London scavenger hunt
Rising majestically above the north bank of the River Thames adjacent to Westminster Bridge, the Elizabeth Tower—universally known as Big Ben after its great bell—forms the iconic Gothic Revival focal point of London's Palace of Westminster.
Serving as the administrative headquarters and historic royal residence of the British monarchy in Westminster, Buckingham Palace is renowned for its grand Neoclassical facade, 775 lavish rooms, and the traditional Changing of the Guard ceremony.
Designed by John Nash as part of the ceremonial route linking Regent Street to St James's Park, Waterloo Place is an elegant neoclassical open space adorned with significant military memorials, including the Guards Crimean War Memorial and the towering Duke of York Column.
Buckingham Palace is a majestic royal residence where the famous Changing of the Guard takes place amidst the splendor of the British monarchy’s official London home.
St. James's Park is a majestic royal sanctuary where elegant flower beds and a peaceful lake offer stunning views of the surrounding palaces in the heart of London.
London scavenger hunt
Rising majestically above the north bank of the River Thames adjacent to Westminster Bridge, the Elizabeth Tower—universally known as Big Ben after its great bell—forms the iconic Gothic Revival focal point of London's Palace of Westminster.
Serving as the administrative headquarters and historic royal residence of the British monarchy in Westminster, Buckingham Palace is renowned for its grand Neoclassical facade, 775 lavish rooms, and the traditional Changing of the Guard ceremony.
Designed by John Nash as part of the ceremonial route linking Regent Street to St James's Park, Waterloo Place is an elegant neoclassical open space adorned with significant military memorials, including the Guards Crimean War Memorial and the towering Duke of York Column.
Buckingham Palace is a majestic royal residence where the famous Changing of the Guard takes place amidst the splendor of the British monarchy’s official London home.
St. James's Park is a majestic royal sanctuary where elegant flower beds and a peaceful lake offer stunning views of the surrounding palaces in the heart of London.

London Scavenger Hunt and Self-Guided Tour

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Explore the city at your own pace with a self-guided experience.
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Make a day of itInteractive guides by World City Trail, delivered with your tickets.

What is a city guide?

Your own guide to London on your phone: hand-picked places, each with why to go, what to order and a practical tip.

  • Tick places off
  • Your own notes
  • One tap to Maps
  • Open now, near me
  • Works offline
  • Print it or save as PDF
See the guides, a short video and all the details →
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  • No time limit – use your ticket whenever you want
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Included: your personal Trail Map with every city you finish, the kilometres you walk and your flag collection. See an example →

London. Route, every stop, local tips and prices on our local site: worldcitytrail.co.uk →

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Everything you need for a flexible self-guided city experience

Explore the city at your own pace

✔ Discover hidden gems & highlights
✔ Enjoy a flexible self-guided experience
✔ Explore freely with no schedule
✔ Perfect for couples, students, companies, friends & families

How your city experience works

✔ Instant ticket purchase
✔ Easy access via the World City Trail app
✔ Quick setup with your booking details
✔ Start anytime and explore freely
✔ Pause and resume anytime

Why travelers choose this tour

✔ Instant access after purchase
✔ Optional AI voice narration — listen instead of read
✔ Discover top attractions & food spots
✔ Customize your route anytime

What is the London scavenger hunt?

The London scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk through Westminster, solve a riddle at each of 10 landmark stops and unlock the stories behind them. It takes about 3 hours, with roughly 58 minutes of actual walking over 4.4 km, and you start whenever you like.

Highlights include Big Ben and the Thames, the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, before the route heads to Waterloo Place, Admiralty Arch and Trafalgar Square. Westminster is compact and mostly flat, with royal parks, river views and grand squares close together, so it is easy to explore on foot between the riddles.

  • Durationabout 3 hours
  • Walkingabout 58 min · 4.4 km
  • Stops10
  • LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch

How the hunt works in Westminster

One riddle per stop

Each of the 10 stops holds a single riddle, and the answer is somewhere in front of you: a name cut in stone, a date on a plinth, a figure standing on a lawn. Looking and reasoning get you through, so there is nothing to read up on first.

Find out what you are looking at

A solved riddle opens the stories of the stop: which statesmen were given the lawn of Parliament Square, which cannon captured at Sevastopol went into the Guards memorial, the legend of the small nose tucked inside Admiralty Arch. Audio narration reads all of it to you if you would rather listen.

Westminster on foot

Google Maps carries you from stop to stop: 58 minutes of walking in total and 4.4 km from the Thames to the park and on to Nelson's Column. There is not a single climb on the way.

Your own pace

Nothing is timed and nobody is waiting on you. Break for tea by the lake, pick the game up hours later or on a different day, and put the stops in another order in the app if your hotel sits elsewhere.

See the route and attractions →

How it works

  1. Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
  2. Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
  3. Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.

