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Buckingham Palace tour check-in window

We are hoping to squeeze a tour of Buckingham Palace into our schedule. Unfortunately, the only time it would work would be the last tour of the day (5:15), after a London Walks tour that ends at 4:30 at the Prospect of Whitby pub. I looked up the time to travel between the two, and it looks like it could work if taking a cab (the other transit was too slow). Traffic is, of course, a wild card. I think even with slow traffic, we could arrive by 5:15, but I just saw they ask that you arrive 15 minutes early. If we get there at 5:05, would we be turned away? How strict is that time window?

Thanks

Posted by
1668 posts

I'd choose one or the other. You'd need to time it to the minute by the time you walk to Wapping and then walk from Green Park or Victoria. It's right on peak rush hour (assuming it's a weekday) with packed trains and stations. Cambourne may be right in theory, but in practice I doubt very much it would happen. Taking an Uber across town at that time of day to make such a tight schedule isn't something I'd consider. Not the sort of stress I'd be wanting to deal with on vacation personally.

Posted by
15555 posts

I think I mentioned this on your other thread but I've never had a London Walks walk end before the projected time but I have often had them go a little bit longer. Sometimes this is because they got started a little late, sometimes the sidewalks have been crowded and it might have taken longer to get from place to place, sometimes people have questions as you go which the guide will answer.

You do have the option of dropping back and leaving the walk early but to me, I agree that I'd choose one or the other.

Posted by
3154 posts

I know you have a lot of things you want to see (as I recall from other posts in just a few days), but this would be one day you'll have to pick one or the other. Especially if you need to book and pay for the Buckingham Palace tour tickets ahead of time. I'm a huge London Walks fan, but you can easily do a DIY walk based on RS books or audio tours - there are two audio walks for London: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/london

Posted by
44 posts

Thanks, everyone. It is a walk about pirates (only held once a month) and on a Saturday, if that makes a difference with the answers about traffic. Sigh…. It’s so hard to cut things out!

Posted by
1668 posts

Being a Saturday does improve your odds slightly, but it's a big risk to take if you've dropped a lot of money on tickets beforehand. The chances of not making it for 5:15 are quite high.

Posted by
1515 posts

I wouldn’t risk missing the window. Yours is the last tour of the day - people will have checked in. No possibility of sneaking in with a later group.

It’s been several years since I did this tour in 2019 and things change. So, take with a grain of salt, but I was on a work call that ran long and I had to race to get to my check-in time. I arrived at the outside limit of the time specified. I was the last person in my allotted time block to be admitted.