England · SELF-GUIDED TOURS IN LONDON
Good self-guided tours in London fill up weeks ahead; the great ones go first. Below: the 15 to book early, what each includes and how they differ.
Ride west from London to Windsor Castle with round-trip transport, timed State Apartment entry, St George’s Chapel, and an audio guide.
“Have a plan. Prioritize what to see. Lines can be long. Wear comfortable shoes, & know your route back to coach. Enjoy. It's a beautiful & interesting place to visit.”
2-hour open-top London bus tour with 12-language audio and views of Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben.
“The hard part was finding the right meeting point. We put the address in and walked very fast to be on time. When we got there the bus that pulled up was the right company but it was a hop on hop off bus that’s went 3 hours instead of the 1.5 hours we wanted originally. Some of the earphone jacks didn’t work. I asked the man as we entered if it was the right tour and he just ushered us on not even checking our ticket. It was nice to be in open air after a long flight though.”
Self-guided Emirates Stadium and Arsenal Museum tour with multi-language audio, behind-the-scenes access, and classic Arsenal memorabilia.
“Disappointing that we had to queue for access and it was a long one. When you go for a day with other activities plan it was difficult. Not as good as the other stadiums yours we have been on”
Skip the guessing game at London’s Natural History Museum with a 30-minute guide intro plus audio and reserved entry.
“Our tour agent, Ms. Janet, was really good. She is very friendly and briefed us so well. We had a wonderful time at the Natural History Museum.”
Stroll St James Park and The Mall with a small-group guide, then enter Buckingham Palace with skip-the-line tickets and an audio guide.
“The whole tour was a good and would not change a thing about it. Guid was helpful getting us into the line effectively as well.”
Prebook timed Churchill War Rooms entry with multi-language audio, plus Political London and sightseeing apps, with an outside host.
“Very well done give the visitor a very good idea of how it was for Churchill and the British government functioned during WW II would have preferred a live guide vs self guided”
British Museum highlights in a timed slot with a phone audio guide in 7 languages, plus a self-guided Political London add-on.
“Just to confirm this ticket says it gives audio tour and priority entrance. It does not give you entry to the museum and you need to purchase a separate ticket (albeit it is free). We went on Saturday and thought this would give us entrance but it didn’t and all entrance tickets were sold already.”
Self-guided Covent Garden audio walk with offline GPS, nine storytelling stops, and a low-cost price. About 45 to 50 minutes.
“The tour was so easy to access. The guides on the tour were pleasant to listen to and very entertaining as we walked the tour. It was easy to follow where they were sending us on the tour. Covent Garden did not disappoint. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour!”
Self-guided London walk with the Trippy Tour Guide app, offline map, and 30+ audio stops from Monument to St. Paul’s.
“Awful couldn’t even use it - took us to the end first luckily we realised when we had already wasted half an hour wrong way. Maybe you need good data reception - such a waste of money”
Follow the Trippy Tour Guide app through Notting Hill movie spots and iconic streets, using an offline map and GPS stop alerts.
“This tour was great! I loved how the location on it knows where you and keeps the tour in sync with where you are. There was a glitch with it and the company rang me straight away to resolve this.”
Twelve self-guided London audio walks with offline GPS maps, quick neighborhood hops, and Instagram photo cues, so you control your pace.
“Excellent Tours! There is a lot of great information while you explore the city. We were here for 4 days and did 3 tours, well worth the price. The actors who do the tours speak well, and do a great job. We thought the information was excellent as we love to hear about the history of the area. We had misunderstood the initial instructions. We got the app and signed in to get our tours. What we missed is that you have to start the tour to download. We were able to do this, but want to advise to do this important step. We found that we could pair two…”
Haunted London ghost hunt game with smartphone clues. Walk from Bond Street to Queen’s Chapel, solve 10 puzzles in 1 to 2 hours.
“This was my second time visiting London with my mates. We really enjoyed getting to more about the city while having an amazing time with the game! Some clues were kinda difficult, which made the game challenging enough for us!”
Reserve entry to the Houses of Parliament plus the Political London audio guide, self-paced in multiple languages, about 90 minutes in total.
“This was hugely enjoyable and enlightening. The audio tour was very clear and allowed us to go round at our own pace. It was great to see the two houses 'for real'. These was a slight delay to get in for security checks but this was a niggle rather than anything else. We would thoroughly recommend this tour. The information that we received prior to going up to London was second-to-none.”
A self-guided Harry Potter walk in London, using the Trippy Tour Guide app with an offline map and 40+ narration points, from Westminster to Tower Bridge.
“Audio didn't work. If this was a total waste of money. My second disappointing experience with Viator in 2 days. Will not utilize them again.”
Self-guided smartphone audio tour of Borough Market in London, with GPS, offline listening, and flexible stops to grab your own food.
“The app kept crashing so I was not able to open the audio tour. Tried reinstalling the app twice and rebooting the phone and still couldnt get it to work.”
Every kind of day out in the country, best first.
