Westminster Abbey and War rooms - how much time

Definitely too much to do in a morning. Book one for the morning and the other for the afternoon .

I would not try to do both in the same morning.

Westminster Abbey is worth at least a couple of hours, even a bit more if you visit the upstairs Diamond Jubilee galleries with their stunning bird’s eye views of the interior, and by all means take the informative verger tour if you can for the modest additional fee. If you want a bit of quiet to reflect/pray/meditate, find the heavy wooden door in Poet’s Corner: that’s St Faith’s Chapel, an evocative ancient part of the Abbey.

The War Rooms are equally worth 2 or 3 hours, so I would visit after lunch on the same day or come back on another morning at opening if you prefer.

When I visited a few years ago, both sites had a one-way sightseeing path, and both sites got very crowded (and a bit claustrophobic for me), so you might consider booking first slot of the morning for each, on two different days.

They both need a lot of time. We were mentally exhausted by the time we left the war rooms as there is so much detailed and emotional information. We will return there again on our next visit to London. We have visited Westminster
Abbey on every trip we have taken to London. These important sites need enough time and the idea of visiting both in a morning is wrong in many ways.

A verger tour at Westminster Abbey (highly recommend) takes 90 minutes. It opens at 9:30 am. If your tour started at 10, the earliest you would be done is 11:30. It is not practical to think of doing both in the morning.

Bob,

If you just want a just a quick walk through at Westminster Abbey, you could arrive when it opens at 9:30 a.m. and spend an hour and then walk over to War Rooms (about 10 minutes) and then spend a little over an hour to 1.5 hours in War Rooms. If you are tight on time and want an overview, this is doable.

However, if you have the time, I would highly recommend the Verger's tour at Westminster and the Diamond Jubilee gallery. I have been to Westminster many times and the last time I went in 2019, I finally took the Verger's tour and I wish I had done it sooner.

The Churchill War Rooms has two parts, the War Rooms itself which is less than 30 minutes and then a comprehensive interactive museum. If you are a WWII or Churchill fan, it is worth at least an hour in the interactive museum.

Sandy

I spent over half a day in the Churchill War Rooms, most of it in the Churchill Museum part. The war rooms themselves don't take a lot of time, but I can't quite imagine paying that entry fee (over $33 US) if you have no interest in the Churchill Museum section.

If you just want a just a quick walk through at Westminster Abbey, you could arrive when it opens at 9:30 a.m. and spend an hour and then walk over to War Rooms (about 10 minutes) and then spend a little over an hour to 1.5 hours in War Rooms. If you are tight on time and want an overview, this is doable.

While I have never actually followed one of the pre-made itineraries, I have noticed they pack a lot in the amount of time allotted ... I think all of these pre-built itineraries are best-case scenarios and, like mentioned, are meant to give you a quick visit to see the highlights ... they don't take into account the things that always seem to happen (lines, crowds, etc...) and the fact that some have a slower pace and want a little more in-depth visit ... there is probably a little bit of wiggle room in the time allotted, but I think not much ... 20 years ago, I could do both in the same morning, slam a pint and a bite for lunch, then head off for the afternoon's adventures ... now both in the same day (with nothing else) is more like it ... I actually have this planned for 1 day when I go next year ... 9:30 arrival at Westminster, 10:30 Verger tour, leave about 12:30 for lunch at Two Chairmen, get to Churchill around 2pm, leave at 4:30 to go back to Westminster for Evensong at 5pm, then back to hotel to drop stuff and freshen up before dinner (at either the Munich Cricket Club or Laughing Halibut but subject to change).

Edit: Used the wrong wording ... thanks Carol for pointing out my mistake.

DQ, must have been a communication error. The OP was not talking about a tour, but a guidebook.

Just returned (and a tip o' the cap to Claudia) - as everyone says, Westminster Abbey takes a couple of hours at the least (I spent about an hour in the Poets' Corner). And the War Rooms - it took us three hours plus. For Churchill fans, I highly recommend the very charming Chartwell.

We needed an entire morning for each. We’d need two separate days to see them, and another activity/sight each afternoon - if you’ve got the energy for more after lunch.