Ceremony of the Keys tickets
 

Can anyone tell me who to contact for tickets for the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London? My DH and I will be in London in August and I would love to surprise my " history teacher husband" with tickets.
Thanks

Hi Snowflake,

Follow the directions on this website. I would write in for my tickets immediately.

http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/...ofthekeys.aspx

I had requested my tickets for June 3 months in advance (as recommended for summer months), and received my requests in relatively quick order. Remember to bring your tickets, otherwise, no entry.

It's great fun to walk around the Tower of London with only a small group of people. I've been there during the day, and at the Ceremony of the Keys. I highly recommend going to the Ceremony of the Keys and being part of a historic tradition. The Yeomen are very knowledgable about the Tower, and all sure do know how to tell a story. Plus, it gets dark towards the end of your visit, and knowing the haunted history of the Tower, it made it very thrilling.

Hi Snowflake,
I checked the site and June and July are fully booked already. You will need two International Reply Coupons in order to send your request to London. Go to your Post Office and see if they have them, if not see if they can check with surrounding post offices to see if they have them instead of waiting for them to be ordered.

Once you are ready to write to London I would send it overnight/express mail (it is under $20) instead of regular mail. It should be there in just a couple days. I did it this way and received my rely in 10 days. Good Luck. It is a fun experience.

Michele

Be sure to follow the instructions exactly. If you omit anything (names of each person, self addressed envelope, 2 IRC's, etc) they will either not process your request -- or send it back to you to start from scratch (and requiring two more IRC's)

Also -- for a busy month like August, give them any dates that will work. If you have say 3 nights open - that will get you better odds.

I personally don't think you need to do Overnight Express. You can of course, but I've attended more than 10 times and it has never taken more than 2 weeks to get my tickets by return mail. Usually it runs about 8-9 days from the time I mail my request.

Thanks for the information, I will get on it tomorrow morning!!!

You might also have a problem getting International Reply Coupons from your local post office. I went to one that said they were done away with years ago, a second that said they knew they existed but did not carry them (or know which post offices did), and then a third where they knew exactly what I was looking for and had them.

It is apparently not an uncommon experience:
http://greensboring.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=10178

Dancing Bear is right. Call around and find out which local post office has International Reply Coupons. If you live near a large city, all the better for you.

Good luck.

And be persistent. I called around town and only found one who said they had them, but when I got there the clerk didn't know what I was talking about and said they didn't. I had to stick around and talk to a manager before we got it figured out. It'd be nice if the Tower would just use a will-call list!

The Ceremony of the Keys was one of the highlights of my last London trip. The only thing that would have made it better was if it had been a foggy night to add to the atmosphere.

Please do not be even 1 minute late as the gates close and you will not be admitted. There were some folks locked out, begging to get in, and they were ignored as they were late. The Yeoman Warders have a schedule to keep and late tourists are not tolerated.

International Reply Coupons are now available at the Post Office's website: www.usps.com. Go to the Store, then click on Mailing and Shipping, then International.

After reading of the issues everyone had with finding the International Reply Coupons, I opted to order them from the website and not even try my local post offices. Much less stressful, and I was ensured of receiving the correct thing.

Just another thumbs up for the Ceremony of Keys! I had some friends visiting from the states (I live in London) and we sent away for the tickets about 2 months in advance. We were probably lucky to get them due to the slow tourist season. If you want to pair the Ceremony with something fun (albeit completely cheesy), do one of the Jack the Ripper walking tours. You'll finish the tour next to the Tower of London right before the Ceremony starts.