Churchill War Rooms

It seems you can buy an entry ticket for £33.

The Churchill War Rooms are one of my favorite London museums and I’ve visited numerous times. I’ve never done a guided tour, though, so maybe someone will reply who has first-hand experience with one. FYI, I believe the regular ticket price includes the audio guide, and the museum displays are well-marked and full of written content. I guess it is depends on what type of experience you want to have, guided vs. self-guided, and your budget.

The Churchill War Rooms include an audio guide with a ticket purchase. We found it quite sufficient. They also have their own tour, which is done before regular opening. I think it's around £55. Details on their website.

I'll just jump on the bandwagon and say this is one site that has excellent signage and a good audio guide. No need to spend money for a tour here.

Where does the walking tour take you? How long is it? Asking this because it usually take me 1.5-2 hours to do the audio guide in the War Rooms and try to listen to some of the oral history recordings which are fantastic.

That is a two-part attraction. The war rooms themselves are rather small and inevitably crowded (unless you take that before-opening tour). There's no way they wouldn't be crowded with the tight quarters. I thought the audio guide was just fine in that area and am not sure how a tour group would be able to maneuver.

The second part of the site is the Churchill Museum. Folks really serious about that subject will be able to spend many hours there. There's a lot of explanatory material, and I think there were videos as well. A tour guide could distill the information here, but I wanted to read/watch it all. I don't remember whether the audio guide covers this part of the site.

All told, I was at the Churchill War Rooms over half a day and could have stayed longer, but there was someone waiting for me.

I also would say no need for a guide.
It’s really well set up and has many interactive and audio clips of events, about the people and from folk who lived in London during the war.

My Mum worked on the lower level in the canteen for a time when she was in the ATS during WW2. (Aux Territorial Service, part of the British Army)
She said they put duck-boards down as the Thames flooded in occasionally and made the floors wet.
She said Churchill would occasionally wander past and ask what was on the menu.

What a cool memory, S J!

Oh S J!! I agree, what an awesome memory! I'd swear that when I am in the War Rooms I get an occasional whiff of cigar!

I agree with everyone that you can skip a tour, if you just have a general interest. There is so much info available with the audio and lots to read with the exhibits. I suppose if you are a real Churchill History buff you might want a tour, but if not, I’d save the money. 2 hours was plenty for us.

Another one for skip the tour.

Great signage, great audio guide, and the staff who work there that I met were amazing. Wealth of color from the staff, and an amazing museum.