12.50am and arrives at King's Cross at 12.58am. That pattern holds seven nights a week. Festive timetables can trim it on specific dates, so check National Rail for your exact night, but the planning picture is simple: you have well over an hour of trains after the last dart.

The W3 bus keeps going too, every 8 to 11 minutes through the late evening, with last buses shortly after midnight. It is not a 24-hour route on any night, whatever older guides say. The Night Tube is Friday and Saturday only, when the Victoria and Piccadilly lines run all night; every other night the last tubes leave around midnight, which is another reason the train from the venue's own station beats hiking back down to Wood Green.

Fancy dress, pubs and the bag rule

An Ally Pally session is a Christmas party that happens to contain darts. Fancy dress is everywhere at evening sessions, from penguin suits to full traffic-cone regalia, and it is allowed in the arena as long as it does not block anyone's view. Get changed at your accommodation before you set off: the venue allows one small bag roughly A4 size per person, the cloakroom queue is real, and the whole site runs cashless once you are inside.

For the pre-session pint, the Victoria Stakes at the bottom of Alexandra Palace Way fills with both the afternoon crowd coming out and the evening crowd going in, and the Starting Gate sits directly opposite Alexandra Palace station. On site, the Phoenix Bar by the Palm Court entrance leads straight into the fan village. Afternoon sessions, which start at 12.30pm, are calmer, easier to win in the ballot and much better with kids; evening sessions carry the big names and the noise.

If you are building a longer London trip around your session, the tournament conveniently overlaps the capital's Christmas season: our guide to hotels near London's Christmas markets covers the December side of the same trip, and for everywhere else we list in the capital, start with our London hotels page.

One last thing on timing. The business end of the tournament lands right on top of New Year travel, with the final on Sunday 3 January, so that weekend squeezes rooms hardest of all. If the ballot hands you tickets for the business end, book the room the same evening. The email means thousands of other people just got the same good news.