Santa tracker 2024 live: how to follow Santa with Google or Norad

Over on the NORAD site we've got holiday songs, Santa facts, and games involving penguins, candy canes and plenty more – each house on the main page has something behind it.

In fact, there's enough here to keep you entertained all through Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so it might be worth bookmarking these pages for later.

According to NORAD, Santa will be on his merry way in less than an hour.

While we're patiently waiting for Santa's reindeers to hoist him into the air, there are a ton of ways to pass the time on both the Google Santa Tracker and the NORAD Santa Tracker.

Head to the Google site and you can play a variety of games: from bouncing presents into their targets to taking down elves with snowballs. Just click the menu button in the top left to see the games gallery.

So, what can you expect to see once Santa takes off? Well, Google uses its Maps technology to plot the bearded one's progress, as well as providing a helpful tally of how many gifts he's delivered so far and some useful information about the local area.

NORAD, meanwhile, has the advantage of having actual satellite images of Santa on his sleigh, rather than just a cartoon. Our suggestion: follow both and get double the fun. (You'll find the links just above this post.)

Whether it's right about the takeoff time or not, Google's Santa Tracker site really is a wonderful thing, and I particularly love the little video that plays at the start. It's enough to get even the hardest-hearted Grinch into the festive spirit. But, if anyone from Google is reading this, I do have a slight issue with it – and it concerns penguins.

Look, we all know Santa lives at the North Pole. But we also know that penguins are southern-hemisphere creatures. They don't live in the North Pole. Then again, maybe Santa has flown them out there to help him prepare for Christmas – they do seem quite good at getting him ready for his flight, after all.

Good morning everyone! Marc here again for a couple more hours as we approach lift-off time.

I still need to do all of my wrapping sometime in the next 12 hours or so – let's hope Santa is better organized, given that he gets going in only 90 minutes, according to NORAD. Google, meanwhile, says he still has 2.5hrs until takeoff – so it's giving him a little lie-in, maybe.

I'll dig into some of those games tomorrow, but it's well past midnight here in the UK, which means it's officially Christmas Eve – and also that I need to go to bed.

I'll back in a few hours, ready for lift off. See you then.

So, what else is available on NORAD?

Well, quite a lot actually. There's the HQ, where you can learn about NORAD and its mission and history. There's the Library, where you can learn all about Santa, his sleigh and his reindeer. There's the Music Stage – where you can listen to his favorite songs – The Theater, where you can watch films about him, and a Gift Shop where you can buy Santa merch.

And of course there's The Arcade… where you can play Santa-themed games. Guess which one I'm trying first?

While we can't actually see Santa in flight yet – that'll happen in around 8-9 hours – we do have an idea of what he's currently up to, thanks to NORAD. They've got a candid behind-the-scenes shot of him preparing to take flight. I thought there'd be more gifts than that, to be honest.

So, let's take a little look at what the NORAD and Google Santa Tracker sites are saying about Santa's departure time.

On NORAD, St Nick is due to take off in 8hrs and 45mins, which would put it at 9am GMT / 4am ET / 1am PT / 8pm AEDT.

Google, meanwhile, has Santa taking flight an hour after that, at 10am GMT / 5am ET / 2am PT / 9pm AEDT.

Why the difference? Who knows – but the important thing is that he visits everyone at some point over the course of the night, right?

Down under in Australia, Santa gets a nice cold beer to help him beat the heat, whereas Danish families leave out a bowl of rice pudding with cinnamon called Risengrod for the elves. In the US, Santa gets milk and cookies, and Argentina sees the reindeer rejuvenated with hay and water.

There's still some time before Santa takes off, so if you haven't set up Santa's special thank-you gift yet, now's the perfect time. Here in the UK, we leave carrots for Santa's reindeer, and the man himself receives a mince pie and sometimes even some kind of alcoholic tipple like sherry or brandy (or Guinness, in some Irish households!).

And look, we have a photo of him enjoying just that kind of feast. Okay, it's not really a photo, obviously – it's an image we generated using Adobe Firefly. Looks pretty accurate though, right?

I should really introduce myself at this stage – very rude of me to not do so. So I'm Marc, and I'll be your guide for the next hour or so. Hi! ????

Yes, it's the highlight of our year once again – time for TechRadar's annual Santa tracker!

The big man himself is readying all stations to set off on his annual world tour, but there's still plenty of time left to get yourself ready for his arrival. After all, it's not even Christmas Eve yet in many parts of the world.

We'll be live blogging Santa's journey over the next day and a half, bringing you the latest on his whereabouts and sharing plenty of info about Christmas traditions as we go. Trust us – it's the best possible way to prepare for the big day.

Right then, on with the show…