An interesting and historical place. I would heavily advise going to see the crown jewels out of peak times. I thought I'd walk the battlements and save the best until last. 2hrs in a queue later and I finally see them over 10 minutes.
If you by tickets online GO TO group ticket booth!!! I did read fine print and it is not clearly directed at queues...
Loved the tower! Sadly not enough time to explore it all.
Fantastic day out, was there four and a half hours and it wasn't long enough.
Iconic site, does worth the visit, so much history inside and outside. In front of the Thames, next to the Tower Bridge
It's quite interesting and the view from there is beautiful. Close to the London Bridge.
It's not cheap, but it's worth it.
You can buy your ticket online and skip a queue.
They said the buildings close at 17:30h, but if you want to get in at 17:25h, you won't be able to get in.
The place is enormous, and there's long queues, so get there before 13h if you want to see it properly.
Wear comfy shoes and clothes, there's a lot of walking and in the summer it gets quite hot, specially in the buildings.
Is this your first time visiting Tower of London? Here's what to know before you go (KBUG):
***TIPS/suggestions***
Disclaimer: this was my experience and yours maybe different depending on size of your group, weather and
1 - Buy the London Pass since admission is included for Tower of London ( and much more)
*Note: No London Pass? Buy tickets and print at your hotel. This allows you to walk right up and get your tickets scanned AVOIDING standing in line to exchange your voucher/receipt for a ticket. NO mobile options we found. But this may have changed.
2 - Purchase the Audio Guide. It helps you navigate and better understand all the nuances and historical relevance throughout the tour.
*Note: if you like a guide with a logical flow, or enjoy signs with numbers indicating exactly where you are, you will be disappointed. The audio tour guide is helpful to gain insight on the various rooms and towers; however, it won't provide you with an easy self-guided tour. While touring you can expect to take many photos, videos and selfies; although, the audio guide won't flow well and become confused and lost. Especially with two sets of Crown Jewels.
3 - Dress for the weather. You'll be outside for a decent amount of the tour.
4 - Plan on being there for at least 3-4 hours, if you plan to take it all in. There is so much to see and do and discuss, it benefits you to take your time and enjoy it all.
5 - There are many restaurants and bars within close walking distance.
6 - Toilets just outside the Tower are 50 pence and require coins.
7 - Take the hop-on-hop-off Big Bus Tour, to get there, it's included in the London Pass.
8 - Bags are allowed but will be searched
9 - Be prepared to walk up many narrow steps.
A stunning castle with sooooo much to see and do! Don't miss the meat eating ravens, what used to be the world's first zoo and the crown jewels!
A must visit site for any london traveller. If u have been waiting to see the famed crown jewels this is the place for you. If u are a history fan get yourself a guide.
The royal Armoury was great. The Qur'an were long to get into each exhibition. I'd recommend heading straight to the crown jewels as we missed out seeing them.
Great day spend walking amongst history, beautiful views, lovely staff, very poignant on Remember ence Day
Good place to visit with lots of historic information, not the easiest with pram but well worth a visit.
Expensive...but actually really good and worth the money. Collections are utterly unique and facinating. There's more history that you can handle.
A good 3 hours well worth a visit the only downside was the fact that we were unlucky enough to get the only yeoman warder to be allergic to rain He cancelled our tour just as the very light drizzle stopped! Very disappointing as not the cheapest place to visit so can't exactly just go back to do it another day
The Tower of London is a must see place in almost all guides and I would agree, but I have to say the guided tour (which is free with entree) is the real must try here. They have a ton of back stories and interesting facts that make you feel what it might have been like to live there.
Oh and in case you were wondering, there are bathrooms inside the Tower of London and some light food options.
Lastly, there is a lot of stair climbing here, enough to mention it and consider it if you have little kids.
My daughters loved thus trio for her birthday castle and jewels all under one roof . Staff were helpful
Amazing location with many dark corners, great history and a great day out. Disability friendly for all ages and abilities
Great visit, interesting history with options for guided tours.
