England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. One island, four very different days out.
What the London Eye actually costs at the gate. Whether the Highlands work as a day from Edinburgh. Which Belfast taxi tour is the real one. Reviews of every tour you can book across Britain and Northern Ireland.
- England
Londonfrom $10YorkLiverpoolOxfordBath - Scotland
Edinburghfrom $5The HighlandsGlasgowInverness - Wales
Cardifffrom $18 - Northern Ireland
Belfastfrom $14The Causeway
A wheel over the Thames, a glen west of Loch Ness, a stone circle, a film studio.
The four bookings a first trip round Britain tends to hang off. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The landing-day bookingThe London Eye Entry TicketThirty minutes over the river with the whole city laid out under you. Book a timed slot and skip the queue on the South Bank.
02The long Scottish dayLoch Ness, Glencoe & the Scottish Highlands TourOut of Edinburgh at dawn, down Glencoe and along Loch Ness, back after dark. Thirteen hours, and nobody regrets it.
03The classic day tripStonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from LondonStonehenge, Windsor and Bath in one coach day out of London. Three of England’s biggest sights, one ticket.
04The one for the familyHarry Potter Warner Bros Studio TourThe Warner Bros. sets at Leavesden, with the Great Hall and Platform 9¾ standing exactly as they were built.
London: the river, the crown jewels, and everything within an hour of Paddington.
Everything in London →
The city rewards a plan. Timed entries for the big three, a boat between the sights rather than the Circle line, and the day trips that leave from Victoria before eight. These carry more travellers than anything else in Britain.
- 1The London Eye Entry Ticketfrom $39
- 2Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tourfrom $117
- 3Westminster to Greenwich River Thames Cruisefrom $22
Single entries, or one combined pass
The Eye, Tussauds, the Tower and St Paul’s all sell timed slots, and the combined passes only pay off if you are doing three or more in the same few days.
Westminster to Greenwich by boat
The Thames Clipper route runs past Parliament, the Tate, the Tower and Tower Bridge and drops you at the Cutty Sark. Cheaper than a tour bus and it beats the Jubilee line.
Stonehenge, Windsor and Bath in one go
Three sights, one long day, and the only sane way to reach all of them without a car. Pickups run from Victoria and Gloucester Road well before eight.
Britain is a walking country. The question is which walk.
Old towns here were laid out for feet and are hostile to everything else. Four kinds of walk, what it costs to join each one, and the city each one belongs to.
Six cities that carry the rest of the country.
A capital on a river, a capital on a rock, a shipyard turned museum, a walled city, a port that exported four musicians, and a university you can walk round in an afternoon.
The days out more people book than anything else in Britain.
Every British tour we have reviewed →A wheel, a wizarding studio, a boat down the Thames and a coach into the Highlands. What earns each of them the slot.
1
The London Eye Entry Ticket
London Eye review with honest advice on views, queues, price, accessibility, weather, and whether standard or fast-track entry suits you.
From · $39
Read our review →
2
Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour
from $117
3
Westminster to Greenwich River Thames Cruise
from $22
4
Magical London: Harry Potter Guided Walking Tour
from $20
5
Madame Tussauds London
from $36
6
Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from London
from $112
7
Warner Bros. Studio Tour with Transfers
from $145
8
Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Scottish Highlands Tour
from $62
Britain has kept more castles standing than anywhere else in Europe.
Windsor is still lived in. Edinburgh sits on a plug of volcanic rock. The Tower holds the jewels and a garrison. Entry is timed at all three and the good slots go weeks out.
What a day out in Britain actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. A surprising number of the best British days come in under the cost of a theatre ticket.
Walking tours, cathedral and castle entries, punts, and the ghost walks that start when the shops shut.
The full-day standards: Stonehenge and Bath by coach, the studio tour, river cruises with lunch on board.
- 1The London Eye Entry Ticketfrom $39
- 2Madame Tussauds Londonfrom $36
- 3Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Scottish Highlands Tourfrom $62
Private guides, the long Highland runs, black-cab days and the once-a-trip splurges that earn it.
The best English days start with an early coach out of Victoria.
Stonehenge is two hours west, the Cotswolds two hours north-west, Windsor forty minutes and the film studio twenty. None of them work as an afternoon; all of them work as a day.
Three things that only happen on this island.
Cathedrals and old towns exist all over Europe. A shipyard that builds its own museum, a stone circle nobody can explain, and a basalt causeway with a legend attached do not.
The Stone Circle
The sarsens came from twenty miles away and the bluestones from the Preseli hills in west Wales, hauled a hundred and forty miles by people with no wheel and no metal. The visitor centre keeps you at a respectful loop unless you book one of the small inner-circle slots, which open before the site does and after it closes.
- 1Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from London★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 18,662 reviews
- 2Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Bath with Pub Lunch in Lacock★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 7,402 reviews
- 3Stonehenge Admission Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 6,388 reviews
The Causeway Stones
Forty thousand basalt columns, most of them hexagonal, formed when a lava plateau cooled and cracked. The road there from Belfast runs past Carrickfergus, the Dark Hedges and Dunluce, which is why almost nobody drives straight to it. Wind off the North Channel decides how long you stay.
- 1Giants Causeway, Dark Hedges, Dunluce & Belfast Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 8,843 reviews
- 2Game of Thrones and Giant’s Causeway Full-Day Tour from Belfast★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,291 reviews
- 3Giant’s Causeway, Dark Hedges & Titanic Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,898 reviews
The Whisky Trail
Malt whisky is made in five recognised regions and tastes almost nothing alike between them. Speyside is soft and sweet, Islay is smoke and iodine, and the Lowlands sit somewhere polite in between. Distillery tours end in a tasting, which is the argument for a driver.
- 1The Scotch Whisky Experience Guided Whisky Tour – An Introduction to Whisky★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,578 reviews
- 2Scotch Whisky Tasting & Stories — Bespoke Whisky Lounge★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 972 reviews
- 3Bombay Sapphire Gin Distillery Tour and Cocktail★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 725 reviews
Four British bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be sorted from a pub table the night before. These four run on timed entry slots and coach seats that sell out weeks ahead of the day you turn up.
- 01Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio TourEvery ticket is a timed studio entry and the sets run at capacity. Weekends and school holidays go months out.
- 02Tower of London and Crown Jewels Exhibition TicketThe Tower caps entries by half-hour slot. The jewels queue is worst between eleven and two, so take the first slot of the day.
- 03Windsor Castle Admission TicketWindsor closes to visitors whenever the State Apartments are in use, and the calendar is published rather than negotiable.
- 04Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from LondonGeneral entry is timed, and the inner-circle slots outside opening hours are a separate, much smaller allocation.
It will rain. Have somewhere to be when it does.
Britain gets rain on roughly a third of days and there is no season that dodges it. The answer is not to wait it out: book the cathedral, the vaults, the museum or the distillery for the afternoon and keep the walking for whenever the sky lifts.
By city — all four nations
London, Bath, York, Edinburgh: the route most first visits end up taking.
London
Stonehenge
Bath
York
EdinburghThe newest British tour reviews.
Carry on down the new list →
PRIVATE HIRE 45 min Speedboat Tour – Embankment/Westminster Pier
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Cairngorms & Whisky Day Tour from Inverness Including Admission
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Fantastic Creatures of Edinburgh, and where to find them!
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‘A Wee Pedal’s’ Family Friendly Cycle Tour to Edinburgh’s Coast
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Private Belfast Troubles Cab Tour Adventure 2hrs Personal Guide
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Gatwick Airport Taxi – Private Transfer to/from London
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Tower of London After Hours Tour and Key Ceremony
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