Guide for British Museum and other London highlights

You dont need a guide for Kensington palace. they have a limited number of rooms available with good signage and descriptions- you enter, can usually walk only in one direction through al the rooms and then exit. Nothing aguide could tell you

The British Museum offers a number of short free guided tours during the day. Also a suggested highlights itinerary. http://www.britishmuseum.org/visiting/planning_your_visit.aspx Edit - Kensington Palace has just re-opened after a refit and has some new exhibitions/thing to see. http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/KPNewPlanyourvisitLandingPage/topsightsandactivities From their website "Will you offer guided tours of the new palace? The general Kensington Palace experience is to explore at your leisure using the new orientation leaflet, the new Kensington Palace guidebook and asking questions of our Explainers who love to share their expert knowledge with you. We do offer special tours out of hours which need to be booked in advance - see What's On here or contact our Events Team.
From 4 June we will be offering 'History Bites' every day, which will be mini talks by the Explainers as experts on a particular subject. These will take place in the visitor areas of the palace and there will be no need to book."

I just visited Kensington Palace last week. I have to say it was a disappointment. For £13/person and very little to actually see, it was a tourist trap. They've made it up to be very theatrical and have some kind of card game woven into the "experience." Most rooms have no information or historical items, some are even quite bare.
I think time and money can be spent better elsewhere in London.

Don't forget that the British Library is just up the street from the British Museum. Lots of interesting things around Russell Square, including one of the few pre WWII hotels that didn't get bombed flat - the Russell Hotel, favorite of T.S. Elliot. Glenn in Tucson

I would see if there's a London Walks tour for any of the sights you want to go to. We had planned on doing the one for the British Museum but we were running late and didn't make it. We did do Westminster Abbey w/London Walks and LOVED it. And you get to buy your tickets from them at a discount and don't have to wait in line so it almost evens out the cost of the tour. It costs 16 pounds to enter the Abbey and I think we paid 21 pounds for our entry fee plus the tour. I highly enjoyed our guide's commentary and even though it was crowded in the Abbey the tour still worked fine. There were actually so many walkers they split the group into 3 with 3 different guides. We 4 London Walks tours during our 3.5 days in London and really loved some and liked others a lot. I would recommend all of the ones we did though. I disagree and think that at least the London Walks guides do much more than just tell you what's on the signs.

An excellent private guide could really bring an attraction to life. Very few can afford a private guide and make do with organized tours. Blue Badge guides in London are all excellent. Some are dry and scholarly, some are witty, and all are informative. Linda mentioned the tours offered by the British Museum and I got a lot out of their eye opener tours and their handling sessions. Take a verger led tour at Westminster Abbey and you gain access to places that are off limits to everyone else. Same for a Beefeater/Yeoman Warder tour at the Tower of London. I second Jennifer's London Walks recommendation. I have taken a number of their walks. Check out their website and see if anything suits you. www.walks.com.

Agree with Jennifer and Chip re London Walks. I have done their British Museum tour, guide was Tom the day I did it. The group size that day was 12-14 which worked fine. Tom was excellent and in two hours we got a really good insight of about 6-8 or so of the main exhibits - you get so much more out of the visit than if you wander round yourself.
Have done some of the other London Walk tours, including Explorer Days. Some better than others, some guides I like better than others. Some have been great, some good, some OK.