Great tour with lots of history. Make sure you time the jewels right as can be very busy in the middle of the day and be sure you tag along to a beefeater guided tour! Most entertaining!!
It was incredible to be walking in the same footsteps that so many historical persons had walked.
It was interesting to see the progression of the tower throughout time.
Getting to see the Crown Jewels up close was quite an experience. Such beautiful craftsmanship.
Wear your good walking shoes because you'll be doing a lot of walking.
Lovely place. You need whole day to visit but is worth it
Excellent to visit. Very informative & interesting to all ages. Long queue to see the Crown Jewels but it moved quite quickly.
A great tour by the Beef Eaters and then the crown jewels and gold are really spectacular.
Great piece of history. Easy to navigate around. Friendly staff
It is wonderful to witness such an architectural place.. it is amazing with such elaborate history mentioned there...it looks poetic at night....best part is the crown jewels, where one can catch the glimpse of Kohinoor.. as an Indian I was excited to have a look...
A must visit. This is history, a royal residence, a fortress , a prision.
Get the fish and chips at the little place under the ticket booth! So good!
Do it with the tour guide. He will scream a lot, but you will have a blast.
Great tour from Gary the Yeoman Guard, would recommend taking.
Immense historical collection to suit all ages. This has to be one of the most interesting and thought provoking collections anywhere in the world. Tips for your day....Get there at opening time and tick the Crown Jewels off your list. Head to the Lower Wakefield Tower for a fascinating if gory understanding of ways torture was conducted. This also gets very busy so queue early for this line. The kids will love it! You can exit the Tower at Traitors Gate to go for lunch at the many cafes/ bars and restaurants in the area. We went to the great value Liberty Bounds pub at the top of Tower Hill. The Beefeaters tour is a must as they are real characters and bring the history of the whole place to life. A great day out!!
Interesting place. Know some history before you go. Stop and listen to the Beefeaters!
Fantastic experience, this place never disappoints. The history alone is amazing a must see place when in London. My grandson loved going to knight school and was in awe of the entire place.
Welcome to medieval times! We walked thru this fairly quickly as we did not want to wait in the line to see the bloody tower and royal jewels. Better things to do and see while visiting London. Having seen castle before, the most impressive thing is the courtyard within and how well they have kept this since the early 1700s. Great tourist attraction when using the London Pass. Worth an hour of your time with no line waiting just to walk the perimeter and a few walls.
Great time and very well organized! Not too expensive either
Very nice to walk through and the tours are a must do! Even when the weather is rainy one can spend a lot of time on the weapon museum and tower rooms.
One of my favorite historical sites. It is a little pricey to go to, but there is so much history and plenty to see. I would highly recommended doing the guided tour with one of the beefeaters. They are wonderful!
I almost skipped buying a ticket to enter - cost around $40. But it was worth every cent. Take the brief guided tour with the yeoman warder. Don't miss.
The guide was amazing!!! I suggest going around with one because it really makes the visit special. The Crown Jewels were amazing.
History that you can see, touch, and feel in your soul. The Crown Jewels are worth the wait. The site of many a historical event. We learned a lot. For instance, I learned the saying "one for the road" comes from waiting to be executed. Having one for the road, is a drink for the walk to the guillotine. So much to see and learn about. I don't want to carry on, but a MUST visit, when in London.
Amazing experience and I will definitely recommend this tour for friends
I needed around 5 hours to go through all the self-guided tours here. Definitely worth a visit if you're interested in the history of London, with all the power struggles and bloodshed. My favorite exhibitions are probably the Amory inside the White Tower and the Crown Jewels which displays ceremonial items used during the Coronation of kings and queens.
Historic Place to come visit if you are in london. This could be your first stop. Multiple rooms with historic artifacts. Guided tour option. Gift shops for souvenirs.
