The London Pass®: 100+ Things To Do – Includes Tower Bridge

London Pass®: 100+ Things To Do, Including Tower Bridge, is less a guided tour than a sightseeing budget tool. You choose one to 10 days, then use the mobile pass at major sights such as the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge, and the View from the Shard. The best savings come from planning a full day, not from casually wandering into one attraction at a time.

I like two things here. First, the pass covers a broad mix of royal palaces, museums, sports grounds, river transport, and smaller specialty museums. Second, the included Big Bus sightseeing tour and Thames Clippers boat access can save both money and tired feet. The main catch is that the pass is only as useful as your schedule. Reservations, opening days, and timed entry rules matter, especially for the London Eye, the Shard, Madame Tussauds, Hampton Court, and several other popular stops.

Key points to know before buying

• More than 100 choices: Major sights include the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Windsor Castle, Kew Gardens, and the British Museum.
• One pass, one visit per attraction: Your credits cover each included attraction once during the active period.
• Calendar-day validity: A three-day pass runs for three consecutive calendar days, not 72 hours from the moment you first use it.
• The London Eye and Shard are included: Both require planning, and available reservation slots can be limited.
• Useful transport benefits: The pass includes a two-day Big Bus Classic London tour and a one-day Thames Clippers River Roamer option.
• Best for active sightseers: You need to visit several paid attractions each day to make the $135.75 price worthwhile.

How the London Pass works in real life

Your pass arrives digitally after booking and can be synced with the Go City app. The app and downloadable guide show the current attraction list, instructions, operating information, and reservation requirements.

The pass is valid for one year from the purchase date before activation. It begins when you first enter an attraction and then runs for the number of consecutive calendar days you selected. If you buy a three-day pass and first use it at 3 p.m. on Monday, Monday counts as day one.

That detail is easy to miss. For a short visit, activate the pass early in the morning so you get a useful full day. Do not activate it casually just to visit one small museum late in the afternoon.

The $135.75 price is easiest to justify when you combine expensive headline sights with several smaller attractions. The Tower of London, View from the Shard, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, and a stadium or palace visit can add up quickly when purchased separately.

If you only want the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and one museum, buying individual tickets may be simpler. If you plan to see four or five major paid sights, add the river transport and bus tour, and keep moving, the pass can save money.

The Tower of London and Tower Bridge

The Tower of London is one of the strongest reasons to buy the pass. Allow about two hours for the fortress, royal apartments, prison stories, armoury displays, and Crown Jewels area. It is a substantial visit, so do not squeeze it between two attractions on opposite sides of the city.

Tower Bridge is a separate included attraction. You can walk across the high-level glass walkways, see the bridge machinery, and look down on the Thames. Allow about an hour.

These two sights pair well because they are close together. You can visit the Tower first, take a break nearby, and then walk to Tower Bridge. Rain can make the bridge entrance queue uncomfortable, since shelter is limited, so check the forecast and allow extra time.

The nearby Monument to the Great Fire of London gives you another included viewpoint. It involves a climb and takes about an hour, making it a good choice only if you still have energy after the Tower and bridge.

Westminster, St. Paul’s, and the City

Westminster Abbey takes about an hour and gives you a close look at one of London’s most important churches. Its royal ceremonies, tombs, memorials, and Gothic interior make it more than a quick photo stop.

St. Paul’s Cathedral also deserves about an hour, though you may want longer if you plan to explore carefully. Christopher Wren designed the present cathedral after the Great Fire of London, and its dome remains one of the city’s defining sights.

Southwark Cathedral offers a smaller, quieter stop near the river. Its connections with John Harvard and Elizabethan theatre give it a different feel from Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s.

The Jewel Tower and Wellington Arch are shorter visits. They are useful when you are already nearby, but I would not cross London just to use the pass on either one.

London from above: the Eye and the Shard

The London Eye gives you a slow ride high above the Thames in one of its 32 glass pods. The full experience is listed at about 30 minutes, and the 135-metre height gives you wide views over central London.

The London Eye requires a reservation. This is important because the pass does not mean you can always walk straight to the entrance and ride immediately. Check availability before building your day around it.

