Tower Bridge - Why Not?
 

Many have said that Tower Bridge was not worth visiting. Why? Is the TB Experience not worthwhile? Can you go up on the Bridge without having to pay to see the TB Experience? It sounds like the views from the Bridge would be fabulous OR would it be better to just do the London Eye and forget Tower Bridge?

People may say that the Tower Bridge Experience is not worth visiting because you have to pay money to go and basically get a view from the top of the bridge - The London Eye gives you far more spectacular views of London and you can get the ultimate picture of Tower Bridge that you see in the guidebooks from either the Tower of London or from the Queens Walk on the south side of the river.<BR><BR>Incidentally anyone travelling to London before 14th February - Tower Bridge has been closed anyway for maintenance <BR><BR>Andrew

Thanks, Andrew. We are going in May with friends who have never been to London so I guess we can leave the decision up to them.

I actually did go up the TB, it's okay, I don't recall it being expensive (we had 1/2 price coupons), but it was not memorable. It's a nice thing to do after you go to the Tower of London. But, save your money and just walk on the sidewalk along the TB.<BR><BR>However, I was on crutches at the time that my friends and I did go to into the TB, and the one thing I remember was that there is an elevator for those that don't want to walk and for the handicapped. It was well worth being on crutches.

I would not recommend doing the Tower Bridge experience - it is expensive and it is a "guided" tour with some pretty cheesy animatronics (is that a word). You can not go at your own pace and the really interesting part - the view isn't until last - so you waste about 1 - 1.5 hours of good sight-seeing time on a tour that is not very interesting. Especially with the London Eye I would skip it.

The Tower Bridge Experience is included in the Great British Heritage Pass - so you should go if you buy the pass. Yes - the Eye gives a higher view - but the view from the top of Tower Bridge is different and definitely worth it - looking down on the Tower of London, St Katherine's Dock and up and down a very busy section of the river.<BR><BR>The "Experience" part is fun the first time, and the engineering of the bridge is fascinating. If you don't want to visit the exhibition, explain to the lift operator that you've done it before or have limited time and they will let you go straight to the top. The walkways are glassed in but there are working windows you can open to snap photos without having to shoot through glass.<BR><BR>I usually take my co-travelers there if they have purchased the GBHP.

If you're on a tight budget or have very little time, skip it. However, besides the great view I really enjoyed learning about the mechanics of the bridge. The tour is pretty juvenille but there's a short movie afterward that tells the design history, etc. It's worth doing once IMO.

betty,<BR><BR>i don't believe there is a way to get up to the tower bridge without paying for (and seeing) the tower bridge experience. the experience is pretty silly and reminded me of some sort of disneyland production, but the view from the bridge is really cool. i would say it depends on how long you are going to be in london. we were there for about a week and if i rated all of the things we did, it would probably be one of the last things on my list. i don't know what the london eye is.<BR><BR>have fun. if you have more questions, feel free to email me. <BR><BR>daria

I had a satisfactory/positive impression of the TB Experience with 11 kids in 1998. They were fresh off the plane, we couldn't get into hotel rooms yet, and it was darn blustery outside (in June).<BR><BR>Maybe their first hour in Europe would have been a memorable experience wherever it was.<BR><BR>We combined it with a walk to the Globe Theatre (reconstruction) afterwards - - barely made the last tour of the day (at 12:00? or maybe it was 12:30?) and had an equally pleasant/memorable lunch there.<BR><BR>I remember it as if it were yesterday.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Don't even think about it. It was the biggest waste of time & money and the only thing we regreted about our trip. In retrospect we were more upset about the loss of time than money because onces you get in you can't get out.

Thanks for all the replies. We only have a few days in London, so we might be better off skipping the TB Experience and doing something else.