Home > London > Sightseeing Tours > Royal London Sightseeing Tour Including Changing of the Guard Ceremony with Optional London Eye Upgr
USD $47.00
Royal London Sightseeing Tour Including Changing of the Guard Ceremony with Optional London Eye Upgr
London, United Kingdom
This Royal Tour of London takes in many of the royal highlights of London, including Westminster Abbey where Prince William and Kate Middleton, where married on April 29, 2011. You will also see Kensington Palace, where Diana, Princess of Wales, lived. Finally, you will experience the famous Changing of the Guard ceremony outside Buckingham Palace, then spend the afternoon exploring London at your leisure. For a bird's-eye view of the city, upgrade to include an open-date ticket for the London Eye.
Your morning tour of London begins with a panoramic drive up to Kensington Palace, once home to Princess Diana. Pop in your state-of-the-art Vox headphones as your tour starts and listen to your guide talking clearly about each site. Nearby you will see the stunning Royal Albert Hall - where famous London concerts are hosted, and the historic Albert Memorial.
Continue through London to Trafalgar Square, passing Whitehall and the Prime Minister’s residence on Downing Street. On arrival at Parliament Square you’ll see more top London attractions including the Big Ben clock, the Houses of Parliament and the magnificent Westminster Abbey, where Prince William and Kate Middleton were married by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Your morning tour will then head to St. James’ Park and Buckingham Palace to see the famous Changing of the Guard ceremony. Accompanied by a military band, soldiers from the Queen’s Foot Guard march to Buckingham Palace in their familiar red tunics and bearskin hats. This the oldest ceremony linked to Buckingham Palace, and it is truly representative of the colorful pomp and ceremony that make the British Royal Family so fascinating.
Your tour finishes in Trafalgar Square, conveniently located in the heart of central London so you can continue your afternoon sightseeing independently. Upgrade your experience to include an open-date ticket for the London Eye.
The tour itself was good, but we actually received a very similar experience from the hop-on/hop-off double deck bus tours around town. The Changing of the Guard Ceremony was fun/interesting, but it's also very hectic and you better be able to walk fast to keep up with the tour leader and the marching guards. Wasn't a problem for us, but some older folks were definitely struggling._br/_ What was disappointing was our London Eye Upgrade! We thought by purchasing this upgrade, we would be given a ticket for the London Eye and actually taken to the location. Instead, we were given a voucher and left at Trafalgar Square to find our own way. Getting there wasn't a crisis, but it definitely took some walking and a tube ride. With the voucher, you still have to wait in line to purchase tickets at the London Eye and then wait in line again to ride the attraction. We were running a little short on time, so we returned the next day. To make things go more quickly, we upgraded our voucher to a Fast Track ticket, which had a much shorter line to purchase the ticket and we basically got right on the attraction (was a 12 pound upgrade per person).
Review by: Frank N, March 2018
Truly a fabulous tour and an extraordinary guide. Weve been to London many times and this tour made our latest visit really special. A real insiders view of the changing of the guard well always cherish
Review by: mpelmiller, March 2018
Once again our guide Sheila was fantastic. Thanks. If was not for her knowledge and taking us to the best sports to see the changing of the guard we would have missed out. Thanks again Shiela. Awesome job.
Review by: Angela M, March 2018
We got caught in traffic on our way to the tour. We did not realize how bad it was in London - add 15 to 20 minutes on top of what uber says time will be. We called the office to ask them to let the driver know we would be about 5 minutes late. The office informed us the bus had already left. They didn't offer any rebate or any other solutions of taking another tour at another time. I was very disappointed in Viator.
Review by: Cindy H, March 2018
Extremely knowledgeable tour guides. Witty not dry while explaining the sites. This makes things informative and interesting.
Review by: Georgia R, December 2017
This tour was amazing!
Review by: Jacqueline E, September 2017
Our tour guide was great, she was so nice, pleasant, great sense of humor and did a great job explaining everything. We saw Changing of the Horses, not the Guards. I hope this is still being done in London.
Review by: Cheryl E, September 2017
Great tour. Our guide was entertaining, funny and informative. We really enjoyed this tour.
Review by: LaToya B, August 2017
The tour was great. The guide was entertaining.
Review by: C D, August 2017
Usual tourist fare, but well done.
