Don’t miss out during your trip to London with a day tour filled with top city sights and attractions! Your tour includes a panoramic tour of London, entry to St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London, ride on the London Eye and a viewing of the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace! Your expert guide will be there every step of the way to make sure you have a fantastic day out in London.
Start your day with a panoramic tour of London! Sit back as your driver and guide take you through the city and past some of London’s most famous sights. You’ll stop at Westminster Abbey, so you can get that all-important photo of the spectacular church where William and Kate were married!
The tour will then reach St Paul’s Cathedral, the huge domed church in the old City of London. Designed by celebrated architect Sir Christopher Wren, St Paul’s Cathedral is full of historical delights. Enjoy time inside St Paul’s Cathedral and see the beautiful architecture, stained glass windows and tombs dedicated to important figures in British history.
You will then head to Buckingham Palace for the charmingly traditional Changing of the Guard ceremony. This regular occurrence involves the brightly dressed Queen’s Foot Guard changing shifts in spectacular fashion. The guards march alongside a military band as they return to the Palace!
Lunch packs will be included.
The 1,000 year old Tower of London has a history you have to see to believe! You’ll have plenty of time to explore this incredible fortress during our extended afternoon visit. Enjoy free time to explore the Tower of London as you wish, learning about its fascinating past. The Tower of London has been used as a palace, royal mint and zoo! See the gorgeous Crown Jewels, kept under lock and key in the Jewel Tower.
Meet The Beefeaters, or Yeoman Warders, are the Tower of London’s official guardians! Hear the tales of the Beefeaters during your exclusive tour with one of the Tower’s working Yeoman Warders. Listen as the smartly-dressed Beefeater recounts stories about their often grisly role in keeping watch over the Tower of London’s prisoners. Luckily, this isn’t part of their job description anymore and these important people are all retired members of the Armed Forces.
Break out of the Tower of London for a River Thames Boat Ride. This scenic trip down the Thames will show you some city sights from an entirely different perspective as you cruise towards the London Eye. Finish your London day trip on a high! See London from the skies during a flight on the iconic London Eye. Your tour will finish at approximately 6pm at the London Eye.
Unfortunately not a great tour. Our guide, Tony admitted it was not his finest hour. The tour was rushed. Greenwich village skipped because he allowed group of four delay tour for an hour while the rest of the group waited like homeless on the street. Not recommended for price.
Review by: Valerie W, March 2018
Great tour. Includes many of the must do's in London.
Review by: Valerie W, March 2018
Great tour. Includes the highlights of London.
Review by: James Gulas, March 2018
My rating on this tour has NOTHING to do with our guide. She was fantastic. Extremely knowledgeable, very friendly and kept us on time and organized for the whole day even with a huge glitch of failed ticket printers at the boat dock. Would highly recommend Marlina! The reason I gave it 3 stars is for two reasons. First, the tour description and I read and re-read it 100x top to bottom said we would see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The description used the word regular occurrence. NO WHERE not even in fine print or in details did it say the days and times this happens. Turns out the day of our tour was NOT a scheduled time at Buckingham. Very disappointing. Maybe your description should advise people to go to the actual Buckingham Palace website to check the schedule. In hindsight - I trusted your description - I should have checked. When I questioned our tour guide because the bus literally zipped us PAST the palace she said that because there was no guard change scheduled at Buckingham, we were going to Royal Horse Guards to see a guard change. We did have great viewing for this and it was cool but it was guard change on horses. NOT the same as the marching guard change at Buckingham. My BIGGEST disappointment with this also and other people on the tour said the same thing even if we weren't going to see the guard change at Buckingham, we all felt we should have stopped there for 10-15 minutes just to get out and take pictures. We had to make a special trip back there on our own to get photos of the palace. My second reason for the rating.......inclusion lists Thames River Boat Ride. Shame on me I guess. I read that as a sightseeing boat ride on the river. This was more like a speed-boat first of all and it was definitely like a commuter water taxi. They were closing the gates and pushing people on the boat because it was on a taxi schedule . Nothing leisurely about it. Very disappointed in that. We are from Chicago and we HAVE water taxis and we have boat rides. They are completely different. This was nothing like our boat ride on the Seine in Paris which WAS what we expected. Might need to change your description of that. Over all - Marlina made it a great day. The London Eye since we didn't stop at Buckingham was probably our favorite part. Also - you might want to change your wording on lunch packs and make it snack packs. sidenote - we booked 8 tours with you as a family of 4 so we spent a good amount of with Viator. The two things on THIS tour were the only disappointments
Review by: Robyn W, February 2018
We loved this tour but was disappointed the Changing of the Guard was cancelled due to inclement weather. We did have an in-depth view of London which is what we were after as we only had 1 day there. Our guide was excellent and very informative. Recommended for tourists with limited time to see all the main sights.
