Which London Bridge has the best views - is it Waterloo or Tower Bridge?
And is Waterloo Bridge pedestrian friendly?

Views of what? It depends what you want to see

The river winds through the city and almost every bridge has a totally different view.

And then, the view from the top of Tower Bridge is entirely different than the view from road level.

So as highledge says - what do you want a view of? Parliament/Big Ben? St Pauls? The Eye? The Tower of London? Tate Modern/The Globe?

Of the two you mention, Waterloo has by far the <b> better </b> view, since the Thames downstream of Tower Bridge is a bit ticky-tacky. Upstream's good though.

In this, as in all aesthetic matters, there's no such thing as <b> best </b> But traditionally few peole got terribly excited about either. The view from Westminster Bridge is what excited Wordsworth (&quot;Earth has not anything to show more fair&quot; etc) and Manet.

Waterloo Bridge caught people's imagination after the wartime film it inspired about a nice girl gone bad and the Kinks' 1967 song about the sunset viewed from it.

The song's now the anthem for that wonderful summer (infinitely superior to the utterly doolally &quot;Whiter Shade of Pale&quot; which was also playing from every tranny at the time). But you actually get more enjoyable views from practically anywhere on the South Bank footpath than from any of the bridges, since from the South Bank you can't see the South Bank.

janisj- I meant the view on both sides - South Bank as well as the other side

Both sides of Waterloo bridge have interesting views. It is a railway bridge with Pedestrian access on both sides. One side gives views of the Houses of Parliament and the London eye, the other up towards Saint Paul's, and the new metallic gherkin building (There are better names, but would probably get the thread shut down) In the centre of the bridge, there is an engraved panel showing the skyline with the names of the buildings.

Sorry, a moment of madness, I think I just described hungerford bridge - the railway bridge between the Royal festival hall and the London Eye. Waterloo bridge being the road bridge

http://www.panoramicearth.com/index....england/london

this shows a map of london, with panoramic viewpoints available from any of the flashing circles. You can see for yourself what the view is like from Tower, Waterloo, and Hungerford bridges.

Thanks Willit, and is the viewing gallery at OXO Tower open to the Public?

Actually, one of the best views is over that little bridge that spans the stream in the garden at Buckingham palace.

The Oxo Tower has a bar below the restaurant if you don’t want to spend a gazillion quid. The Tate Modern has some corking views from it too.

Back to the bridges – basically it’s got to be Waterloo Bridge from an open topped MG or Sprite whilst sitting next to Julie Christie. Nothing else will do.