Getting to Tower of London, British Museum, during morning rush hour?

Just get on the tube and go. Avoid the tube at rush hour if you just can't handle crowds. But guess what, you've got a limited schedule to see the sites and you've paid lots of money to get there. You have every right to be on the tube right in the middle of the crowds.

As someone who rides a subway every day during rush hour, it's really not so bad.

Some rules of thumb:

1) obey the stand right walk left rule on escalators. If you don't, be prepared and willing to move aside for walkers. never ever ever ever ever stop at the top of the escalator. walk many feet in any direction before trying to stop and get your bearings

2) if you're not sure where you are or where you're going, step out of the flow of people to get your bearings

3) don't walk two (or more) abreast if you're part of a group. follow each other closely single file

4) don't block the doors - before boarding stay clear of the door (the full door, not just one half of it - I'm looking at you Boston commuters! grr) let others off, then board and move into the car

5) if you miss your stop don't panic. get off at the next stop and change direction to go back

6) on a crowded car expect to be... crowded. sorry not sure how else to describe it. Studiously stare at your phone, or at the ceiling, or at an ad, or into the middle distance with your eyes unfocused. especially if you are so crowded you're touching others. you're all engaged in a group fiction that you're not invading each others' space.

7) if at any point you're feeling overwhelmed, just step out of traffic and watch people go by. it's fun and will let you catch your breath and fortify yourself to re-enter the flow

or - just go really early to the sights, before rush hour starts, find a place to get a coffee while you wait for the sight to open, and watch London swirl around you

one thing you should try to avoid doing during rush hours is using the Underground stations attached to mainline railway terminals, also those which are interchanges between several lines. The trains may be simply busy but sometimes the platforms become dangerously overcrowded (at which point they close the station for a while). If the first time you use Earls Court station it seems chaotic, consider using Gloucester Road next time.

As for the buses, if they are too full they simply won't stop for you. Again, don't think of boarding at a mainline station.

As someone who also commutes by subway semi-regularly in a city with a mix of commuters and tourists, ditto everything Motorgirl wrote! If you have the opportunity, I'd suggest doing a trial run during an off-peak period to get a feel for the system. That way it's not so frantic when you're there during rush. Also, if you're traveling with family and children, make sure everyone understands that if someone gets separated, go to the next stop and wait there (or some similar game plan communicated in advance). I've found the TFL transit staff (both bus and rail) to be very courteous and helpful. It's all very civilized despite being rushed! :)

Good points from Rachel. Our rule of thumb is if you get separated everyone gets off at the next stop and looks for each other. Though in practice when my husband and I travel together we are both so used to public transport from our daily commutes and business/leisure travel that we end up just each heading for the target stop and look for each other there.

Just devise a rule and stick to it, and you'll be fine.

Edited to add: if you take a moment to stop and watch, even though it's rushed, there is a pattern in the chaos that can help you if you stop to watch it. And TFL staff are pretty helpful.

Terrific tips from everyone. On RS tours we were told to go to the wall when we got off the train, then everyone could regroup there in the few seconds before another train came thru. That works well when traveling with several people as well and gets you out of the flow.

Make sure you have your Oyster card or whatever you are going to use to pay for your transit out and ready to go before you get to the ticket barrier.

The Londoners can address the weekend issue but in my limited experience it is much quieter. Your problem will then be that the attraction itself may be busier. I would probably avoid the Tower and maybe the British Museum on the weekends.

What helps to a degree especially with the District is that many people do get off to change to the Piccadilly or the Wimbleware branch. Of course people are changing on to the main District eastbound as well but the flow helps.

Incidentally if you want to consider history of the station itself, look out for the 'next train' indicators that are over a hundred years old and being listed can't be removed - same with the timber seats with a roundel backrest.

If you will look at the opening times of attractions, you will see that some open at 10 AM, making it unnecessary for you to deal with rush hour on the tube. Others open at 10 AM some days, 9 AM other days. I should think rush hour will be winding down by 9 AM.