Review by: barryradtke, February 2018
If I could rate this a 6 I would. Sandra, our guide, brought London and its history to life. She was fun and really knew how to get the best photo and how to enjoy every venue. She gave us a great appreciation for where we were.
Review by: Susan G, February 2018
This tour was amazing. Saw everything we wanted to see in a short time.
Review by: Shannon M, January 2018
Ruth was our tour guide for our London Day Tour, and she was wonderful! Full of so many tidbits and very knowledgeable. My husband and I greatly enjoyed our time in the Tower of London, and actually wish the tour spent a little more time there. We were kinda just let off on our own to tour the place at our own time, and we would've enjoyed a little more guidance and information to enhance our time there. The only things we would warn against: make sure to look into when the Changing of the Guard actually takes place at Buckingham Palace...the tour page does not mention this, but they only do it on certain days of the week. And the day we booked our tour was one of the days they were NOT doing the Changing of the Guard. So we were a little bummed about that. _br/_ Also: the Thames River boat ride is nice, and going up to Greenwich is very interesting. However, the boat ride back down to the London Eye was VERY long...over an hour. By the time we got back to the London Eye, it was almost time for them to close. So we had to run inside and get our tickets quickly, in order to be in line for the Eye before they shut the queue down. _br/_ So I would just be wary of those things, but otherwise the tour was fantastic! Very good for an overview of the wonderful city of London!
Review by: northdown, December 2017
Great tour guide, shared lots of information. Plenty of time to get a good taste of London in one day.as there is so much to see and so many people doing the same things as you, you can't expect to spend hours at every place. We had a great vantage point for the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Our guide made sure that we saw each group of the guard from a different place. Timing was perfect. Due to us visiting London just prior to Christmas, there were less crowds and not as much traffic - we were on time for everything. The Tower of London had so much to explore, so much history and not crowded...no wait time! The cruise was good, and visiting Greenwich most informative. The skys cleared at dusk 4:30pm for a magnificent 6pm London Eye night flight. Just wow! Can't wait for our Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Bath tour!
Review by: Makuteswara S, December 2017
We enjoyed this well-coordinated and conducted tour of London. 3 highlights of the tour among the general bus tour of the important tourist attractions were: 1 St. Peter's Cathedral Basilica 2 Tower of London 3 Relatively good speed boat ride all the way from Tower of London to Greenwich and from Greenwich to London Eye. Sandra was very good to provide running commentary while on the bus as well as explaining well the beauty of St. Peter's Cathedral and Tower of London. Although I have been to London 3X before this tour, this bus tour took us away from the main tourist attraction of British Parliament and Westminster Abbey, which we have seen before a couple of times. Ample time was also there in this tour to witness guard procession at 11 a.m. Thankfully, the drizzle has stopped by then. Mention should also be made that delightful vegetarian lunch box was also included in this package. Finally, we had beautiful and clear view of London from the Eye, which we boarded easily as there was no crowd. Overall, a very enjoyable day tour, which we would recommend highly._br/_ An item to note is Golden Tours conducts this tour. Viator voucher was easily accepted. However, the place to board the bus took us a little while. You actually have to go to inside the building for which the address is provided and go to end for the bus terminal. The bus does not depart from a street, as it normally would in a tour.
Review by: vlaraya, November 2017
This is not a tour for senior citizens. Too much walking involved. Prospective tourists should be warned accordingly.
