Advance tickets for Westminster

I’ve been checking for tickets too for Sept. I haven’t seen any new dates open up lately for booking. My guess is that come August some more weeks will open up. Just keep checking.

Westminster Abbey or the Palace of Westminster?

Oh, sorry. To be clear, Westminster Abbey.

And apologies for side tracking, but in scrolling just now I had my finger over Minster and read the title as Advance Tickets for Webmaster - and wondered who was getting Andrew tickets and for what (but that he deserves them). LOL!

I think your plan to combine Westminster Abbey and Churchill War Rooms is a good one. I'd go for a 2 or 230 time slot for the War Rooms. That will give you a short time to pick up some lunch. There is a Pret a Manger nearby where you can pick up some to-go lunch and eat in the park across from the War Rooms. There is a nice cafe in the Abbey called the Cellarium but I have not eaten there since Covid. Their service used to be fairly slow so that might not be a good option when you have to get moving.

I'll add that your Best of England tour will do a tour of Westminster Abbey but it will not include the Jubilee Gallery and the Hidden Highlights. I love cathedrals so I'd be excited about the prospect of going twice, lol.

Be sure to download the audio app for Westminster Abbey to your phones before you go and carry your earbuds/ear pods with you! Even though you are going on a tour, you've got that to listen to if you have free time.

Thanks! For whatever reason, our tour is "substituting" St. Paul's Cathedral for Westminster Abbey. I am guessing that the day they would have normally fit it into the tour's schedule falls on a Sunday or something. So I want to be sure to hit the Abbey before we head to Bath. Westminster Abbey seems like something I don't want to miss while I'm in London.

Other London sites I plan to visit that aren't on the tour is the Globe, the British Museum, and the British Library.

We are staying at Sea Containers London, in Southwark. I don't know if it's been mentioned on this forum, but it looks nice and the views of across the Thames look fabulous. I'll post a review to the forum when I return.

Oh yes, if they are subbing in St Paul's then there must be an event or something that prevents them from visiting. St Pauls is excellent too, but I agree, I'd do Westminster Abbey on my own. I'm glad you are going ahead of time. You do have excellent sites picked out!

Honestly, I have not looked at the tour times for the Abbey but if you can get yourselves going and get on a tour before 1030 I'd do it just because there is so much to see there.

If you look frequently at the Westminster Abbey website the adage given on here of going early to avoid the crowds seems to be self defeating. It is always the morning time slots that go first and there tends to be good afternoon availability. If you look for next Monday to Wednesday (the peak of summer) you will see that early timeslots are gone, but there is still lots of availability in the afternoons, even on Monday.

You might check out a tour with London Walks for Westminster Abbey. It saves you having to get your own ticket, and the information you receive from the guide is amazing.

I don't know if it's been mentioned on this forum, but it looks nice and the views of across the Thames look fabulous.

I stayed here for a couple of nights. It’s very nice and extremely style-led. Lovely location on the South Bank.

A word about the word “Westminster” - it’s the official name for a large part of central London: much of tourist London is actually in the City of Westminster. “Westminster” is also often used as shorthand for government, in the same way the maybe “Capitol Hill” is used in the States. And for a smaller part of London specifically around the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey etc.

There is the Palace of Westminster - the parliament building. There’s Westminster Abbey. There’s also Westminster Cathedral, which is the newer (Victorian I think) RC cathedral near Victoria.

So Westminster Abbey needs to be given its full name when you’re in London to avoid confusion.

FYI - tickets for September Westminster Abbey dates are now on sale.

Thanks dksmartin for the heads up about the tickets. I was wondering about October tickets and thought they may open up two months booking windows at a time. Do you think the October dates will open up at the end of August?

The Abbey will be closed until early afternoon (maybe all day) on 1 October due to a special service to mark the start of the Legal Year.

Thanks dksmartin for reporting back. I just got mine!!