From the Tower of London website:
Opening times:
Tuesday-Saturday: 9.00-17.30
Sunday-Monday: 10.00-17.30

If you are going Tuesday through Saturday, the Tower opens at 9 AM. Tuesday through Friday, rush hour should be winding down and not at its peak by 8:45; that's when I would jump on the District Line for this trip.
Saturday, there is no rush hour.

If you are going on Sunday to the Tower, no problem; no rush hour on Sunday. Monday--it doesn't open until 10 AM. Rush hour will be over.

The best days for you to visit the Tower early without having to deal with any rush hour tube crowd, are: Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

From the British Museum's website:
Free, open daily
10.00–17.30
Fridays until 20.30

The museum does not open until 10 AM, at which time, rush hour will be over. You don't have a problem there.
I would hop on the tube at Earl's Court at 9:45.

Two other places best to get to soon after opening time are
Westminster Abbey---opens 9:30 AM but may vary with special events. Sunday morning are church services, no tourist admission. Churchill War Rooms---9:30 AM to 7 PM every day.
For both places, 10 AM would be an O.K. time to arrive; you're still ahead of the huge crowds.
Westminster Abbey is huge; plenty of room inside to accommodate large crowds.
Churchill War Rooms---tiny inside. The entire museum is underground, with small hallways, small rooms with low ceilings. Very important to get here and get out before the big crowds roll in later in the day.

Earl's Court is my "home" station so let me add some info.

If you are going to the Tower of London your best choice is the District line. It is a straight shot with no change of trains. (Just make sure the destination does NOT say Edgware Road.) The Piccadilly line will mean a couple of changes. And as Emma stated, the District line trains are newer and I think air conditioned while the Piccailly trains are definitely not. The District line trains are also open car meaning you can easily walk between cars because there are no doors. They also seem roomier.

At Earls Court, the District line is right in front of you after you go through ticket barrier. Bear to your right, go down a few steps and you will find the tracks. (To get to the Piccadilly line you need to take the elevator/lift down.)

Weekend mornings are better however there is a lot of track work on weekends and some lines don't run their entire length. (As an example, last weekend, the District line wasn't running west of South Kensington station.) And, sights like the Tower will be more crowded on weekends.

Your best bet is to get to the station early, bite the bullet and put up with the crowds.

Oh, and mind the gap.

Everyone's given you great advice. And your main advantage is that you won't be traveling with your luggage. Just about anything is doable if you're not saddled with bags as well! It may well be cramped, but you will make it just fine.

Thanks to all for the great information!

Trains on the District Line really are much bigger than the Piccadilly. Basically there are two types of London Underground line - the ones whose central sections were first built in the nineteenth century, which are a short distance below ground and have trains roughly the same size as normal ones, and the "tube" lines proper, which had their first sections built in the twentieth century and are much deeper, with much smaller diameter tunnels and smaller trains.

If there are 3 or 4 of you, it's almost as cheap to take a taxi as it is the tube, isn't it?

And it's worth reiterating RS' advice to get to the Tower of London as early as possible to its opening time and hit the Crown Jewels before taking the larger tour. My wife and I did that in summer 2014 and had no line getting in and the treasures virtually to ourselves, much in contrast to the queues we spied later in the morning.

I took Rick's advice and arrived at the Tower of London and British Museum first thing in the morning, which meant I would have to ride the tube during rush hour. Although it was pretty busy, the ride wasn't too bad at all. I recommend getting to busy tourist sites early to avoid the crowds there. For me, a crowded 10-15 minute bus ride outweighs standing in line for 30+ minutes. I found this especially true for the Tower of London and London Eye. On different days, I took the first tour at the Tower of London and was one of the first 50 people in line for the London Eye. By the time I was done, it was easily a 40+ minute wait.

M husband always wrote out the route on the back of a business card. Be sure to use the end station of each direction of your line as it helps when you have to reverse your travel on the way home. Don't worry about rush hour. We were there on a rainy Bank Holidays and everything moved along fine. Helps to note color or number of line too.