Westminster Hall
A hall from 1097 under a hammer-beam roof, the largest surviving part of the old palace and the first room you enter.
Terry Ott from Washington, DC Metro Area, United States of America — CC BY 2.0 · Francis Dodd — Public domain · Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0
The building you know from a thousand photographs is not a medieval palace at all. It is Victorian, not yet two hundred years old: the old royal palace burned in 1834, and what stands on the Thames today was designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin between 1840 and 1870 in full Gothic Revival dress. The great survivor is Westminster Hall, begun in 1097 and roofed in the 1390s with the hammer-beam roof it still stands under, and it is the first room you enter on any visit. A small correction worth carrying with you: Big Ben is the bell, not the tower. The northern tower is the Elizabeth Tower; the heavier one at the southern end is the Victoria Tower. The tour earns its price because it opens rooms you otherwise see only on the evening news: Westminster Hall, then St Stephen's Hall and the Central Lobby, the House of Lords in red leather, gilt and throne, and finally the green House of Commons, which surprises everyone by how small it is; there are not even enough benches for every MP, which is why they stand at the big set-pieces. The self-guided audio tour, in ten languages (Arabic is not one of them), costs GBP 31 per adult booked ahead or GBP 34 on the day, with one child free per adult and GBP 12 for each additional child; the guided tour, English only, is GBP 40 (GBP 43 on the day) and runs 90 minutes. Tours operate most Saturdays year-round and Monday to Saturday during parliamentary recess: Easter, the summer from late July to early September, and Christmas. In August dates sell out well ahead, so book weeks ahead, not days. There is a free route few visitors know about. When Parliament is sitting, anyone, British or foreign, can watch proceedings from the public galleries at no charge by queuing at the Cromwell Green entrance. Lower your expectations in one respect: Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesdays at noon needs free tickets that go through MPs to UK residents only; a visitor from abroad can only join the queue on the day with no guarantee of a seat. But an ordinary debate (the galleries open Monday to Thursday and some Fridays) is usually open and puts you above the real green chamber. The Big Ben tour is a separate experience altogether: GBP 55 per adult and GBP 35 for ages 11 to 17, a climb of 334 narrow spiral steps to the belfry, closed to under-11s, with tickets released three months ahead on the second Wednesday of each month at 10:00 and selling out fast. Practicalities: Westminster station (Jubilee, District and Circle lines) sits directly opposite. Security is airport-style and takes up to thirty minutes on average, closer to forty-five on Monday to Wednesday afternoons. Photography is allowed only in Westminster Hall, St Stephen's Hall and the New Palace Yard visitor area; phones go off for the rest of the route and in the galleries. There is a multi-faith prayer room off Westminster Hall, entered with a member of staff; ask at the information desk. The route is 90 minutes on foot with little seating, so children under about seven flag before the end, and the children's audio version exists only in English. If the tour is not in your plans, do not grieve: the real spectacle is the river front from Westminster Bridge and the South Bank, lit up by late afternoon in winter. Just be aware that parts of the facade, especially the Victoria Tower at the southern end, may be wrapped in scaffolding for the long-running restoration programme.
A hall from 1097 under a hammer-beam roof, the largest surviving part of the old palace and the first room you enter.
Red and gilt with a royal throne, then the green chamber that surprises with its size; not every MP gets a bench.
334 spiral steps to the Great Bell, GBP 55 and ages 11+; tickets drop three months ahead and sell out fast.
Parliament Square, Westminster, London SW1A 0AA
Big BenBig Ben is not the tower. The name belongs to the Great Bell, roughly 13.7 tonne2 minutes walk4.7
Westminster AbbeyNo monarch of England or Britain has been crowned anywhere else since 1066. The 3 minutes walk4.5
SEA LIFE London AquariumBeneath the old headquarters of London's county government, in basement corridor6 minutes walk4.2
London EyeThe wheel never stops for you to board. The London Eye turns at about 26 centime7 minutes walk4.6
Trafalgar SquareFour bronze lions guard a column some 52 metres tall, and on top of it a one-arm12 minutes walk4.5If you have a week in London and care about the stories and the politics, yes; you will not see rooms like these anywhere else. If time is short or you have small children, the river front from Westminster Bridge and the South Bank is the picture you came for, and it costs nothing. As an alternative to the tour, try the free public galleries on an ordinary sitting day.
Not with a ticket; those free tickets go through MPs to UK residents only. A visitor from abroad can join the Wednesday queue in case a seat frees up, but with no guarantee and a long wait. Any other sitting of the Commons or the Lords is open to foreign visitors for free via the queue at the Cromwell Green entrance, and the afternoon queue is usually shorter.