Tower Of London History

The Tower of London is a palace and fortress located on the River Themes in London. One of the main buildings, The White Tower was built by William the Conqueror in 1078, the rest of the tower has undergone expansions under the control of many Kings. The tower has been many things over the years: a royal residence, a prison, an armory, a treasury, the home of the Royal Mint, and more modernly the home of the Crown Jewels. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site visited by more than 2.8 million people annually.

Getting To The Tower Of London

The Tower of London is easily accessible by the underground. The Tower Hill station is a 5 minute walk and accessible by the District and Circle Lines.

Bus routes: 15, 42, 78, 100, RV1 stop close by. Major bus tours will also stop at The Tower Of London.

If you arrive by car, there is no onsite parking.

Opening Hours & Tickets

Summer (01 March – 31 October)
Tuesday-Saturday- 09:00-17:30
Sunday-Monday- 10:00-17:30
Last admission- 17:00

Winter (01 November – 28 February)
Tuesday-Saturday- 09:00-16:30
Sunday-Monday- 10:00-16:30
Last admission- 16:00

They are closed on December 24, 25 and 26, & January 1

Buy your tickets online or at the gate. Note that it is more expensive at the gate! There is a discount for families, seniors and full time students. Check out their current prices here.

Onsite Amenities

The Tower of London has free Wi-Fi onsite, as well as bathrooms, and restaurants. There are places to park your strollers (or buggies if you’re from the UK) as well as baby changing facilities if you are traveling with children.

My Top 6 Tips For Visiting The Tower Of London

1) Buy your ticket in advance or have a London Pass.
Luckily we had the London Pass and we got to bypass the long line. The line for tickets can get quite long so in order to have the most time possible to explore, buy your tickets in advance! You also save 15% off the price of the ticket by planning ahead, a win-win! Buy your tickets on the website, or do like we did, and buy the London Pass.

2) Get there early.
I had planned so much into one day; we didn’t get to the Tower Of London until after lunch. Check the hours before you go! The Tower Of London was closing at 4:30 and we ran out of time to explore, and missed out on the Tower Bridge completely.

By [Duncan] from Nottingham, UK (Tower of London from the Shard) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

4) No photos of the Crown Jewels.
When you head in to see the Crown Jewels, allow lots of time, and sadly, no photos! They are the real deal and so beautiful.

5) You might be a little let down on the execution site.
I was expecting this – possibly still bloody – big deal of an execution site where people like Anne Boleyn lost their heads. Most executions actually took place outside the Tower of London on Tower Hill. There’s a small “coffee table” (that’s how our Yeoman Warder described in on our tour!) to commemorate the area where executions took place.

6) Check the times guide for re-enactments.
There are lots of re-enactments happening throughout the day in different locations. If any of them are of interest to you, check them out! We didn’t get to see any of these but I wish we had made time for it.

Bonus Tip: Take your time to read and enjoy.
There’s so much to see. It was one of the highlights of our honeymoon and I definitely want to visit again!

Have you visited? Let me know your tips in the comments!

Pin it for later:

We went to London on our honeymoon & we LOVED it. I didn’t think my husband would get on the plane back home. Here is our 5 day itinerary, of course you can take out and add places depending what you want to do!

Day One

This is a full day in London, so if you arrive in the middle of the day you might not be able to fit everything in!

Start with breakfast in your neighborhood and head to the Natural History museum, it opens at 10am and it’s free! I love any natural history museum, we have been to several, especially the dinosaurs. We spent about 3 hours here, and ate lunch in their cafeteria

Lobby of The Natural History Museum

After you’re done with the natural history, a short walk down the road is the Victoria and Albert Museum (also free!) The art was amazing and almost overwhelming. We spent around 2 hours here.

lobby of Victoria and Alberts

A short walk (0.8K or ½ a mile) down the road is Harrods, a luxury department store. It’s worth checking out even if you are window-shopping like we were! The food section had us drooling and we picked up some souvenirs to take home. There are also 27 restaurants if you’re ready for dinner! You could spend as much time as you want here, there are 7 floors!

