Tower Bridge
London · GB
Why visit: Victorian bascule bridge with a glass walkway 42 m above the Thames — and a 1976 steam engine room.
Iconic bascule bridge across the Thames.
On the map
Tower Bridge Rd, London SE1 2UP
Victorian engineering icon
Built between 1886 and 1894, Tower Bridge is not London Bridge (that's the next one upstream, far less interesting). The bascules — two 1,200-tonne road sections — were originally raised by steam-powered hydraulics; the 1976 conversion to oil pressure kept the original Victorian engine room intact, now open as a museum. The bridge still opens ~800 times a year for tall ships and the occasional royal yacht.
The glass-floor walkway
The high-level walkways, 42 m above the Thames, sat closed from 1910 to 1982 because they had become a notorious haunt for pickpockets and prostitutes. Reopened with a glass floor in 2014, they now give the best straight-down view of black cabs and red buses crossing below. The visit ends in the Victorian engine rooms — the original 360-tonne steam accumulators are preserved in working order.
Tickets and timing
Adult ticket is £12.30 in 2026 (under-5 free). Open 09:30–18:00, last entry 17:00. Allow 75 minutes. The London Pass and Tower of London + Tower Bridge combo (£42) saves £5. Book the cheapest evening slots online — daytime tour groups queue from 11:00. After the visit, walk five minutes east to St Katharine Docks for a quiet riverside pint, or west to HMS Belfast and Borough Market.
