Christmas in Lagos With Kids: Which Day to Fly Out

Step 1: Pick your dates: out December 21, back January 4

Booking week · about an hour

From Houston, book United out December 21 and back January 4: $3,811 a seat on October 20, the cheapest Christmas pair we checked (as of October 2026, source: United Airlines). The December 19 to January 2 pair costs $1,006 more a seat, or $4,024 for four.

This table gives United's October 20 fare for each 14-night pair.

Source: United booking search for one adult, lowest economy round trip with taxes, read October 20, 2026; four seats cost four times that (child fares not quoted).

Which dates fit your school calendar

Houston ISD breaks Friday, December 18 and restarts January 5, so fly Monday, December 21 and return January 4; this table maps each calendar to its Lagos window.

Sources: the publisher named in each row, read October 2026.

If Christmas Day isn't the point, price a UK half term or US spring break trip instead.

Step 2: Getting there and getting in: file every e-Visa the week you book

Right after booking · 30 minutes each

File an e-Visa for everyone in the week you book: visa on arrival ended May 1, 2025 (as of October 2026, source: Nigeria Immigration Service).

Departures by hub

This table gives each hub's fare and outbound journey time for December 21 to January 4.

Sources: United's booking search, one adult, read October 20, 2026, and Delta's baggage page, October 2026. We found no fare for these dates from London (Virgin Atlantic, 7h) or Toronto (Royal Air Maroc). We found none from Dubai (Emirates, 8h 35m) or Atlanta (Delta nonstop, 11h 15m).

If you fly Delta, it checks strollers (pushchairs) and car seats free, so check them rather than take them as carry-on (hand luggage).

Entry by passport

If a parent is Nigerian by birth on a foreign passport, apply for F9A for that parent and F9B for the children. For a child born abroad, pick one passport: "interchangeable use of passports is not allowed". Otherwise, if you stay with relatives, use the Visiting Visa F6A, granted "for social visits to family and friends". A family vacation (a holiday, in UK terms) in a hotel uses the Tourism Visa F5A.

Each visa is valid 90 days from issue, so apply no more than 90 days before you land. One family application covers up to 10 people, and the application needs:

• A passport valid 6 months or more, plus a photo.
• A return ticket, and a hotel booking or host address.
• A bank statement for the last 180 days.
• For each child under 18, a birth certificate and parental consent letter.
• For F6A, your host's letter "accepting immigration responsibility (IR)" and a copy of their Nigerian passport or residency permit.

Before you fly, fill in a free online landing card for each traveler, and a departure card before you leave. The FCDO says officers may ask for them at the airport.

This table settles what each passport needs, pays and may stay.

Sources: Nigeria Immigration Service fee table (Appendix I) and its visa pages, read October 2026.

Nigeria requires a yellow fever certificate from everyone except babies 8 months or younger and adults 61 or older, the UK Foreign Office (FCDO) says. CDC says it isn't required for travelers arriving from the US, unless they connect through a country with yellow fever risk. We'd book shots that week for everyone from 9 months and pack the malaria tablets CDC advises.

Visa rules read on the Nigeria Immigration Service site; health rules on FCDO and CDC, October 2026.

Step 3: Stay with family, or pick a Victoria Island family room

6 weeks out · an evening

Stay with relatives if they have room (F6A visa). Otherwise, the Lagos Continental's Superior Twin Family Room on Victoria Island lists "Rates from $ 170", which we read as per night, about ₦226,000. Its page lists two twin beds but no occupancy or tax, so ask about both.

In Ikoyi, The George is from $410 a night for one guest with breakfast, taxes included, but its Classic rooms take no extra beds. If your 10-year-old won't share a twin bed, book two family rooms.

Rates read on the Lagos Continental and The George sites, October 2026.

Compare two tabs: Victoria Island family hotels on Expedia and the Lagos Continental's own site, then book the cheaper one. Staying near family in Lekki? Start with Lekki hotels on Expedia.

Step 4: Book the days out, and budget a 10-year-old as an adult

4 weeks out · 20 minutes

Budget ₦56,975 for an Omu Resort day for two adults and children of 6 and 10 (as of October 2026, source: Omu Resort). The Gold ticket is ₦15,050 from age 10, ₦11,825 for younger children and free under age 2. That's about $43 for four. Omu opens Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 6 p.m., and it's cashless.

Lekki Conservation Centre has what the Nigerian Conservation Foundation calls Africa's longest canopy walkway. Call +234 906 546 0479 before you go, as the foundation publishes no fee or hours. Skip Landmark Beach, which "is no longer operational". Phone Nike Art Gallery on +234 803 409 6656 first, since its site lists no hours.

Read on Omu Resort, Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Landmark Africa and Nike Centre pages, October 2026.

Step 5: What events are happening in Lagos this December? Detty December by day, not by night

3 weeks out · 15 minutes

Detty December, Lagos's party season, typically runs December 6 to 31 with concerts, festivals and beach parties (as of October 2026, source: CNN). For children of 6 and 10, the daytime plan is two outings. Eko Hotels' Hakuna Matata inflatable park at Eko Atlantic is "suitable for all ages", and the Omu Resort day sits in Step 4.

Hakuna Matata is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. If you land on a Monday, do Omu first and keep Wednesday for Hakuna Matata. Leave the concerts and beach parties to the grown-ups.

Source: Eko Hotels and Suites, read October 2026.

Step 6: Sort money, rides and safety before you fly

1 week out · an hour

With kids of 6 and 10, carry a card and some cash, pack both car seats, and book the airport pickup with family or the hotel. The FCDO warns of crime near ATMs and card fraud. CDC calls motor vehicle crashes "the #1 killer of healthy US citizens in foreign countries", and Uber's Lagos drivers may have no car seats.

The US State Department rates Nigeria "Level 3: Reconsider Travel" and says kidnappers "primarily target dual national citizens visiting Nigeria". Its do-not-travel list names Abia, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu, Imo and Rivers (except Port Harcourt), plus 15 more states and northern Adamawa. If anyone in your family holds both passports, arrange every ride in advance.

Lagos State is on neither government's do-not-travel list. For UK passports, this table gives the FCDO's warnings in its own regional groups.

Sources: FCDO, CDC, Uber and US State Department, read October 2026. Travel against FCDO advice can invalidate your travel insurance.

If relatives expect you outside Lagos, check both lists first. Buy insurance with medical evacuation, as the State Department advises, since most hospitals don't accept US health insurance (see our family travel insurance and emergency prep guide).