The View from the Shard is another included highlight. Your pass includes the indoor galleries, the open-air Skydeck on floor 72, a panoramic guide, and four digital photos. Plan for about two hours.

The Shard has a stricter limitation: pass holders can book daytime visits only, with the last available slot listed as 5:15 p.m. If you want a sunset view, do not assume the pass will cover it. Check the available times before purchase if this is one of your main goals.

These two viewpoints are not interchangeable. The Eye gives you a moving view near the river. The Shard gives you a high, fixed view over London. Both are worthwhile, but both require advance planning.

Moving by boat and bus

The included two-day Big Bus Classic London tour can be useful on your first day. I like using a hop-on hop-off bus early in a London visit because it helps you understand the city’s layout before committing to long walks and Underground connections.

The pass also includes a one-day River Roamer option on Thames Clippers. This is public river transport, not a narrated sightseeing cruise. It connects piers near important areas such as Westminster, the City, and Greenwich, and you can use it to turn a transfer into sightseeing.

Do not expect frequent guided commentary or a luxury cruise. The boat is most valuable when your route already follows the Thames. Check the day’s service and pier information before relying on it for a tight appointment.

The Big Bus service can also be affected by traffic, construction diversions, equipment problems, or crowded stops. One stop may be skipped without clear notice, and a delayed bus can cost you a timed entry. I would use the bus for orientation and broad sightseeing, but use the Underground, walking, or a taxi when an attraction reservation has a firm start time.

Royal palaces and day trips beyond central London

Kensington Palace takes about two hours and requires advance reservations. It suits visitors interested in royal apartments and changing exhibitions, but confirm the booking procedure in the app before setting out.

Hampton Court Palace is a larger commitment at about three hours. The former home of Henry VIII combines Tudor rooms, palace displays, and gardens. It is a fine choice for a full half-day, not a quick stop between central London attractions.

Windsor Castle requires travel outside central London. Allow about two hours at the castle, plus your transport time. If you have only one or two days in London, the trip can consume a large share of your sightseeing hours.

The King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace is focused on changing exhibitions from the Royal Collection. Apsley House, once the Duke of Wellington’s home, and Wellington Arch add smaller royal and military history stops near Hyde Park.

Royal attractions often have limited opening days or seasonal schedules. Buckingham Palace access, in particular, may not match your travel dates, so check the calendar before activating a pass around it.

Greenwich, Kew, and Hampton Court

Greenwich is one of the best areas for using several credits in one outing. The Royal Observatory covers astronomy, Greenwich Mean Time, the Prime Meridian, and the old astronomers’ apartments.

Nearby, you can visit the Cutty Sark, the National Maritime Museum, and the Fan Museum. The Cutty Sark takes about 90 minutes and lets you walk beneath the hull of the surviving tea clipper. The National Maritime Museum can fill two hours, especially if you take an interest in Britain’s seafaring past.

Kew Gardens is another full outing, with gardens, glasshouses, and galleries spread across a large site. The listed visit time is only about an hour, but you may want longer. Advance reservation is required.

Eltham Palace and Gardens combines medieval royal connections with a later historic house and garden setting. It takes about two hours and also requires advance booking.

These places show the pass at its best. You are not limited to the famous central sights, and a well-planned Greenwich or Kew day can produce strong value. The drawback is distance. Group attractions by area rather than zigzagging across London.

Museums for rainy days and curious minds

The British Museum offers two million years of human history and culture. The included experience includes an audio guide on your phone after meeting a VoxCity host near Russell Square. Allow about three hours.

The Natural History Museum is another major choice, though the pass benefit listed here is a souvenir guidebook rather than a standard admission description. Check the current terms in the app before counting it as a full ticket saving.

The Science Museum takes about two hours and includes access information for its IMAX experience, with advance reservation required. The London Transport Museum explains how transport shaped the growth of modern London and makes a good one-hour visit in Covent Garden.

Smaller museums give the pass more personality. The Charles Dickens Museum occupies the author’s former home and displays personal objects, manuscripts, and artwork. The Postal Museum covers communication, Mail Rail, and the Great Train Robbery, but you need to reserve.

The Freud Museum, Keats House, Foundling Museum, Florence Nightingale Museum, Garden Museum, and Benjamin Franklin House are all more focused. I would choose one or two based on your interests rather than treating them as filler.

