What is the London self-guided walking tour?
The London self-guided walking tour takes you through Westminster at your own pace, with audio narration on your phone doing the work a guide would do. Allow about 3 hours: 58 minutes of that is time on your feet, the route measures 4.4 km, and at 10 stops you stand still and listen. Nothing is timed, and nobody is waiting to move a group along.
At the Palace of Westminster the narration explains how Westminster Hall, built in 1097 for William II, came through the fire of 1834 that destroyed the rest of the old palace. In St James's Park you learn that the pelicans go back to a gift from a Russian ambassador in 1664. Under Admiralty Arch comes the small nose set into one wall, said to honour the Duke of Wellington.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 58 min · 4.4 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
What you do on the walk
Listen
Every stop brings narration about the place, the history behind it and the tales attached to it. The same text sits on screen for anyone who would rather read.
Walk on
Google Maps carries you from stop to stop: 58 minutes on foot spread over 4.4 km, at whatever pace suits you.
Pause
Sit down by the lake in St James's Park or step into a gallery, then take the walk up again, the same day or another one.
Eat and browse
Tips for food and shops near the route come with it. Your starting point and the order of the stops are yours to set in the app.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of people. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Walk when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who the walk suits
A first time in London
One walk puts parliament, abbey, park and palace in order and explains what you are standing in front of.
Anyone who dislikes groups
No raised umbrella to follow and no meeting time: you stay where something holds you and move on when you are ready.
A single day in the city
3 hours covers Westminster, which leaves the afternoon for a museum, the river or the West End.
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.
- Groups of up to 5 work best; larger groups split up, one ticket per person.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The walk stop by stop: Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square
10 stops · about 58 min walking · start: Westminster Station · finish: Trafalgar Square
The opening stop is Westminster Station, whose exit puts Big Ben and the Thames straight in front of you. The route then takes in Parliament Square Garden, the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey, before cutting through St James's Park to Buckingham Palace. The Mall leads back east, up the Duke of York Steps to Waterloo Place and on through Admiralty Arch, and Trafalgar Square closes the walk. Another opening stop or another order can be set in the app, and no stop asks for an entry ticket.
Open the route map ↗
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 →
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 →
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.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Alina– Austria –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Fairer Preis. Die Tour war okay, die App relativ alt – es gibt bessere. Für den ersten Eindruck nicht schlecht aber gibt wahrscheinlich bessere Erkundungstouren
Alina– Austria –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Fairer Preis. Die Tour war okay, die App relativ alt – es gibt bessere. F?r den ersten Eindruck nicht schlecht aber gibt wahrscheinlich bessere Erkundungstouren
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Die Gesamtlänge der Strecke war zur derzeitigen Situation in der Londoner Innenstadt angemessen. Die internationale App könnte vom ältlichen Design noch eine Auffrischung gebraucht.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Die Gesamtl?nge der Strecke war zur derzeitigen Situation in der Londoner Innenstadt angemessen. Die internationale App k?nnte vom ?ltlichen Design noch eine Auffrischung gebraucht.