Free tour

London Essentials - London in under two hours Free Walking Tour

4.86

Excellent (3877 ratings)

London

Duration: 2 hours

Languages: English

Guru: Theodore

PRO

Verified quality

Registered on 18 October 2021

Hi there, I'm Theo and I've been a full-time professional guide for nine years. I love my job and I consider it a real privilege to show people around the city I love. Tours performed by me personally have accrued just over one thousand 5-star reviews across the various review sites, so you're in safe hands. I look forward to meeting you!

Free booking and cancellation

Pay-what-you-wish tour, no set price, booking and cancellation are free

Tour description

Would you like to see the city with a native English-speaking tour guide who has had the honor of being a full-time tour guide in multiple European cities since 2014? Then read on. 👇

Through years of experience, I have learned that these tours are most enjoyable for you if I hone it down to just the most exciting stops and the most interesting stories.

Alfred Hitchcock once said "the length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder," and I think that applies doubly so to a tour. You're on holiday, I appreciate that. You want to see the main sites, take the best photos, maybe laugh a little, and then head off on to the next adventure.

With that in mind, I keep the tour to an entertaining one hour and fifty minutes. During that time we will see the main sites, allowing you to take photos of:

Buckingham Palace
Houses of Parliament
"Big Ben"
Westminster Abbey
Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column
Horse Guards Parade
Wellington Arch
St Martin's In The Field
National Gallery
Apsley House
RAF Bomber Command Memorial
The Commonwealth Gates
St James' Palace
The Mall and Pall Mall
Crimean War/Nightingale Memorial
Waterloo Place
10 Downing Street
Churchill War Rooms
On Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday the 11am tour will see and hear the army band march by us for the Changing of the Guard ceremony. Unless it is cancelled due to rain.

More important than the sites themselves are the stories. Little insightful or interesting anecdotes; what the little horse steps are at Waterloo Place, why Constitution Hill is called that when we don't... um.. have one, tales from the Battle of Britain, the Gunpowder Plot, what the Queen did when she woke up to find a drunken man had climbed the walls of Buckingham Palace and broken into her bedroom at 7am, etc, etc.

Having done these tours for the better part of a decade, I can usually field any history question you may have about the nation or the city, and can also offer suggestions of the best places in the city for gin, pretentious coffee (my vice), or the most memorable dining experiences with something unique to them.
I hope to see you soon,
Theo

Highlights

What will we see on this tour?

Meeting point:

Apsley Way, London W1J 7JZ, UK

I will be in the middle of Hyde Park Corner, on the raised grass fifty feet from the Wellington Arch (a triumphal arch with a four horse chariot and a goddess atop it). I will be carrying a black umbrella and wearing a name tag that reads Theo. I look a lot like me. IMPORTANT - Please go to the right arch, the Victorians liked arches. Please go to the Wellington Arch NOT Marble Arch, it's an easy mistake to make..

Outside visit

Wellington Arch

Outside visit

Buckingham Palace

Outside visit

St James’ Palace

How much does this tour cost?

Free tours don't have a set price, instead, each person gives the guru at the end the amount they consider appropriate (amounts usually range from €10 to $50 depending on satisfaction with the tour).