London Combo Tour: Tower of London, Cruise and Westminster Abbey

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1
  Tower of London

  Your tour begins outside the Tower of London shop, where you check in with your guide and get an overview of the day. You then head through the fortress walls for a guided tour of the outer grounds and key sites, hearing about royal dramas, executions, and prison escapes. Your guide points out the White Tower, Traitors' Gate, and Tower Green, explaining how this riverside stronghold defended London for centuries. Free time follows, so you can explore independently at your own pace. Most guests head straight for the Crown Jewels to see the coronation regalia and state treasures, while others walk the battlements or return to areas that caught their eye. Guides are not permitted inside the White Tower or the Jewel House, so your guide briefs you beforehand and meets you back at the Tower of London shop at the agreed time.

  2 hours • Admission ticket included
• 2

  From the Tower of London shop, your guide walks you down to nearby Tower Pier on the north bank of the Thames. Here you board your boat for the river leg of the tour.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 3
  Thames River

  Shortly after departing, the boat passes beneath Tower Bridge, the Victorian bascule bridge often mistaken for London Bridge. Your guide explains how the bridge still lifts for tall vessels today. Next, the boat continues upriver past London Bridge, passing the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe on the South Bank. Tune in as your guide covers the theater's Elizabethan origins and its twentieth-century rebuild a short walk from the original site. Lastly, as the cruise approaches Westminster, the London Eye comes into view on the South Bank alongside the riverfront skyline. Your guide narrates the sights before the boat docks at Westminster Pier.

  45 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 4
  Parliament Square

  Stepping off at Westminster Pier, you continue on foot with your guide into Parliament Square. You get close-up views of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament while hearing how this stretch of riverbank became the heart of British political life.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 5
  Westminster Abbey

  Lastly, your guide leads you to Westminster Abbey, helps you through entry, and makes sure your audio guide is set up before saying goodbye. From here you explore independently, tracing royal coronations, tombs, and poets' memorials at your own pace.

  1 hour 30 minutes • Admission ticket included

Additional info

• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
• This tour involves extended walking over uneven stone surfaces, steps, and cobbled areas at the Tower of London and around Westminster.
• Your guide stays with the group from the Tower of London through the Thames boat ride and Parliament Square, after which you explore Westminster Abbey independently with an audio guide.
• Tours run rain or shine, so please bring layers and a waterproof jacket for London's changeable weather.

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