Review by: lynn, November 2017
See a lot in one day but if you want to spend more time in on site , this tour is not for you . For us , we enjoyed . Thanks
Review by: Janis L, November 2017
Great tour!
Review by: Sharron F, October 2017
This tour gives you an excellent overview of London as well as a tasty little box lunch. Highly recommend.
Review by: Barbara D, October 2017
Not what we expected. Never planned to spend several hours for a 45 min visit to Greenwich which was not on the agenda. Never stopped at Westminster Abbey fir photos, we just criss crossed the city on the bus. It was a disappointment.
Review by: Misti B, October 2017
Having been on many tours this tour failed on every level. We were not allowed free time at some of the major sites. That is to say not in areas that one would want free time. Such as St. Paul's Cathedral, 10 minutes free time down at the cafeteria, not upstairs where it was gorgeous. Although we were given some time to take pics with the horse guards, when they did the actual change out, we were long gone with the assurance we would have plenty of time to see them in formation along the street. Not true. We marched along and by the time they came by, we could not stop because we were on a schedule!! No time provided to stop and get any pictures of the outside of Buckingham Palace. The lunch was a pie box lunch on our laps. As we headed toward the London Tower in our bus, balancing our lunches on our laps, it was announced that our driver had to leave to go on another tour. We were then dumped off across from a boat taxi stop with our lunch boxes, and waited 30 minutes to get on the boat. The boat took about 20 minutes so 50 minutes our tour time completely wasted. This cut into our time at the towers by quite a bit. Once we did arrive the tour guide talked all about how informational the Yeoman Warders would be happy to speak with us and went on about more things in the towers. Perhaps this could have been done the 30 minutes we stood waiting for the boat so we could have hit the ground running. We ask if we had free time now to explore the towers as we only had 25 more minutes left at the towers. We were told not yet. After the Crown Jewels we were told we now had free time. That left us 10 minutes to use the restroom, get a quick pic with the Yeoman Warder and dash to the meeting place only to wait for another boat taxi! A family was left behind. Back on the boat for another 20 minutes up to Greenwich to see the Maritime Museum. It was a 20 minute stop from off the boat to back on. So frustrating! Back on the boat for an approx. 50 minute ride back down the river to the London Eye. At which point we were given a bit of info. hit up for a tip and sent on our way. This was a terrible tour and a complete waste of money.
Review by: Beverly M, October 2017
We were not taken to Buckingham Palace as Golden Tours told us there was no changing of the guards that day. That was the whole reason we booked this tour. we did see St. Paul's Cathedral which was very nice but don't book this tour unless you know you'll get to see Buckingham Palace. We almost didn't get on the London Eye either. The staff at the eye said there were totally booked and could come another day...say what! Our tour guide had words with them and we were eventually able to get on.
Review by: Dazza, September 2017
Of all the tours I read I still think this was the best one available. We traveled to Victoria station on the tube then walked to the meeting point which was easy enough to find. Concierge people were good and answered all questions we could hear from other guests. The tour started at a hectic pace at St Paul's, Buckingham Palace changing of the guards dictates quick pace to see it and all bits in between which happily was on the coach. Box lunch on the bus was unexpected and much appreciated. Tower of London was a slow down with probably too much time here then ferry down the river and stroll through the former Admiralty college all a bit boring. Don't really understand why it is included other than the ferry goes there. Return ferry to London Eye late in the afternoon was exceptionally well handled as we could have taken the flight then or, as we did, prebooked and returned the next day and did it then which suited us very well indeed. Overall the tour was good and glad we went. Suggestion, use your time in the tower to the max as you are about to get a rest.
Review by: Toni L, September 2017
It was great.
Review by: Marilyn M, September 2017
It did not cover the sights in London as stated. We had a boat ride to Greenwich which wasted the afternoon. After we arrived we had 40 minutes enough time to see nothing. This was not on the itinerary. You need to spend an entire day in Greenwich._br/_ We never saw Trafalger Square, Piccadilly Circus, HydePark, Harrods, Kensington Palace,the West End and where any of the museums where. It was not a London day tour but a half day out of the city tour. This was not what I signed up for.