Review by: amelamud, June 2017
Guide was unprofessional, couldn't answer simple questions like why no changing guards
Review by: Dawn G, May 2017
The guide and bus driver were amazing. My dad needed extra help with his walker, and they were most accommodating to his needs! Your great staff is why we will book with you again. Thank you
Review by: Jody, April 2017
Our guide was wonderful,but we really did nothing that you could not do on your own for free. We met the bus at Victoria Station, went to the area of Westminster and got out, only had about 15minutes to walk around. After that the bus took us to the area of Buckingham Palace, where we got out and walked near the palace and took some pictures. Never did see the changing of the guard because it was not a day they change. That was all we did and we did the a.m. only and felt it was a total waste. The London Eye was nice but if you purchase with that option you do it on your own, and it can be done any day you wish. The only thing is you still have to wait in two lines with your voucher, one to get the ticket and than another, which is extremely long, to get on the eye itself.
Review by: Walid H, November 2016
I would preferred a walking tour . The guide was extremaly nice .
Review by: Donald K, September 2016
Provided us with a good overview of London. The guide was knowledgeable.
Review by: Peter Weise W, August 2016
The tour feels a bit random. Photo stops are too short to see anything.
Review by: Patricia R, August 2016
Excellent tour great view
Review by: Freddie L, August 2016
The guide has a wide knowledge in history, but watching the changing of guards was a bit chaotic, I presume just too many people in that area !
Review by: Joan G, August 2016
We did not see the changing of the Guard. It turned out that all we saw was the Horseguard. Marching in. This tour was disappointing overall.
Review by: Carol V, August 2016
I took the same trip two years ago, and it was much better. I mainly did it again so my mom could see the changing of the guard. Two years ago, our tour guide put us in a much better position to see it. This time, we couldn't even see it. I could have done a better job on my own. We saw very little this time compared to 2 years ago.
Review by: Princeton R, August 2016
Our our guide was changed at the last minute and we were without a guide for the first 10 minutes of the trip. The more disappointing aspect was not seeing the changing of the guards which was our primary reason for booking this tour. Finally, our tour guide lost a few people along the way and did not seem concerned about their welfare. Very unfortunate experience for us.
Review by: Peter D H, August 2016
A great experience. Recommend seeing this. We were there the day the Prime Ministers were changing so there was much bigger crowd. Our tour guide was awesome getting us to good locations for watching and taking pictures.
Review by: Peter D H, July 2016
A great experience. Recommend seeing this. We were there the day the Prime Ministers were changing so there was much bigger crowd. Our tour guide was awesome getting us to good locations for watching and taking pictures.
Review by: Princeton R, July 2016
Our our guide was changed at the last minute and we were without a guide for the first 10 minutes of the trip. The more disappointing aspect was not seeing the changing of the guards which was our primary reason for booking this tour. Finally, our tour guide lost a few people along the way and did not seem concerned about their welfare. Very unfortunate experience for us.
Review by: Angela D, July 2016
Richard was a very informative tour guide. We enjoyed the tour very much. We were able to see the guards on horseback for the parade
Review by: Dorothy M, July 2016
our guide arranged for the best location to see the royal guards come out of the gate. I couldn't have been better. the guide was excellent and I would highly recommend Viator again.
Review by: Andrea L, June 2016
Just ok
Review by: Andrea L, June 2016
Just ok
Review by: Kathleen G, June 2016
This tour should have been the highlight of my trip to London. It wasn't. To be fair, part of the problem was the traffic caused by road changes and closures around the city that meant lengthy delays and some changes of bus route. My sons and I are interested in the history and royalty, and have zero interest in learning about the stores we were passing and how upmarket they are. That aside, the main problem was with how the Changing of the Guard Ceremony was presented.
Review by: Italjo, June 2016
Very nice tour. We appreciated the guide. She show us the good spot to see the parade. I recommande this tour, it's take half day.
Review by: uruimi, June 2016
Our guide was amazing
Review by: Phillip M, June 2016
Tour was a great disappointment. We expected to be at Buckingham Palace in time to see the Changing of the Guard ceremony as advertised . In fact we had a lovely view of the backs of the heads of the people who did get to see the ceremony. We will not book with this company again.
Review by: Warren R, May 2016
The tour guide was informative and the bus was clean. The guide took us to the best area to see the guards marching. It was a full bus tour with about 45 people. We made several stops throughout the morning to see sights.
