Verger Tour vs Hidden Highlight Tour.
Has anyone possibly taken both of the above tours? I'm curious if they each have their own separate itineraries, or does any of their points of interest overlap? I'm not sure if I need to be considering both.
I did read where the Hidden Highlight Tour does include the Queens Diamond Jubilee Galleries. Unless, I've misread the information.
I have taken the Verger Tour (twice!). I highly recommend it. The Vergers pretty much know everything there is to know and provide access to areas that you can't go to unless you are on a Verger tour.
Honestly, the Vergers know more than anyone. I have taken tours with more than one of them and they each have different stories and interests. I wouldn't tour the Abbey with anyone else.
Both tours are offered through Westminster Abby.
Did not take a tour on recent visit, as we are not really group tour people.
Will say: Queen’s Jubilee Galleries are probably the best £5 I spent on the trip as far as sightseeing (close with the Ham & Cheese croissant at Gail’s overall).
Did also have a chat with a verger in the Henry VII chapel about the Order of Bath and the quire, which was a massive information dump, delivered genially.
The more time you can spend in a cathedral, the more you can learn and see, and appreciate what there is. WMA has nearly 1000 years of continuous history, with harmonious architecture that I don’t think has a parallel in a cathedral of its age. We were there for two and a half hours, and had it not been a mob of milling people to parallel Saint Peter’s in Rome, I could have stayed another two. But then I’m the “never skip the cathedral” guy.
