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Tower Bridge
The one everyone calls London Bridge but isn't: those two Gothic towers and the road that still splits open for tall ships. Crossing it costs nothing. Paying gets you up into the towers and onto the high walkways, where glass panels in the floor let you look straight down at the traffic and the river 42 meters below.
Photos: Diliff (CC BY-SA 3.0), Diliff (CC BY-SA 3.0), Colin (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
Pay only if you want to go up; the glass floor and the old Victorian engine rooms make a solid hour. For a photo, the riverbank in front of the Tower of London is free and gives you the better angle anyway.
Worth it for
- Standing on a glass panel and watching cars and boats pass under your shoes
- Anyone who likes how things work, since the original steam engines that raised the bridge are part of the ticket
You can skip if
- You just want the picture, which you can get from the riverside for nothing
Tickets & tours for Tower Bridge
Which ticket should you buy?
The bridge and how it works
The bridge's two halves, called bascules, still raise to let river traffic through, counterbalanced and driven by machinery that has been modernized over the years. Lift times are published in advance, and catching one from the riverside is a small event in itself, with the road decks tilting up toward each other.
Despite its medieval look, the structure is a feat of Victorian engineering wrapped in a stone and steel facade designed to harmonize with the nearby Tower of London. It has become one of the most recognized symbols of the city, and the view of it from the Thames path is a classic London shot.
The exhibition and glass floor
The Tower Bridge Exhibition is the paid experience inside the structure. You climb one tower, cross the high-level walkways suspended between the two towers around 42 meters above the water, and come down the other side. Displays along the way cover the bridge's design, construction, and place in the city's history.
The walkways hold the main draw: sections of glass floor set into the deck, so you stand and look straight down at the traffic and the river moving beneath your feet. It is a short but memorable thrill, and the elevated position also gives wide views along the Thames in both directions.
The engine rooms
The ticket also includes the Victorian engine rooms on the south side, where the original steam machinery that once powered the lifts is preserved. The huge engines, boilers, and accumulators show how the bridge was raised before the move to electric and hydraulic power.
The engine rooms are a quieter, often overlooked part of the visit, and they round out the story of how a heavy roadway could be lifted so smoothly more than a century ago. They sit a short walk from the towers, across the bridge.
Planning a visit
The exhibition uses timed entry, and the whole route takes about an hour to ninety minutes at a relaxed pace. Booking online ahead of time is usually cheaper than at the door and secures your slot. Walking across the bridge itself, on the road-level pavements, is free and open at all hours.
Entry to the exhibition is via the North Tower, the side closest to the Tower of London and Tower Hill station, which makes pairing the two sights easy. Check the day's lift times if you want to watch the bascules raise from below before or after going up.
The view and the surroundings
From the high walkways you look out over a wide stretch of the Thames, with the Tower of London and the City's modern towers on one side and the converted wharves of the south bank on the other. It is one of the better elevated vantage points in this part of London, and far cheaper than the tall observation decks farther west.
At river level, the path on the north bank in front of the Tower of London gives the classic head-on view of the bridge, and the south bank near Shad Thames and Butler's Wharf has waterside restaurants in old warehouse buildings. Either side makes a good place to wait for a scheduled lift.
The bridge is floodlit after dark, and the colored lighting makes it one of the city's more photogenic night sights. If you are staying nearby, it is worth a return walk in the evening even if you have already crossed it by day.
Tower Bridge: FAQs
No, they are different bridges. Tower Bridge is the ornate one with two towers and a glass-floored walkway. London Bridge is the plainer crossing just upriver. The confusion is common, but the famous landmark is Tower Bridge.
No. Walking across the bridge at road level is free and open all the time. You only pay for the Tower Bridge Exhibition, which takes you up the towers, across the high-level glass-floor walkways, and into the engine rooms.
Access to the two towers, the high-level walkways with their glass floor sections, the views along the Thames, and the Victorian engine rooms on the south side, where the original lifting machinery is displayed.
Yes. The bascules still raise for river traffic, and the scheduled lift times are published in advance, so you can plan to watch from the riverside. The lifts happen on certain days rather than continuously.
About an hour to ninety minutes, covering both towers, the walkways, and the engine rooms. It pairs well with the Tower of London next door, which is a short walk from the North Tower entrance.
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