River Thames

About River Thames

The River Thames runs for around 215 miles across southern England, but the stretch most visitors come for is the one winding through central London. It passes under famous crossings like Tower Bridge and Westminster Bridge, and skirts landmarks that line up along both banks: the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, the London Eye, the Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral, and the modern towers of the City. For centuries the river was London's working artery, moving goods, people, and power in and out of the capital, and a lot of the city's history still sits right on its edge.

Most people see the River Thames by boat. Sightseeing cruises, hop-on hop-off river buses, and evening dinner and sightseeing trips all launch from piers along the central waterfront, including Festival Pier near the Southbank Centre. From the water you get a flat, open view of both banks at once, which is hard to match from the pavement. A typical sightseeing cruise runs roughly 40 minutes to an hour one way, though this varies by route and operator, and some tickets let you hop off at piers near the Tower of London, Greenwich, or Westminster and carry on later.

The riverside itself is free to walk, and the South Bank path between Westminster Bridge and Tower Bridge is one of the easier, more rewarding strolls in the city, with plenty of cafes, street performers, and stopping points along the way. If you're combining a cruise with other attractions, it pays to check which pier your ticket departs from, since central London has several within a short distance of each other and they are not interchangeable. Evening is worth considering too, when the bridges and riverside buildings are lit.