After dinner I definitely recommend checking out a local pub for a drink.

Day Two

Grab breakfast and take the tube (or taxi, or walk!) to Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery opens at 10am and is free (noticing the trend? Museums are free in London!). After spending some time in Trafalgar square start walking down Whitehall, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant along the way. It is about 1km or 0.7mile to Westminster Abbey.

The National Gallery

Trafalgar Square

One of the highlights of our trip to London, I loved Westminster Abbey! It is £20 if bought in advance or £22 at the door. I recommend buying in advance (or getting the London Pass) to cut down on waiting in line to get in. Be sure to check the opening times for your specific date because the hours change! We spent about an hour and half here.

Walk across the Westminster Bridge, getting the best view at Big Ben along the way. Fun fact: Big Ben is actually the Great Bell of the clock. The tower is called the Elizabeth Tower, which is all part of the Palace of Westminster, the home of the Parliament.

Parliament Building

Right over the bridge you’ll spot the London Eye. If that’s your thing, the price is about £35-40 and it takes about 30 minutes to go around.

We enjoyed the half an hour walk (2.25km or 1.4miles) along the south bank all the way to the Tate Modern Museum (also free!).

Tate Modern Museum

There are lots of places for dinner along the waterfront.

Day 3

Start your day at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. This happens only on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and it starts at 10:45. I would get there early to get a good spot to see! The ceremony is about 45 minutes. If your there during the summer Buckingham palace is open to the public, the rest of the year it is closed. We missed it, but a short walk away we toured the Royal Mews (£10). I LOVED seeing all the carriages, we spent about 2 hours here.

Gold State Coach, which was built for George III in 1762. Weighing almost four tonnes and requiring eight horses to pull it, it has carried every monarch to their coronation since 1821.

It’s also worth taking the time to wander the parks surrounding the palace. Especially with a coffee!

Take the tube to the British Museum (free!). I love the architecture of this building! We spent about 2 hours here.

The Rosetta Stone (The British Museum)

If a play is your thing, book a ticket to a show after dinner!

Day 4

Start your day at the Tower of London (£21.50, buy online to save time), probably my favorite place in London! It opens at 10:00am Sunday and Monday, and 9:00am Tuesday through Saturday. Start with the tour from the Yeoman Warder, aka Beefeater! Tours start every 30 minutes and last an hour. There is so much to do here we spent about 4.5 hours walking around exploring. The Crown Jewels were of course a highlight!

Memorial To The Executed

Leaving the Tower it’s a very short walk to the Tower Bridge. Tickets are £8.70 online or £9.80 at the door. You can check out the engine rooms, a museum and the super cool glass floor, which is the walkway between the two towers. Plan to spend about 2 hours here

Tower Bridge

There are plenty of places for dinner close by if you’re ready to eat!

Day 5

Grab a coffee and walk through Hyde park and then head to Kensington Palace, it opens at 10am! Buy your tickets online (£15.50) because there are a limited amount of general admission at the door (£17.00). I loved our visit here. The Kings staircase and King’s State Apartment were a highlight! Right now there is a super popular exhibition of Diana: Her Fashion Story. We spent about 2 hours here.

King’s Staircase

Princess Diana’s Dresses

Take the tube to the Borough Market to walk around and grab lunch! I loved how colorful the market is, and there are lots of treats to try!

A short 10 minute walk will take you to Shakespeare’s globe (£17.00). Tours depart every 30 minutes but be sure to check the schedule in case there is a performance going on! We sadly missed the tour by not checking ahead of time!

End your evening in Piccadilly Circus for dinner and some shopping

Hope this helps you plan your time in London! There are SO many other things to do you can definitely add on quite easily.

What is your favourite thing to do in London?

Pin it for later