If you are going to London for the first time? You can’t not go to one of the most iconic landmarks there is, visited by an average of 3 million people a year!
What is the Tower of London?
William the conqueror who conquered England in 1066, built the Tower of London as he was nervous over rebellion from his newly claimed home and wanted to make sure he kept his royal power as the King of England.
Since then not only was the Tower a Fortress but also used as a Palace & Prison.
As a Palace the Tower has been used up until the 19th century where the most famous residence is Buckingham Palace.
Prison wise no one has been imprisoned there since 1941 during World War 2. Around 400 people have been imprisoned there in total and some 20 people have been executed.
How to get there
Easily accessible from the tube with the district and circle line and stopping at Tower Hill, when you exit the station you can see the Tower right in front of you with its huge brick structure dominating the skyline.
You can also take numerous buses or other lines and walk 10-20 mins and take in more of London on your walk to the Tower.
Getting a ticket
Walking from the station you head to the ticket office to purchase your ticket, the cheapest one being £29.90 for adults and £14.90 (when I visited). I used a Go City London Pass and was able to skip the ticket office and go straight in with a simple scan, using a 3 choice explorer pass that cost me £64 and allowed me to do 2 more activities but will talk about that later.
Entering the Tower grounds
As you walk into the Tower grounds you can stop by the shop to purchase an audio tour to find out as much as possible while walking around, which is a cost of £5 per adult but are discounts for certain people and also family bundles.
Just a little further on and I could see a crowd gathered listening to stories and information from one of the resident Beefeaters – he had the crowd hanging on his every word and mixing fact with funny quips.
There are many different rooms to go through, some interesting, some not so interesting. The torture room show how they dealt with traitors / enemies hundred of years back from stretching them to basically squashing them into small balls aided by metal.
You can go into dedicated rooms about the guards themselves and how they defended the Fortress back in the early days, as you walk across the tower walls you also get amazing views of Tower Bridge and London in general.
The highlight of the Tower
I don’t think anyone will argue that the best part of the visit is seeing the Crown Jewels, there are various on show along with other amazing treasures.
Unfortunately when I was there 2 of the crowns were out for preparation for King Charles (coronation in May). Having said this, the star of the show which had the wow factor with over 100 carats, when you enter the Jewel room you get on an escalator to take you past the crowns which is a great idea so everyone gets a few seconds with each of the crowns as you slowly move across the floor.
Unfortunately you are not allowed to take photos within the crown room and it makes sense given the high security and again one of the main features of the attraction.
The Views
As you walk around the tower of London to the different exhibition rooms you can’t help but notice the spectacular views of the capital.
You can be looking at London Bridge one minute then the next looking up at The Shard.
Obviously helps if it’s a nice clear day and we were lucky that it was just that given it was Jan and very crisp air.
Summary of the visit
It was great to go and learn about the royal history – I think it’s one of those things you need to go to at least once. Again the crown room alone was worth it, I’ve never seen so many diamonds in one piece before.
Rather than paying the full price I would recommend a Go City Pass, you can then do other attractions in London and save money for example you could get a 2 choice pass for £50 and do Tower of London and O2 walk which would save you £20 overall than buying directly.