Complete Tower of London Tour: Opening Ceremony, Early Access Crown Jewels & River Cruise

We signed up to get early access to the Tower and see an opening ceremony. We gathered across from the Starbucks near the tower, which by the way is a very large and nice shop with bathrooms. There were numerous groups meeting in the plaza and finding ours was a bit tricky because the sign the organizer held was not Tripadvisor but City Walks. Our group was about 18 people. Our guide was a British man named Nigel and he was very informative. The main thing I appreciated from the jump was we were provided with single ear headsets and Nigel was mic'ed up. This assured we heard him regardless of our proximity. Most of the other groups were larger and I saw most were without this tech and had to crowd close to hear. Huge difference. Make sure you get headsets. I did not see it mentioned. We were NOT the first group in and there was no 'opening ceremony' that we saw. We did learn a lot about the Towers history and saw some Beefeaters and guard changings. We saw the Crown Jewels and it made me a bit angry at how entitled 'royalty' is compared to the average person. The "CRUISE" on the Thames is just a boat ride from the Tower Bridge to the Eye. The top deck was packed and we had to sit on the main level which is enclosed and was very warm. If I had it to do over I would pass on the boat. One note of caution for travelers with mobility issues. There is a good amount of walking and standing and the Tower requires a significant amount of stair climbing up and down. Also, it gets very busy by 10AM.

Tour was wonderful! However, it was difficult to find our guide at the meeting location. A larger sign would have been helpful.

Steven is the best blue badge certified guide I ever encountered! Enjoyed the tour because of his stories!

Great tour. I didnt realise the Tower of London was so big. Jane was our excellent guide very knowledgeable and full of info. The Beefeaters opening ceremony was also excellent