Could anyone please help clarify whether it is possible to purchase both Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries and verger tour at the same time (on site), on the day of visit, to best coordinate the times? We’ll be visiting in August and will pre-book entry tickets 9:30-11:30am online. But since we do not know which verger tour we could get into, we do not know how to time the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries when booking online. So we are hoping to get there before 9:30am, and depending on which verger tour we could get into, book Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries 90 minutes after verger tour. Thanks in advance!
Posted by
Austin, Tx
149 posts
I think you would be safe getting an 11:30 or noon gallery ticket, which is well worth it. I’m sure not everyone looked at every little thing like I did, but I spent an hour+ up there.
Also, they let me up at a time that wasn’t listed on my ticket, I’m not sure how common that is though. You can buy gallery on site though.
Posted by
OP
NY
16 posts
Great thank you very much for the info and confirming it's possible to buy on-site!
Posted by
2498 posts
We bought tickets online for entry and bought both verger tour and Queen’s Jubilee Galleries after we arrived with no troubles. We did the Verger tour and bought the tickets to the Queen’s Jubilee Galleries after we finished.
This was 2.5 weeks ago.
Posted by
OP
NY
16 posts
Thank you BethFL for your first hand experience! Do you mind sharing your approx arrival time at the Abbey, and timing of your verger tour & gallgeries entrance?
Posted by
2498 posts
We arrived about 10:30 am on Monday and lines were huge! Everyone has to go through security and then we zipped right in feeling a bit smug. I am sure even security would have been better had we got there earlier but our best plans did not materialize. It was our first full day in London after arriving the day before and we were not moving fast.
We were put into next verger tour which meant sitting on brown folding chairs for about 10 minutes. It was the 11 am tour.
Right after we bought Queen’s Jubilee Galleries tickets. The best part was the view from the galleries in my opinion, although many of the exhibits were very interesting too.
Altogether we were there about 3 hours.
Posted by
San Franciso Bay Area, USA
951 posts
Like Beth, bought both the verger tickets and Queens Diamond Jubilee and went on the tour first and then the galleries. We went just before Christmas on a shorten tourist day at Westminster and the timing worked out perfectly. We let the verger know we had the gallery tickets and he made sure we were at the gallery at ticket time.
Posted by
OP
NY
16 posts
Thank you Beth and Sandy! Very insightful info. Now I feel very confident about our strategy of arriving early and book both onsite.