Who the London hunt is for

Day one in Westminster

Parliament, the abbey, the park and Buckingham Palace fall on one 4.4 km line, with a reason to stand still at each of them. You leave Westminster knowing what you walked past, instead of only having photographs of it.

Families with children

Children are often first to the answer, because the clues are things to spot, down to the pelicans on the lake in St James's Park. An adult has to play along, and the riddles leave room for everyone to have a go.

Friends and colleagues

Teams of up to 5 players each play on their own phone, so a group of friends or an office outing splits up and compares answers in Trafalgar Square. The route runs over public streets and parks throughout, which leaves nothing to reserve.

Good to know

  • Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
  • No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
  • Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
  • Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
  • Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
  • Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.

The route: from the Thames through St James's Park to Nelson's Column

10 stops · about 58 min walking · start: Westminster Station · finish: Trafalgar Square

The hunt starts at Westminster Station, right beside Big Ben and the Thames, and continues to Parliament Square Garden, the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey. From there you cross St James's Park to Buckingham Palace, walk back along The Mall and up the Duke of York Steps to Waterloo Place, then pass through Admiralty Arch and finish in Trafalgar Square. Because all ten riddles are read off the outside of these buildings, nobody has to buy a ticket to get through the hunt, and if you are staying nearer Trafalgar Square you can turn the whole route around in the app and begin there.

Open the route map ↗

  1. Westminster Station

    1Westminster StationStart

    Westminster Station opened in 1868 as Westminster Bridge on the District Railway and took its present name in 1907. The Jubilee line platforms, opened in 1999 and designed by Michael Hopkins, sit in a 39-metre-deep box of concrete and steel beneath Portcullis House, the parliamentary office building above.

  2. Big Ben and the Thames

    2Big Ben and the Thames

    Big Ben is the nickname of the Great Bell inside the 96-metre clock tower designed by Augustus Pugin and completed in 1859. The tower was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, and the classic view across the Thames is from Westminster Bridge.

  3. Parliament Square Garden

    3Parliament Square Garden

    Parliament Square was laid out in 1868 to open up the space in front of the new Houses of Parliament, and its lawn is lined with statues of statesmen. Winston Churchill has faced Parliament since 1973, and Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Millicent Fawcett, in 2018 the first woman honoured with a statue here, joined him later.

  4. Palace of Westminster

    4Palace of Westminster

    The seat of the UK Parliament was rebuilt in Gothic Revival style by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin after a fire destroyed most of the old palace in 1834. Westminster Hall, built in 1097 for William II, survived the blaze, and today the palace has more than 1,100 rooms.

  5. Westminster Abbey

    5Westminster Abbey

    Almost every English and British monarch since William the Conqueror in 1066 has been crowned here, and the present Gothic church was begun by Henry III in 1245. Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are buried inside, and the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior lies just inside the Great West Door.

  6. St James's Park

    6St James's Park

    Henry VIII bought this marshy land in 1532 and turned it into a deer park, and Charles II later had it redesigned with a long ornamental canal, today's lake. The park's pelicans go back to a gift from a Russian ambassador in 1664, and from the Blue Bridge you see Buckingham Palace through the trees.

  7. Buckingham Palace

    7Buckingham Palace

    The palace began as Buckingham House, built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham, and George III bought it in 1761. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to live here, from 1837, and the east front with the famous balcony was refaced by Aston Webb in 1913, behind the Victoria Memorial.

  8. Waterloo Place

    8Waterloo Place

    Named after the 1815 victory over Napoleon, Waterloo Place is lined with memorials. The Duke of York Column, topped in 1834 by Richard Westmacott's statue of George III's second son, rises above the steps, and the Guards Crimean War Memorial of 1861 was cast partly from cannon captured at Sevastopol, with statues of Florence Nightingale and Sidney Herbert beside it.

    Read the full story →

  9. Admiralty Arch

    9Admiralty Arch

    Aston Webb designed this triple arch as a memorial to Queen Victoria, commissioned by her son Edward VII and completed in 1912, and it frames the ceremonial route along The Mall to Buckingham Palace. It takes its name from the neighbouring Admiralty, and according to a popular legend the small nose on the inside wall of one arch is a tribute to the Duke of Wellington.

    Read the full story →

  10. Trafalgar Square

    10Trafalgar SquareFinish

    Named after Nelson's naval victory of 1805, the square was laid out by Charles Barry from 1840, with Nelson's Column completed in 1843 and Edwin Landseer's four bronze lions added in 1867. The National Gallery fills the north side, and since 1999 the Fourth Plinth has shown changing works of contemporary art.

