Tours of the Houses of Parliament

VfM4meplse

KMK wrote: »

I have booked a guided tour in French for myself and a French friend visiting London after many years. It is on a Saturday at the end of October. We have a practical issue about which I would welcome advice.

We have to book out of the hotel late morning as it is our last day in London.

If the hotel is close enough, it might be worth leaving it with the concierge for peace of mind.

UKParliament

KMK wrote: »

I have booked a guided tour in French for myself and a French friend visiting London after many years. It is on a Saturday at the end of October. We have a practical issue about which I would welcome advice.

We have to book out of the hotel late morning as it is our last day in London. Can you take small cases into the House? I realize they will be scanned etc, but just wondered if we will have to take them to a station Left Luggage (quite expensive for just such a short time) or whether we can leave them in the House before the tour begins.

Any advice would be welcome!

Hi KMK

There is no storage available for luggage in the Houses of Parliament. If they are small cases you could bring them in with you but you would have to be aware that you would have to take them with you on your tour.

There is luggage storage available at Victoria and Waterloo.

If not, as VfM4meplse has suggested - you could request leaving the luggage with the concierge at your hotel?

Hope this helps to answer your question?
Best wishes
DOT

Leon_W

We visited this summer, it is a must do and cost £0 !

It is a bit of a faff getting it all organised but worth the time and effort in doing so. There were only the three of us so I sent an email to the office of our local MP (Jacob Rees-Mogg) enquiring about a tour of the Palace of Westminster. They promptly replied and also suggested a tour of Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) which I hadn't even thought about.

You have to be flexible with the times you can visit but we managed to arrange a tour of Westminster followed by a tour of Big Ben a couple of hours later. Other people that were just on the Westminster tour were absolutely gutted when they found out we were going up the tower as well. Don't be "those" people ! They looked SO jealous.

The Palace of Westminster in itself was an absolutely outstanding, informative tour and you are given (within reason) access to pretty much all you'd like to see. The House of Lords, House of Commons etc and there seemed to be no problem with myself and my daughter being allowed to stand at the government and opposition dispatch boxes re-enacting Cameron and Milliband at PMQs, obviously MPs weren't sitting the day we visited. YOU are also not allowed to sit on the benches either. The tour finished in the cafe where we had lunch at a surprisingly reasonable cost.

After lunch it was off to Big Ben. This was the highlight of the day and the tour guide was brilliant. Be warned. There are ALOT of steps and you have to be pretty agile up in the belfry, I also can't remember any toilets after the start and end of the tour. You are taken in stages up the clock tower so don't have to do it all in one go. One of the most remarkable parts is walking in narrow corridors BEHIND the four clock faces between the actual face and the bulbs that illuminate it at night, the faces are HUGE !

You then move on from there further up the tower and climb out into the belfry itself. This is carefully timed so you can stand right next to Big Ben as it chimes the hour (earplugs supplied !) This is the only point at which vertigo sufferers might feel a little queasy as it is open to the elements up there (take a coat even in summer) but you do get an excellent view of the London skyline.

After watching the chimes above it is down to the actual clock mechanism itself, again, very interesting and timed perfectly so you can see it in action on the quarter hour after the hourly chime you've just seen .

Overall, they are THE best tours of London landmarks that money can't buy for the actual fact that they are completely FREE ! All it takes is a couple of emails.

PS> Forgot to say that the only MP we saw was George Galloway in the central lobby wearing some sort of Stetson hat and a pair of Cuban Heels ??? Please don't let that put you off though.

Techno

Absolutely agree that the tour of the Elizabeth Tower was the highlight of our trip to London. We did do a bit of Westminster Palace but there was a big commonwealth meeting on and it was being security checked so couldn't actually get into either house - had to peer through the windows - still amazing though.

UKParliament

Hello Techno and Leon W

It is always nice to hear from people who have enjoyed their visit to Parliament.

Thank you very much for letting us know
Best wishes
DOT

PS - for those interested in climbing the Elizabeth Tower and hearing Big Ben chime the hour - this tour can be booked by contacting your MP, however it is very popular so flexibility with dates is recommended.

To find out more information about Big Ben tours please visit http://www.parliament.uk/visiting/visiting-and-tours/ukvisitors/bigben/

yangptangkipperbang

A useful tip. UK citizens can get free tours through their MP, they can take foreign nationals with them.

I have done this twice. Last time, we did the tour then had lunch and we then had seats in the front row of the public gallery. Even better - a couple of weeks before we attended, the business of the House was changed from a junior minister answering questions to the big debate on membership of the EU. My American friends were mightily impressed with my organisational powers :rotfl::rotfl:

They are coming over again in December - I am struggling to find something to "follow that" !!

poppasmurf_bewdley

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

They are coming over again in December - I am struggling to find something to "follow that" !!

Churchill's War Rooms, just behind Downing Street, is a good place to take Americans. The one's I've taken have loved it.

agrinnall

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Churchill's War Rooms, just behind Downing Street, is a good place to take Americans. The one's I've taken have loved it.

It may well be very good, but the eye-wateringly expensive entry price put me off going (I must find some rich Americans to act as a tour guide for).

poppasmurf_bewdley

agrinnall wrote: »

It may well be very good, but the eye-wateringly expensive entry price put me off going (I must find some rich Americans to act as a tour guide for).

Didn't realise the price of a visit (I've just checked the website £17.50, which is fairly steep). When I took people around, it wasn't open to the public and there was no charge. I knew the Imperial War Museum now controlled it but didn't know the details.

But the price is preferable to places like Madame Tussauds (£30) or London Dungeon (£24), or even high tea at The Ritz!

agrinnall

Or the £24.95 that I did pay for The View from the Shard! Maybe it'll be the War Rooms next time.