Review by: Megan H, September 2017
We spent the morning on a coach bus. When we got to Buckingham Palace, only had 15 mins to look at the building. No changing of the guard, it is only on certain days. You're rushed from place to place. Do not get to enjoy the places. Spend the money on a ticket, not on this tour. Not worth the price
Review by: Li F, September 2017
Great tour to see highlights of London.
Review by: clive p, September 2017
we had a great day saw everything that was planned. Make sure you don't get the back seat of the bus you really can see much. We turned up early enough but still a family of four was sent to the back seat. Missed the changing of the guard but made up for it at the tower of London which was fantastic.
Review by: Don C, September 2017
Tour was good but we didn't get to do some of the items mentioned in the description. Eye was sold out so our vouchers weren't good for that day. We did get a refund but disappointed that we couldn't go up. Also drove by Westminster Abbey with no photo op unless you consider out the window of a moving bus. Note that high traffic can seriously alter the schedule.
Review by: SHARON S K, September 2017
The guide was excellent.... the tour was great! However, we needed a audio piece because there was to many of us and we stretched out by a block...... you couldn't hear the guide, so you missed all the information.........._br/_ I DIDN'T need the boat ride........especially on a rainy day. Also, couldn't use my voucher for the Eye do to the weather. Had hopes for Thursday, but same bad weather and then I was sick .................so I lost money on this tour.
Review by: Virginia M, September 2017
I will never do this trip again. Every stop went too fast. Lunch box was terrible. 2 pickles with radish between two breads. Small bag of potato chip. Small bottle water which taste unfiltered. I tossed everything away!! The tour guide should have converted the voucher for The Eye ride for our tickets in advance for the tourists. Long long lines to transfer the vouchers ourselves. I had to leave it behind. _br/_ Next time If I return from Texas, I will take one trip a day to really enjoy it. VM
Review by: Allana J, August 2017
Good sites. Guide was a bit rude. Everyone was getting angry with her and she was yelling back at them. We had to wait for the next ferry, which was not the guides fault, but spent more time waiting when we could have spent that in the Tower of London. You really only get time to see the Crown Jewels after the long queue before having to leave for the ferry. We got in the London eye at the right time, before the queue became an hour long. If everything went smoothly, it would have been a better tour.
Review by: Allana J, August 2017
Good sites. Guide was a bit rude. Everyone was getting angry with her and she was yelling back at them. We had to wait for the next ferry, which was not the guides fault, but spent more time waiting when we could have spent that in the Tower of London. You really only get time to see the Crown Jewels after the long queue before having to leave for the ferry. We got in the London eye at the right time, before the queue became an hour long. If everything went smoothly, it would have been a better tour.
Review by: Cathy P, August 2017
Since I was traveling to London for business, I booked this tour to see all of the sites of London during my one free day. It did not disappoint!
Review by: Paul V, August 2017
This was an excellent experience that started with a bus ride in the city with a stop at St. Peter's Cathedral Basilica. We spent a short time at the Cathedral before heading to see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. The boat rides were excellent and we finished with riding the London Eye. Our guide was exceptional and helpful. Cannot wait to go back!
Review by: DANILO L, August 2017
I booked my tour a month ago and hoping i can enjoy the ride at the London Eye but it was sold out. You will not be assured you can have a seat. It's better to do it early if you have a limited day in London.
Review by: Catherine B, July 2017
There was much potential for this tour. But we spent most of our time stuck in traffic.
Review by: David L, July 2017
This is the worst company to deal with!!
Review by: tammyholland1165, July 2017
Very full day but enjoyable. Great guide.
Review by: Kanika R, July 2017
This is s fantastic day tour even if you have visited London many times. There are som many nuances you hear from the local guide. Our first stop was the Buckingham palace, followed by the St. Paul Cathedral, the London Eye, the Parliament building and so much more. Highly recommended!!
