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Tower of London itinerary

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We will be visiting the Tower of London on a Thursday vs weekend which is good and will arrive early. A few questions please based on your experiences:

1) if we arrive at 9:30 (vs 9:00 a.m. opening) and go straight to the crown jewels do you think there will be a long line? We have a previous engagement early in the morning and not sure if we can make it there by 9:00 and want to purchase advance tickets.

2) after the crown jewels, in what order would you see the other attractions in the tower (White Tower, bloody Tower, medieval Palace, Walk the wall, etc) to beat other lines? In other words, what are the more popular sites after the crown jewels?

3) if we take the free beef eaters tour after the crown jewels, will those other sites mentioned above become super busy or should we wait until later for the beefeater tour?

Thank you for all your help!

Posted by
8913 posts

I was at the Tower of London in June. This was my fourth visit. We arrived just before opening to a fairly long line at the entrance. Interestingly enough, the gentleman managing crowd control told me that as far as Tower Entrance goes, arriving 30 minutes after opening means there is very little line to get in.

About the Crown Jewels. Everybody has heard the advice to go to the Crown Jewels first. The lines were longer at opening than I have seen on any of my previous visits. That said, it was still only about 5 minutes to get into the building and another 10 to get the the vault with the Crown Jewels. I thought we were done (we had gone on the conveyor a few times) and exited. Then I discovered my friend wanted to do the whole exhibit again. We went and got in line again about 30 minutes after we entered the line for the first time. The line was marginally shorter, but pretty much about the same in length and time.

I think that the rest of the sites pretty much distribute the crowd out. I can't say that one is busier than another. Do be prepared for stairs, lots of stairs, if you do the White Tower. I find my knees can still handle the stairs on the walls and the other towers, but the White Tower is a bit beyond. Once you enter, you pretty much have to finish the circuit so if stairs are an issue, be careful.

I would take the first Beefeater tour available after the Crown Jewels.

Have a wonderful trip. PS FYI I often follow up the Tower of London with an Uber boat cruise to Greenwich from the Tower Pier. It is scenic, gives a nice rest, and there are so many interesting opportunities at Greenwich.

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