555 reviews for London Scavenger Hunt and Self-Guided Tour

  1. Rated 4 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  2. Rated 5 out of 5

    Leborgne– France –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  3. Rated 4 out of 5

    Bertje– Netherlands –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Ging heel gemakkelijk. App op telefoon downloaden en wandelen maar. Tussendoor even bij de camper gaan lunchen en daarna de tour weer opgepakt. We hadden netjes voor 2 personen geboekt, zodat we allebei op onze eigen telefoon de informatie konden lezen. Leuke manier om het gezellige Metz beter te leren kennen.

  4. Rated 5 out of 5

    Switzerland –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Tolle Idee, dass man eine Stadt und ihre Winkel auf diese Weise entdecken kann. Mit vielen zusätzlichen Hintergrundinformationen. Empfehlenswert!

  5. Rated 5 out of 5

    Denmark –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  6. Rated 5 out of 5

    Netherlands –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Leuk!!

  7. Rated 5 out of 5

    Stefanie– Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Schöne, abwechslungsreiche Tour durch Kos City. Ideal für Familien mit Kindern, unsere sind 7 und 12 Jahre alt. Alles wurde gut gefunden, anschaulich erklärt und auch die Rätsel waren lösbar.

  8. Rated 5 out of 5

    France –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  9. Rated 5 out of 5

    Jessica– Austria –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Eine rolle.Möglichkeit Venedig zu erkunden Fakten zu lernen und Rätsel zu lösen. Eine absolute 10/10

  10. Rated 4 out of 5

    Azucena– Spain –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Algo complicado para niños

  11. Rated 5 out of 5

    France –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  12. Rated 5 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  13. Rated 5 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  14. Rated 5 out of 5

    Italy –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Bello

  15. Rated 4 out of 5

    France –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Très bonne activité à faire pour découvrir les monuments de Tarragona. Je recommande le départ au niveau du parking avec le monuments des castells comme recommandé par l’application. On a apprécié de pouvoir prendre notre temps et faire à notre rythme pour profiter de l’environnement de chaque arrêt. Et on avait calculé pour finir avec la démonstration des castells au pied de la cathédrale. Un vrai plaisir pour la fin de la chasse au trésor. N’hésitez pas à regarder les jours et horaires des démonstrations pour finir en beauté. Seule remarque: une version sonore des informations serait intéressante.

  16. Rated 4 out of 5

    Denmark –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Kom rundt i byen og hørte om Warszawa historie

  17. Rated 4 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Die Schnitzeljagd hat Spaß gemacht 🙂 Die Punkte waren gut zu finden und durch die Fragen/Aufgaben, hat man sich viele Dinge und Details noch genauer angeschaut. Die Aufgabenstellungen waren nur nicht immer ganz eindeutig was etwas schade war . Aber ansonsten alles gut 🙂

  18. Rated 4 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Das „Rätsellösen“ war witzig und hat den Stadtrundgang abwechslungsreich gestaltet. Wir hatten vor Jahren schon mal eine Stadtführung gemacht und haben mit der Schnitzeljagd trotzdem noch einiges andere erfahren. Die Infos (gut zu lesen, nicht zu umfangreich) und die Aufgaben wechseln sich ab. Über die App ist die Tour sehr flexibel handhabbar, nach eigenem Tempo, man kann Pausen machen, wie man möchte und nach Belieben die Schnitzeljagd fortführen.

  19. Rated 4 out of 5

    France –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  20. Rated 4 out of 5

    Netherlands –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    De vragen hadden een tandje moeilijker gemogen. Maar dit is heel leuk om als date te doen.

  21. Rated 4 out of 5

    Desiree Kieffer– Switzerland –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Ich finde 7 Euro pro Person eigentlich einen stolzen Preis dafür, dass man zusätzlich eine App downloaden landen und die Infos lesen muss. Man kann auch nur für eine Person bezahlen und zu zweit losziehen. Die Informationen sind jedoch interessant und ich habe einiges über Lübeck gelernt. Man muss diese Art der Stadterkundung mögen und neugierig sein.

  22. Rated 5 out of 5

    Switzerland –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  23. Rated 5 out of 5

    Chilling– Belgium –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    The questions where not too easy nor too hard. Overall very nice game. We had a lot of fun

  24. Rated 5 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Flexibilität- Infos- individuell im eigenen Tempo!

  25. Rated 5 out of 5

    Grace– United Kingdom –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  26. Rated 5 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Einige Orte entdeckt, die man so vielleicht gar nicht so wahrgenommen hätte!

  27. Rated 4 out of 5

    Ana Beatriz– Portugal –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  28. Rated 5 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Super schön flexibel. Viele machbare Rätsel.

  29. Rated 5 out of 5

    Constance– Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Schöne Tour, hat uns viel Spaß gemacht.

  30. Rated 5 out of 5

    Australia –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    good fun way to see the city

  31. Rated 4 out of 5

    Constance– Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Die Dauer

  32. Rated 5 out of 5

    Cotrez– France –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Ludique et culturelle à la fois, nous avons passé un agréable moment en famille. Les énigmes sont sympas !

