My family and I are planning our first trip to Europe, and our first stop will be in London for 4 days. Looking over our itinerary, I realized that we still had some free time and was wondering if Buckingham Palace is worth taking the tour. Looking over the prices, I realize that it's a bit expensive but I thought it might be fun to do, although Rick Steve's book on London says that it's not all that amazing. Any thoughts? Thank you.
Raymond
When will you be traveling? They only offer tours for a couple of months in the summer when the queen is away.
I will be travel during September. I read that during that month they allow tours of the Palace.
We took a tour of Parliament, open to foreigners only on Saturdays I believe. It was extremely interesting from both the historical perspective and also from how it functions today, still keeping with traditions from past centuries. You might consider that if you're there on a weekend.
Raymond,
I would have to ask, what else are you doing in london?
also, what are your interests and how much time will you have available?
just a personal comment. So far ive been in London 3 times and i havent been the the Palace - yet. Ive also havent seen Westminster Abby (WMA) - yet or the changing of the guards -yet. I did see the changing of the Horse Guards since i love horses, but thats just me and my likes. Im leaving the others for a later time when i have time to kill. If you WANT to see the palace, then go for it. But depending on what you will see and maybe miss there maybe something else to do depending on what you like to do.
happy trails.
We were just in London and toured BP and the Royal Mews. We had toured the Mews 10 yrs ago with a guide but now you get an audio guide. It was a bit disappointing but if you have not done this it may be enjoyable. The coaches/carriages are fabulous but we saw far less than our first visit-only saw two horses-guess most were out to a pasture. We bought tics at a booth set up adjacent to mews near BP. The tour lasted 1 1/2 hours and we saw more rooms than we expected--the jewels and gowns and 60th anniversary memorabilia were highlights. It was crowded but very well organized. The tour ended near an outdoor tented cafe and there is an opportunity to see the gardens but it was raining. A large gift shop is set up under a tent and it was crowded with shoppers. The BP tour was, IMO, amazing. It was money well spent!
We took the tour of the Buckingham Palace State Rooms in late August and thought it was a highlight of our stay in London. We ordered the tickets online before we left (a must). We found the tour to be well-run and especially liked that we could go at our own speed. We enjoyed having tea on the terrace at the end of the tour and taking a leisurely walk through the gardens. It was a beautiful day and that was a definite plus. We highly recommend it.
Years ago I did the tour of Buckingham Palace and I really enjoyed it. I picked up a lovely bone china mug in the gift shop, which I still use and enjoy. There are lots of things to see in London, but you won't always be there in the right month for this tour.
Pam
I highly recommend it! Visited this summer and was pleasantly surprised. We took the State Rooms tour and I loved seeing all the rooms that I have seen in pictures and hearing about the amazing history of the place in the audio tour narrated by Prince Charles. The art alone is worth the price of the tour...quite a collection in the picture gallery.
I visited in 2010 with my daughter, and thought it was excellent. You are not allowed to take pictures inside, but the audio tour included in the ticket price was very good. I especially enojoyed all of the artwork, particularly the large Rembrandt I think titled the Shipmaker or something like that. At that time, they also had an excellent exhibit about Princess Diana and lots of her clothes, jewelry etc. Was well worth our time.
Some of the other things we plan on doing are going to a few museums, Westminster Abbey, the London Tower, and just walking around London. We don't want to over do it and I realize that it's impossible to see ever thing in 4 days. I figured that since we will be there in September when Buckingham Palace is open, that we should take advantage of it. Thank you all everyone who responded, it really helped in deciding weather to go or not.
We really enjoyed it. Tower of London is our fave in London, and Hampton Court Palace (castle where Henry VIII and Elizabeth I lived) is our second favorite place to visit.