Review by: Brenda K, April 2016
Excellent! Well worth it. The guide was entertaining and knowledgable . they used radios and ear buds to communicated with us when we weren't on the bus. We could hear without being next to the guide and didn't have to find them in the crowd by the stick they other tour guides had to hold in the air.
Review by: Karen R, April 2016
The tour was fine but I do wish we had been on the other side when the guards were preparing to change at Buckingham Palace. We never saw the Palace from the front ....only the side . It was a sunny day and the drive around London was very good...just looking out the windows.
Review by: Karen G, March 2016
I was very disappointed in this tour. We left late and were told it was due to heavy traffic. I would think that traffic would be accounted to in these tours. I don't know the name of the female tour guide as she never told us. At our first stop she pointed where we could cross the street and take pictures and didn't even get out of the bus. We drove at the side of Windsor Castle wasn't even given the chance to get out and take a photo or from the bus. The next stop was ok, change of guard. She seemed to be more interested in talking with Paul the driver and using her smart phone. Everything felt rushed and for the cost it was a big disappointment.
Review by: canndoto, March 2016
Ok,but time and place to meet were changed without us being told.had to finde the bus on our oun...
Review by: Astro, January 2016
This tour started over an hour late due I think to bad weather. It was a bit haphazard. The guide was charming and witty but not very informative for someone interested in history and architecture as I am. We saw the changing of the guards from a distance and only just made it there on time. There was a lot of fast paced walking which was difficult for some members of the group. It gave me an idea of the proceedings but next time I would organise to get there myself and not bother joining a tour.
Review by: OON HIN G, January 2016
Action too fast so could not follow everything. Fortunately got good spot with the help of tour guide.Managed to see the main changing of the guard as the marching slowed down directly in front of us.
Review by: Tiffany C, November 2015
Richard, the tour guide, was very informative. We loved seeing the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. You should definitely take this trip if you have limited time in London. You do see some of the major sights with a little history mixed in.
Review by: Maggie W, October 2015
No changing of guard ceremony the day of our tour. However....our guide was funny, personable and quite knowledgeable. We saw so much and learned so much. He really made the tour a great time. He actually made us hurry so we could see the queens guard on horses pass by. The buses we rode on we're clean, huge and came with a very nice driver too.
Review by: Jacqueline W, September 2015
Unfortunately the tour information doesn't mention that the changing of the guard only happens every other day. We also had some terrible, typical English weather and it was bucketing rain so in and out of the bus was a little hit and miss. They did still do the horse guards change and we managed to catch some of that from a sheltered position.
Review by: William R, September 2015
Very good, pick-up was on time.
Review by: Nuala G, September 2015
Good day out. However, the changing of the guards did not take place that particular day and so we watched the horses. This rout is covered by the big bus tour which is a much cheaper way of seeing places included in this tour. Otherwise, a good tour.
Review by: Johannes L, August 2015
They said hotel pick up was included but despite filling in all my hotel details on the Viator site these were not passed on to the tour operator, resulting in me having to hire 2 cabs at the last minute to take my group to Victoria at my own expense. The tour is ok, but they're a lot of tours that run around the same time and they're not clear enough at Victoria of announcing which tour is leaving when.
Review by: Joan B, August 2015
Even in the rain, our tour guide made this an informative and very interesting morning. I would highly recommend this tour.
Review by: Cornelius L, August 2015
nice history of London
Review by: Petra W, August 2015
The departure from Victoria Coach Station was poorly organized. The tours departing from the same gate at the same time and no direction. Our bus got into an accident and we had to walk forever to get to the changing of the guards and had a really bad viewing spot and no compensation was offered. We ended up leaving the tour guide at the change of the guard because we did not want to walk all the way to where the new bus was gong to meet us. At that time we were already 45 minutes past the official end of the tour. The tour guise Debra was very knowledgeable and pleasant.
Review by: Lyle H, August 2015
Great half day trip if you have limited time or want a speedy tour to see all the key Royal attractions. Guide was amazing with a great deal of knowledge and driver so helpful. You see all the changing of the guard from start to end where they know all the key viewing points.
Review by: Beatrice E, July 2015
Loved this tour!!! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the history of London. We loved his enthusiasm and friendliness. You can tell he truly love what he does!
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