Review by: Duke, July 2017
This is a must see tour and our guide Morton was enthusiastic, energentic, knowledgeable about London facts and sights, and just a great tour guide all around!!! This is a very long and packed day so be sure to bring some snacks and take the lunch package that is included, it's worth not wasting time on long food lines. Be sure to stop at the small cafe right outside the exit of St. Paul's Cathedral, for 1 pound we got the best tasting pastry in all of London, it was a bargain and SOOOOO good!! Also, make sure you include the London Eye which provide breathtaking views of all of London on a clear day. If you have several people in your group you should split up and get on the ticket and waiting lines separately and then meet up as we waiting on both lines for a total of 1 1/2 hours before we actually got on the Eye. If we separated if would have been half the time.
Review by: Alfred B, July 2017
The tour consisted of 2 buses. The second bus, my bus, was 30 min late leaving. By this time traffic was horrendous. After the first stop, my air conditioned bus was hijacked for another tour. We were given a double decker open air no ac bus and driver who did not know the tour route. 7 passengers did not get there lunches till late after noon. The tour was mostly stuck in traffic through out the day, missed the changing of the guard, which turned out to be a good piece of luck. The band and guard were near the end of the change and the tour got the best view ever in spite. At this point we lost 3 or 4 of the group and delayed further the tour till they were brought back into the fold. This decrease the amount of time at the Tower Of London. Got to see the Crown Jewels after a 30 minutes in the que, but nothing else. Moving on to the river cruise, we lost another 3 or 4 of the tour and they caught up to us at the turn around. The only thing that seemed to go right was the last item on the tour, the London Eye. _br/_ The Guide was very good, very apologetic for all the snafu's. The tour was constantly interrupted by the constant stream of phone calls to rectify the problems._br/_ Do not take this tour by this operator. Golden Tours. They have equipment problems and personnel problems and they have been overwhelmed.
Review by: Christina C, July 2017
Where do I start? This was provided by Golden Tours. We were late leaving due to disorganization at the embarkation point. Make sure you use the toilet before getting in line. Fabrizio was our guide. Nice guy and knowledgeable but for lack of better words, he was a hot mess. Very disorganized. Minimal time at St Paul's cathedral. Late to get to Buckingham Palace for changing of the guard---so late he considered skipping it. Hello?! This is one of the reasons we took the tour. Ok, so we went, but due to too many people he placed us far away and we only got to see a band march by. Rather than give our lunch pack to us on the coach, they were handed to us as we get to the Tower of London which was well after noon. You don't have too much time at the Tower...just enough to see the crown jewels, then off to Greenwich via ferry. We all had to wait in a long line waiting for him to purchase the tickets---why couldn't he have done that while we were visiting the tower? Then WHAM hurry and RUN no lie to the ferry to catch it. After a short explanation of Greenwich we were told to meet at 5:15 to return. 5:15 comes and goes...no Fabrizio. Oh, well he changed his mind and gave us to 5:30. Then we finished with the London Eye._br/_ The tour had a good itinerary, but very short time in some places and too long in others. Part of the problem is the traffic in London is horrific. Nothing you can do about that. My issue was with the guide. I'd try another tour company for this...
Review by: Judy W, July 2017
The tour was good. We hit the highlights of London. The tour guide was knowledgeable and a little funny also which added to the experience. The only negative was I felt the seats on the bus were uncomfortably small and there was not even a net on the back of the seat to place itemsie water bottles etc
Review by: Cathryn J E, July 2017
Tour guide was very knowledgeable. Lots and lots of walking. Changing of the Guard was seen from far away. Tour advertised a cruise on the Thames River, however, the cruise was not a cruise. We were put on the River Bus and had to stop at every single one of the docks on the River Bus Route on both sides of the river. It was not enjoyable. Thought there would be short line access to the London Eye, but not so and we had to wait at the Tower of London while the guide bought our tickets. But both stops were great once we got to them. Enjoyed the un-advertised stop at Greenwich. Saw everything advertised even if only briefly. Better than a lot of tours I've been on.
