London in a Day Tour

No visit to London is complete without following in the footsteps of the royal family through the beautiful leafy streets and flower-strewn parks of Westminster. Ground zero for English royalty, Buckingham Palace has been the official London residence of the British monarchy since 1837. On our Day in London tour you’ll learn the story of the imposing building from a vantage point just outside the gates of the palace originally built for the Duke of Buckingham at the beginning of the 18th century (please note that we will not be visiting the inside of the Palace on this tour). There is nothing more quintessentially London than the sight of the iconic palace guarded by red-coated guards beneath bearskin hats; the soldiers are the protagonists of the daily Changing of the Guard ritual, which you’ll learn all about on our tour. If you’d like to watch the Changing of the Guard on your tour let us know, and subject to timing and availability we’ll be happy to arrange this for you.

Our route will take us past the Houses of Parliament and the iconic Big Ben clock before arriving at Trafalgar Square. The epicentre of London, Trafalgar Square has been the city’s most important public space and meeting point ever since it was opened to the public way back in 1837. As we make our way through the sweeping square your guide will tell you all about its history – named in honour of the crushing against-the-odds victory enjoyed by the British fleets against Napoleon’ navy at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

The square is dominated by the 52 metre tall Nelson’s Column, an elegantly fluted affair dedicated to Britain’s most famous naval commander who died during the battle, and the four plinths: three dedicated to august personages and the fourth which plays host to a rotating display of contemporary artworks. On our walking tour of London we’ll also admire the fine buildings surrounding the square, including the Neoclassical National Gallery and the James Gibbs designed Baroque masterpiece St. Martin in the Fields.

London is home to many of the world’s greatest museums and cultural institutions, and the enormous British Museum is the most impressive of all. Fascinating artefacts and artworks offer unique windows into countless cultures from across the globe, from ancient Greece’s Parthenon marbles and Egypt’s eerie mummies to Aztec amulets, medieval chess sets and more. On our Day in London private tour your expert guide will chart a course through the dizzying collections, making sure you get to see the countless highlights on display. Gaze on the Rosetta stone and thundering statues of ancient Pharaohs; admire the delicate beauty of Greek goddesses and be amazed by roaring Assyrian lions. With the help of our guide’s engaging storytelling, you’ll gain compelling new insights about these distant cultures and many more.

On our tour we’ll be taking a trip into the heart of London’s cultural life in the West End. This area of the city is home to many of London’s most important public spaces and we’ll be visiting two of the most famous. Piccadilly Circus forms part of 19th-century starchitect John Nash’s ambitious vision for an elegant new quarter of London in conjunction with adjacent Regent Street, and the neoclassical architecture on show here is breathtaking.

The ever bustling junction is also a perfect symbol for the restless energy that makes London unique; a never-ending stream of locals and visitors alike passes beneath the massive flashing electronic billboards as they make their way down into the Tube station or across to Leicester Square. We’ll be making a stop here too in the heart of London’s theatre and cinema land, where statues of William Shakespeare and Mary Poppins watch the comings and goings of A-Listers on their way to movie premieres.

The beautiful arcades of London’s historic fruit and vegetable market are perhaps most famous as the backdrop for Audrey Hepburn’s star turn as flower-seller turned high society belle in My Fair Lady, and the charming covered market still retains plenty of the atmosphere of London in years gone by. On our tour we’ll be taking a stroll through the venerable split-level market, these days home to an array of enticing boutiques and cafes set amongst the beautiful architecture. The street performers getting up to a range of tricks in the piazza surrounding the market are continuing a long tradition of performance here – Samuel Pepys records a punch and judy show taking place at Covent Garden way back in 1662.