Excellent visit to the Tower of London.. Allow minimum of 3 to 4 hours for your visit. Take the tour first.
We had the pleasure of Scott Kelly the Yeomanry Warder!! My teenager and I both loved the mix between blood & guts & gore with historical content and great stories.. laughed lots.
After the tour you have a real sense of what you want to see and it sets the tone beautifully..
Thanks Scott
It's so awesome to walk through this place and think about how long it's been there and all the royalty that has happened...
There's so much to see and do here it makes a fantastic day out, made all the better by the tour guides and general knowledge there is available from members of staff. The area is impeccably clean and very informative. Pretty much every display is translated into a number of languages which really helps and the visuals they have on offer are broad and interesting. Great place!
Richness, glorious past..royal between jewels..Beautiful
Great Place i was there year ago.
And i spend best day.
Place is big and important in British History.
Like Ravens.
Legend Say, That How long Ravens Will be in the Tower of London that Long British Empire will be exist.
If somebody like history so it's perfect place for him.
Loved our visit! The queue for the crown jewels gets really long, but goes pretty quick, but if you find the queue short better queue up fast.
Finally got to see it in person and loved it. Recommended!
Enjoyed visiting, and while I showed up too late to see the Crown Jewels, there was still plenty to see!
Great information and several salons to visit. lots of walking and lot of visitors.
Bring with you some snacks, fruits and water.
Make sure your phone has a full battery, if you want to take lots of pictures.
They sell water and ice cream inside, there is a restaurant too.
Always enjoyed the visit. The tour is always good and a bit different. Worth buying tickets ahead. Saves some time in the queue.
Great tourist attraction with a lot of historical significance. It's worth spending a few hours exploring and touring. Would recommend seeing the crown jewels while there.
Amazing place to visit. Go early in the day for less crowds. I highly recommend purchasing the audio guide. All of the tours on the device were fantastic. My husband and I loved it so much we spent more time here than we had anticipated!
I like to return here every few years or so for a good dose of history and a look at how the royalty lived in days gone by. It's also cool to look at the crown jewels.
I wish the maps were better here but it s a really cool place to see. Line for Crown Jewels was long but moved fast. Very interesting piece of history and cool spot in London.
Worth getting there early as the crowds of tourists soon build up. We had no problem going in at 9.45am on a Saturday, but coming out at 12, the crowds inside and the queue to come in had really built up.
Tip: if you get there early, head straight for the Crown Jewels and get a clear crowd free look at them. They are stunning.
Lots to see, lots of steps! If you have Royal Palaces membership as we do, then it would be worth just coming in for a couple of hours rather than trying to cram everything in.
Needed to allow more time for this attraction as we didn't realize how big it was. Allow 3 hrs.
If you are even remotely interested in western history, you must visit the Tower of London! Be sure and wait for the guided tour (every 15-30 minutes) inside the SW entrance by The Royal Menagerie. The tours are led by the Yeoman Warder of Her Majesty s Royal Palace, or, as as more commonly known as the Beefeaters. Informational and entertaining. Additionally, the Crown Jewels are AMAZING! Well worth the entry fee.
I heard it is very haunted. The famous ghost of the Tower of London is that of Anne Boleyn, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, who
lost her head because she could not provide a male heir to Henry VIII. Her cousin Catherine Howard equally lost her head by Henry VIII. I would not dare going into the tower without a whole tour group. :). Right outside was the Traitors Gate where Anne Boleyn supposedly was led into the tower. I think Richard III also imprisoned his two prince nephews and killed them in this tower so that he could usurp the throne. Shakespeare wrote on these two infamous English monarchs with his plays Henry VIII and Richard III . I heard the ghosts of these two princes and Anne Boleyn often roam this tower.
Great place, so much history, staff are nice and friendly and very one is so kinda, definitely recommend
Pure English history gem, like going back in time. Don't miss it! Buy tickets online in advance and you barely have to stand in line. Audio guide is very good too and worth the money.