Review by: Traveller, July 2017
They try to pack a lot into one day. The bus was over booked, had to get a second bus. Day started with a 45min delay. They don't account for traffic delays and other disruptions. They made sure they ended on time. The coach headset units were not functional and the guided tour became a 'bus ride'. Most locations like Big Ben and Westminster Abbey you get like 5 mins to take pictures. We ended wasting time waiting a few who don't return after 5 mins. As they were running late, the driver and guide decided to skip Buckingham palace. We were never notified. We had to wait to get tickets for Tower of London for close to 1hr in the parking area. The expectation was they have all the needed tickets purchased in advance. Such a wasted time. We got 15 mins to be on Greenwich port. The river cruise was on public transportation, waiting in line. So not sure what service this tour offered for that. Guide while providing some useful info, does waste a lot of time. We could have covered more of these traveling independently. Lunch is a sandwich with a slice of cheese and lettuce. Since I had only one day in London we chose this tour, but ended up unable to view the key tourist spots too. With no proper lunch, delays, and waits, I would not recommend this tour.
Review by: Henry S, June 2017
Nice tour if you want to take in all the major sights if you have limited time in London. Takes you on all the major sights. Things that I'm sure I could've have done myself if I had the time.
Review by: Denise W, June 2017
We got so lucky on this tour! First we saw everything that was important in London in one full day! St Paul's Cathedral was just gorgeous. Truly remarkable. Instead of the changing of the guards we were blessed to see the dress rehearsal of the Queen's Birthday celebration. It was magnificent! The royal procession down the mall was just incredible. Seeing all of the royal guards on horse back in the formal uniform was truly something for the eye to behold. What an experience! Westminster Abbey you could literally spend an entire day in. So many fascinating things there to see. Seeing Sir Issac Newton's, Sir Lawrence Olivier and Handel's burial spot was amazing. The history in that building alone was mind blowing. The London Eye was magnificent to be on at the end of the day to view all of London! This was an incredible day at an incredible value. The coach we traveled in was great and out tour guide was fabulous! I highly recommend this tour.
Review by: Donald C, June 2017
A very busy tour but the tour guide, Omar, kept us on schedule while allowing time for photos. Many of the landmarks felt like 'drivebys' which didn't provide adequate time. The stop on the Thames to see the Naval Hospital site was a waste of time due to the restoration and construction work in progress preventing any viewing of the artwork and murals however, the grounds offered a pretty spot to rest. The London Eye was a great experience with superb sight lines along the Thames. The visit to Buckingham Palace was a highlight as well as memorable. Although Omar was very knowledgeable and provided as much insight as I could absorb on the many London historical sites, it felt too compressed! Maybe too much time getting off and on the coach.
Review by: Natasha U, June 2017
V had only 30min 2 c st. Pauls and was in a rush where v had 3.30 hrs 2 spend @ tower of london, (1.30hrs doing nothing) and 1 hr standing in que 2 get on 2 d boat ride. Therefore v just had 20 minutes rushed time @ greenwich. Frank, our guide was a bit lost. Overall I enjoyed, my first time to london
Review by: Julie K, June 2017
Our tour started at 8:30 am with a ride on a luxury coach we met our tour guide Dawson , it included a tour of St. Paul's cathedral, on to Buckingham palace to watch the changing of the guard. We then made our way to Tower of London for a guided tour and free time to enjoy our surroundings, then it was on to the river cruiser out to Grenwich and then back to the South bank to ride on the London Eye to enjoy the spectacular sights over London. _br/_ It was well organised and our guide Dawson was a charming and very well informed guide, he was able to answer all our questions and made the tour great fun. Great value would highly recommend.
Review by: Kenneth B, May 2017
Amazing! Our guide was both knowledgeable and entertaining. He added in interesting tidbits all day long. At each site, he made sure that everyone got into the attraction. LOVED riding the London Eye. At the Tower, he advised us to go see the jewels FIRST before the crowds got in line, which was good advice.
Review by: robert s, May 2017
The tour was great but what made the tour was our tour guide. His name was Morton and he was amazing, his knowledge of London was amazing and he explained everything in detail, the tour was very punctual and again that was Morton making sure we saw everything that was important to see in London. He was very patient with all the people on the tour and answered all of the questions that we had and seem to have all the time for all of us. If you are interested in a tour of London we would highly recommend this tour and try to get Morton for your guide. Robert and Cindy Sytsma
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