Apparently there are many companies offering walking tours of Westminster, the Abbey, and other attractions. The ticket pricing begins at more than $100 per person, which seems excessive. Am I just naive about these things? Can someone recommend the best way to go? Thank you!
Posted by
Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico
2117 posts
You need to go to the official website for each place you want to visit.
For Westminster Abbey, it's here: https://www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us
The adult price is 30 pounds: (https://www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/prices-entry-times); not insignificant, but a lot less than $100!
Posted by
St. Louis metro area
181 posts
One good resource for a walking tour of the Westminster area is the Rick Steves audio tour available absolutely free. See this page:
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/london and choose London/Westminster Walk. At Westminster Abbey, there is a Hidden Highlights tour you can see and sign up for when you use the official ticketing site at tickets.westminster-abbey.org, or there may be other tours, but I suspect anything run by the Abbey itself is best. There are also Parliament tours if you are interested in that, and of course the Churchill war rooms and museum. I have used the RS audio tours several times and find them excellent--just heed the warning to download them to your phone before you leave the U.S. though, because I've had no success in downloading them while in Europe.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
7411 posts
Westminster Abbey has their own tours, that, I can't recall, are either free or inexpensive. They are the Verger tours, and you can sign up for them, day of. However, you probably need to get there at opening to sign up.
Another option is London Walks, https://www.walks.com/. They are highly regarded on this forum and their tours cost between 10 and 20 GBP, depending on age.
There is also a self guided tour in the Rick Steves guidebook.
Posted by
Pennsylvania
364 posts
We used London Walks for a tour of Westminster Abbey and liked it. The cost of admission to the Abbey was included in the London Walks tour price, and the total cost was very reasonable. We also took another London Walks tour (Beatles theme) and liked it as well.
Another vote for the RS Audio app walking tours. We took the ‘Westminster Walk’ and found it easy to use and informative and it’s free. I’ve never had any trouble downloading the tours via the app whether in Europe or in the U.S. but it does make sense to download them ahead of time to plan out your time. Those tours have also been good for other cities as well.
If the site/attraction has an audio guide for purchase or included with the ticket, that’s usually enough for us. Although I understand some may prefer guided tours.
Posted by
Chicagoland
1096 posts
See my comments and MaryC's on this recent post.
There may be later Verger tours scheduled during the day.
Always book directly with the venue, not a 3rd party.
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
3344 posts
And the abbey has some Wednesday late afternoon/evening openings on certain dates and the entrance fee is 15 pounds per adult, though perhaps only in summer. You cannot use their audio tour for the evenings but the RS book has a decent self guided walk. I've also done the London Walks tour on a Saturday - well worth their guide fee, and they get a group discount for the abbey entrance fee. It's packed on Saturday though so it's a trade off.
Posted by
USA
306 posts
I went in to a service, 10th anniversary of 9/11 (might not have been a sunday, but the regular sunday services are always an option), for free. Just had to hold off on taking photos until it was over. I didn't get way up front, but did get to sit where they put the bridal bouquets after weddings :) I donated £5 back then. Nearly free to see the place doing what it does best.
-Alison