The glass floor
Panels 42 m above the river in the high-level walkway put the buses under your feet, and they are what the ticket is really for.
Barcex — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Matthias Bethke — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt — CC BY-SA 4.0
A good many of the tourists photographing it believe it is London Bridge. It is not: London Bridge is the plain grey span next upstream, a ten-minute walk west. This is Tower Bridge, twin Gothic towers over the Thames, built between 1886 and 1894 and deliberately dressed to look centuries older so it would not embarrass the Tower of London next door. Under the stone is a steel frame; the stone is costume. The bascules still rise for river traffic about 800 times a year, and the schedule is published in advance on the official site, to the minute. Watching from the pavement is free, and so is walking or driving across at any hour, which is why plenty of people are perfectly happy with the classic shot from the south bank beside City Hall. Time your visit to a lift and you may never need a ticket. The ticket (£18 adult, £9 child, under-fives free) takes you up both towers to the enclosed high-level walkways, where since 2014 glass panels 42 m above the river put red buses and boats directly under your shoes, then down to the Victorian engine rooms on the south bank, where steam did the lifting until 1976. The glass floor is the real reason to pay; the rest is a well-told engineering story and no more. Lifts in both towers, pushchairs welcome, and the whole visit takes 60-90 minutes. Open daily 09:30-18:00, last entry 17:00, closed 24-26 December. In July and August book online (available up to eight weeks ahead, same price as at the door) and come early: the walkways are narrow and fill fast. In winter aim for around 16:00 to watch the bridge lights come on from above before dark. Tower Hill (Circle and District lines) is about a seven-minute walk; London Bridge (Jubilee and Northern) about ten via the south bank.
Panels 42 m above the river in the high-level walkway put the buses under your feet, and they are what the ticket is really for.
Around 800 lifts a year on a published schedule; free to watch from the pavement and worth planning your day around.
Gleaming Victorian steam engines on the south bank that lifted the bridge until 1976, a short stop children tend to enjoy.
Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2UP
Tower of LondonWilliam the Conqueror raised it after 1078 not to protect London but to intimida4 minutes walk4.6
HMS BelfastThe forward guns of this cruiser moored on the Thames are trained, deliberately,6 minutes walk4.6
The London DungeonIn the basement of County Hall, a few steps from the London Eye queue, an actor 9 minutes walk4.4
The ShardFrom level 72, roughly 244 metres up with no roof between you and the sky, Tower10 minutes walk4.7
London BridgeNot one stone of the bridge in the nursery rhyme is still in London. Its direct 11 minutes walk4.5The Tower of London, without hesitation: half a day of history plus the Crown Jewels. The Tower Bridge exhibition is under 90 minutes, and its best part, the exterior and the lifts, is free from the riverbank.
Yes: both towers have lifts, pushchairs are allowed, and the engine rooms go down well with children. The glass floor unsettles some at first, but the walkway is enclosed and entirely safe.