Sports, theatre, film, and unusual stops

Football and rugby fans have several strong options. Stadium tours are available at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Twickenham. Chelsea’s tour includes the changing rooms, while the Tottenham visit focuses on the modern stadium and pitch access.

The Kia Oval offers a cricket-focused visit, and the World Rugby Museum at Twickenham covers the sport’s story. Several of these require reservations, so check before traveling across town.

Shakespeare’s Globe is a reconstructed open-air playhouse, with a visit lasting about two hours. The Golden Hinde gives you a full-size reconstruction of Sir Francis Drake’s ship and a look at life aboard an Elizabethan vessel.

The Royal Albert Hall offers a one-hour visit with advance reservation. Brit Icon Tours adds guided film and television walks based on Doctor Who, Harry Potter, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Paddington Bear, The Crown, Bridget Jones, and Downton Abbey.

For a lighter afternoon, you can choose Frameless immersive art, Moco Museum London, a Curzon cinema visit, crazy golf at Swingers, or QUEENS skate, dine, and bowl. These options help on wet days, but some have narrow schedules. Swingers is available on the pass only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays before 5 p.m.

What the strongest value looks like

A productive two-day plan might pair the Tower of London and Tower Bridge on one day, then use the river boat to reach Greenwich. On another day, combine Westminster Abbey, the Big Bus route, St. Paul’s, or the Shard.

A three-day pass gives you more breathing room. Add Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, Kew, a stadium tour, or several smaller museums. The key is to group stops by location and reserve fixed-time attractions first.

I would not try to visit 10 attractions in a day. London’s distances, queues, meals, and opening hours will slow you down. Three substantial attractions plus a short museum or transport ride can already make a busy day.

The pass can also make you visit places you might otherwise skip. That is a real benefit if you enjoy variety. It is less useful if your ideal London trip is slow mornings, long pub lunches, and only one major sight each day.

Common problems and how to avoid them

The most serious risk is digital access. Make sure every pass appears correctly in the Go City app before leaving your hotel. Keep the confirmation available, and do not wait until you are standing at an attraction entrance to discover that a pass or required code is missing.

Buying through a third-party booking channel can create extra confusion if the attraction needs a specific reference number. If you want the simplest support process, compare the direct London Pass purchase option with the booking channel you are considering.

Read the attraction instructions each morning. The app list can change, opening days can vary, and reservations may fill. A pass does not remove the need to plan.

The listed cancellation policy allows a full refund if you cancel at least 24 hours before the experience start time. Changes or cancellations inside 24 hours are not accepted for a refund.

Should you buy the London Pass?

Buy it if you want a fast, attraction-heavy London trip and can plan around reservations. It is especially useful for first-time visitors who want the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge, a royal site, and the river or bus transport.

Skip it if you prefer a slow schedule or mainly want free museums and neighborhood walks. Also be cautious with a one-day pass unless you begin early and already know which attractions you can realistically reach.

My practical test is simple: list the paid sights you truly want, estimate their individual prices, then add the value of the Thames Clippers or Big Bus benefit. If you reach four major attractions and can reserve the fixed-time ones, the $135.75 price can work well. If you are counting on spontaneity, buy individual tickets instead.

FAQ

How long can I use the London Pass?

You can choose one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, or 10 days.

Is the pass valid for 24-hour periods?

No. It is valid for consecutive calendar days, not rolling 24-hour periods.

When does the pass activate?

The pass activates when you first visit an attraction.

How long is the pass valid after purchase?

It is available for activation for up to one year from the purchase date.

Is Tower Bridge included?

Yes. Tower Bridge is listed as an included attraction, with an expected visit time of about one hour.

Are the London Eye and View from the Shard included?

Yes. Both are included, but reservations are required. The Shard offers daytime bookings only, with the last listed slot at 5:15 p.m.

Does the pass include public transport?

It includes a one-day River Roamer option on Thames Clippers and a two-day Big Bus Classic London sightseeing tour. General transportation to and from attractions is not included.

Can I visit an attraction more than once?

No. Each included attraction can be visited once with the pass.

Is the pass available on a phone?

Yes. It is provided as a mobile ticket through the Go City app, and a PDF guide is also available.