  33. Rated 5 out of 5

    Sabine Smit– Netherlands –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Je maakt op een ludieke en gezellige manier kennis van de stad!

  34. Rated 5 out of 5

    Lou– Australia –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    I recently did the Zaragoza scavenger hunt with my daughter, and we had an absolute blast! It was so much fun hunting for clues and learning about the city’s history along the way. If you’re short on time but still want to explore, this is a fantastic, portable way to see the sights.

  35. Rated 4 out of 5

    Angela– Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  36. Rated 5 out of 5

    Canada –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  37. Rated 4 out of 5

    Solène– France –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Bonne activité, cependant le cercle reste très restreint, et elle ne nous pousse pas à visiter les différents monuments de la ville.

  38. Rated 4 out of 5

    Anett– Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  39. Rated 5 out of 5

    Belgium –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Leuk activiteit

  40. Rated 5 out of 5

    Gisela– Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Es war eine sehr schöne Tour. Durch die Schnitzeljagd lernt man die Stadt ganz anders kennen.

  41. Rated 5 out of 5

    Dani– Switzerland –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Diese selbstgeführte Schnitzeljagd ist sensationell aufbereitet! Wir waren mit unserer Tochter (16) unterwegs, sie übernahm den Part des Navigators ;-). Nichts ist zwingend, am Ende ist man um einige Ecken und Fakten klüger als zuvor. Alle Orte sind gut auffindbar, die Reihenfolge ist optimal, kann (könnte) auch geändert werden. Schwierigkeitsgrad ist angemessen: Weder unlösbar noch banal, nicht allzu schwierig. Sehr einfach zu buchen. Die Beschreibung, Dauer etc. trifft ziemlich gut zu. Unterhaltsam und informativ, unbedingt machen!

  42. Rated 5 out of 5

    France –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  43. Rated 4 out of 5

    Arnaud– Belgium –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Super, on a bien visité grâce à cette activité. Juste une énigme un peu spécial/difficile, sinon parfait.

  44. Rated 5 out of 5

    France –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  45. Rated 5 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    alles gut

  46. Rated 5 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Gut

  47. Rated 5 out of 5

    Harriet Yayra– Netherlands –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

  48. Rated 5 out of 5

    Spain –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    Muy bien.

  49. Rated 5 out of 5

    Germany –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

    alles toll

  50. Rated 5 out of 5

    France –

    Collected on GetYourGuide

Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

Frequently asked questions

How long does the London scavenger hunt take?

Allow about 3 hours for the London scavenger hunt: 58 minutes of that is walking, the route runs 4.4 km and there are 10 stops. The rest goes on the riddles, the photographs and whatever else holds you up, and you can break off and come back to it.

Where does the hunt begin, and where does it end?

It begins at Westminster Station, with Big Ben and the Thames in front of you the moment you come up the steps, and it ends in Trafalgar Square at the foot of Nelson's Column. If that corner of London suits you badly, the app opens the hunt at another stop and you walk the route the other way round.

Is anyone guiding us, and do we book a time?

Neither a guide nor a time. The booking reference reaches you by email, you type it into the World City Trail app, and the hunt starts when you decide, on any day you like. One ticket per player, and everyone follows the game on their own phone.

Is an entry ticket needed anywhere on the London hunt?

No. Every riddle is played outdoors, off façades, statues and squares, so not one stop asks for a ticket. Going inside Westminster Abbey, the State Rooms of Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament or the National Gallery on the north side of Trafalgar Square is a separate visit you arrange yourself.

Do children enjoy it?

Yes, with an adult playing alongside them. The riddles reward a careful eye, and Westminster gives children plenty to search for: the four bronze lions at the foot of Nelson's Column, the row of statues on the lawn of Parliament Square. The route cannot be done in a wheelchair and is hard work with a pushchair.

What languages does the hunt come in?

You can play in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish or Dutch, and you set the language in the World City Trail app before you set off.

Can we play it as a group or for team building?

Yes. Take one ticket per person and keep the teams to five players at most; a larger company group sends several teams along the same Westminster route and meets up at the end in Trafalgar Square. Since all of it happens on the streets and in the parks, there is no room to book and no departure time to coordinate.

What do we need to pack for the hunt?

A charged phone with mobile data for each team, a power bank if the battery is weak, shoes for 4.4 km of pavement and something for the rain, because the hunt is played in the open from the first stop to the last. Earphones are worth having for the audio narration.

The first riddle is waiting at Big Ben

Book your tickets and the reference lands in your inbox, one for every player. After that you choose the morning you come up the steps at Westminster Station and open the first riddle, with Big Ben already in front of you.

Book your tickets →

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