Four nations, one trip.
Which Stonehenge tour gets you inside the rope. Whether the Loch Ness cruise repays the drive north. What the Warner Bros. studio ticket really costs once the coach is added. Every bookable day out in the United Kingdom, reviewed.
From the Crown Jewels to the Kop: what the UK actually books.
Browse them all →One ticket queue at the Tower, one coach out to Salisbury Plain, one studio in Hertfordshire. These are the days more visitors take than any others, and what each is like once you are on it.
1
The London Eye Entry Ticket
London Eye entry takes you 135m above the Thames in a glass pod, with standard or fast-track access and great London views in 30 minutes.
From · $39
Read our review →
2
Tower of London and Crown Jewels Exhibition Ticket
from $48
3
Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour
from $117
4
Westminster to Greenwich River Thames Cruise
from $22
5
Magical London: Harry Potter Guided Walking Tour
from $20
6
Madame Tussauds London
from $36
7
Warner Bros. Studio Harry Potter Tour & Branded Bus
from $151
8
Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Scottish Highlands Tour
from $62
9
Tower Bridge Entry Ticket
from $21
Stone circles, keeps, lochs: the British set-pieces.
Half a dozen things people cross an ocean for. Each one has a dozen ways to book it, and the difference between them is a whole day of your holiday.
Four days in London and you have barely crossed the river.
The Jewels open at nine and the queue starts earlier. Guardsmen change on set mornings, not daily. The good walking guides take twelve people, not fifty. London rewards whoever booked in advance.
Past Fort William the roads get narrower and better.
Glencoe in the morning light, the long water of Loch Ness, Eilean Donan sitting on its causeway, and the crossing to Skye. Most of it runs as a long day out of Edinburgh or Inverness, and the difference between a good operator and a bad one is whether you ever get off the coach.
- 1Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Scottish Highlands Tourfrom $62
- 2Loch Ness, Glencoe & Scottish Highlands Tourfrom $61
- 3Isle of Skye and Eilean Donan Castle Day Tripfrom $56
Sentry drill, a basalt causeway, and ninety minutes on the Kop.
Cathedrals and old towns are everywhere in Europe. A regiment changing guard to a brass band, forty thousand hexagons of cooled lava, and the stadiums where the modern game was written are not.
The Guard Change
The New Guard marches down from Wellington Barracks behind a band, the Old Guard hands over the keys in the forecourt, and the whole thing takes about forty-five minutes. It does not run every day: the schedule thins out in winter and cancels in heavy rain. Buckingham Palace itself only opens its State Rooms for ten weeks in late summer, which is the one window when the ceremony and the interior can be done together.
- 1Buckingham Palace: The State Rooms Entrance Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 7,395 reviews
- 2Kensington Palace Sightseeing Entrance Tickets★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 4,172 reviews
- 3Westminster Abbey, Big Ben & Buckingham Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 3,240 reviews
The Causeway Coast
Forty thousand basalt columns run into the sea at the foot of a cliff path, laid down when this coast was volcanic. The road out from Belfast passes the Dark Hedges, Dunluce Castle on its stack and a rope bridge to a fishing island, so almost nobody does the stones alone. Bring boots: the columns are wet more often than they are dry, and the last stretch is a scramble.
- 1Dublin: Giants Causeway, Dark Hedges, Dunluce & Belfast Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 8,843 reviews
- 2Giant’s Causeway Full-Day Guided Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 6,361 reviews
- 3Giant’s Causeway Guided Day Tour With Castles★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,312 reviews
Inside the Grounds
Britain wrote the rules and still keeps the shrines. Anfield lets you into the home dressing room and out through the tunnel under the sign; Old Trafford, the Emirates and Wembley run the same walk. Tours stop entirely on matchdays and for a day either side, so check the fixture list before you pick your date, not after.
- 1Liverpool Football Club Museum and Stadium Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 10,764 reviews
- 2Emirates Stadium Entry Ticket and Audio Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 5,513 reviews
- 3Chelsea Football Club Stadium and Museum Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 4,576 reviews
Plan the wet afternoon before it happens.
The forecast is not a reason to lose a day here. The great collections are free and warm, the tea rooms take bookings, the distilleries run whatever the sky is doing, and a ghost walk is better in the wet. Pick the indoor day now and keep the hill for the morning it clears.
A British day out, from a pub-lunch budget upwards.
Three price bands and what a British day buys in each. The cheap end is not the thin end here: half the best things in London are an entry ticket and a good guide.
Entry tickets, city walks, the open-top bus, an hour on the river. Most of a first London day sits in this band.
The long coach days: Stonehenge and Bath, Loch Ness and Glencoe, the studio tour with transfers, a distillery afternoon.
Private drivers, small-group Highlands runs with an overnight, and the once-a-trip splurges that earn it.
Four British tickets that are gone before you land.
Most of the country can wait until the night before. These four run on release dates, fixture lists and ceremonial calendars that pay no attention to your flight.
- 01Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio TourTimed studio entry, sold weeks ahead. There is no ticket window at the gate and no walk-up queue.
- 02Tower of London and Crown Jewels Exhibition TicketTimed entry slots, and the early ones go first — they are the only way to see the Jewels without a long queue.
- 03Buckingham Palace & Changing of the Guard ExperienceThe ceremony runs on set mornings, not daily, and thins right out in winter. Pick the date around it.
- 04Liverpool Football Club Museum and Stadium TourGround tours stop on matchdays and the day either side. Check the fixture list before you fix the date.
Bath, Oxford and York never lost their old street plans.
Three cities you walk rather than ride: Georgian crescents over a Roman bath house, college quads that shut their gates at dusk, and a walled city you can circle on the ramparts in an hour. All three are an easy train from London and all three are better with someone who knows which door is unlocked.
London to the Highlands, the way most first visits run.
London
Stonehenge
Bath
York
EdinburghBy city — where are you based?
London684 tours
Edinburgh92 tours
Liverpool55 tours
York40 tours
Inverness45 tours
Oxford44 tours
Belfast23 tours
Glasgow35 tours
North Wales13 tours- Every city and region →
Reviewed this week, from Cornwall to Antrim.
More recent reviews →
Glastonbury: Guided Tour of Avalon with Celtic Shaman
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Full-Day Custom Tour: Loch Ness, Glencoe and Highlands
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St Andrews: City Highlights Walking Tour with Cocktail
Read our review →
Pembrokeshire: Paddle Boarding At Tenby North Beach
Read our review →
VIP Westminster Abbey & Upper Gallery and Buckingham Palace
Read our review →