A great day out, quite pricey though, excellent start tour with the Yeoman very informative and light hearted for a serious subject.
Favourite view from the tower, especially after immersing ourselves in all the history.
Absolutely wonderful activity for a couple of hours if you're visiting and want to learn more about British history! Great variety of things to see and the people are friendly.
Visited this world-renowned historic site for the second time this year. Highlights included a free tour with one of the Yeoman Warders (popularly known as Beefeaters), viewing the crown jewels and seeing all kinds of armour and weaponry from the hundreds of years that the Tower has been inhabited. No matter how old or young you are, there is something neat for you to see here. So much history but if you don't like reading there are also interactive activities and like I said earlier, the weapons. My brother in law really enjoyed those.
Even if you are not particularly interested in history, the Tower of London tour is well worth the time. The tours are conducted by actual Beefeaters, or more properly the Yeoman Warders, ceremonial guards charged with protecting the Crown jewels and entertaining the heck out of tourists. It's actually a requirement of the job that they (and their families) live on site! Imagine that for a mailing address. It turns out that the Beefeater leading our tour was extraordinarily popular, resulting in our group being too large to be practical. About half the time, we couldn't get close enough to hear him. But that's okay - you can tour yourself around and rely on Google for all the background detail.
I found the Crown jewels to be only moderately interesting, but they sure draw a crowd. For me the real star was the large arms and armour collection - really quite amazing. That and the buildings and grounds that make up the tower complex.
This attraction was so much more than I expected. Book tickets online in advance to save a few pounds and avoid the long main queue. You still must either print or collect the tickets, there isn't a e-ticket option it seems. We had a tour from a beefeater at the beginning who provided the history of the various buildings and towers and who recommended which areas were a must-see. There is so much to see you'd want at least 2 hours in my opinion. The tower also houses the crown jewels which are spectacular. Well worth a visit.
This was a very worthy place to visit, not just to see the amazing crown jewels but to also learn some interesting British history. There's a lot to see. If you're an American who likes renaissance fairs you'll love this because these folks dont have to fake their accents much.
Very nice collection of jewellery, crowns and swords.
Great day out spent all day full of history and intrigue
This is incredibly well laid out and offers visitors many sights, stories, and depictions of the history the Tower holds. Very enjoyable despite there being many tourists, the amenities are plentiful, gift shops offered something for More
Beautiful, historic place. A must see. Lots to see and so beautiful.
Being able to see the crown of jewels was amazing. There is a typically a long line to get in but it moves pretty good.
A great, big, old, historical building where I could have spent plenty of time in, but I was a little bit rushed for time and couldn't stay much longer than purely doing the parameter walk.
So much history! Very cool...
Brilliant day out! Could easily spend all day looking around.
The tower is awesome. Tours are great the staff are very friendly as exceptionally knowledgeable. The crown jewels are exquisite, even if your not into this kind of thing, the history, age and detail of them is something to behold
Always used to see it in the movies, but its much nicer in real life, when its sunny.
Join a guided tour. You will hear and learn a lot more about the place. The histories and names of the people during medieval times floored me but it was an eye opener. I was very impressed by the knowledge of the guide.
Outstanding experience. Went with one of the organized tours. The guide was incredible, passionate and an amazing story teller. I'll be going back for a second visit as there was far too much to see in one, three hour visit. I'd suggest five hours so that you get to see everything.
London icon touch mist see. Full of history and plenty to see. Even my kids enjoyed.
Recommended.
Great attraction, shame about some of the pushy tourists who had a me first attitude, pushing in front of children and taking photos in the crown jewels area when you are not allowed to do so. Still very enjoyable, the crown jewels are a sit to behold.
First visit here and was impressed, well signposted, well laid out for visitors and friendly helpful staff. Bought an annual ticket so will definitely be back!
Really cool experience, lots of history in one place.
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