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Tower Bridge: the walkways, the glass floor and the engine rooms

Tower Bridge opened in 1894 to let carriages cross the Thames below London Bridge without stopping the ships that came up to the port. The roadway splits in two and lifts, and it still does so about eight hundred times a year.

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Tickets
From £18
Open
Every day, 9:30 to 18:00
Closed
See the bridge's site for the days round Christmas
Allow
1 to 1½ hours

London this week

    What to see at Tower Bridge

    1. The high-level walkways

      Two enclosed galleries 42 metres above the river, with the Tower of London and the City on one side and the docks and Canary Wharf on the other.

    2. The glass floor

      Panels of glass set into both walkways in 2014. You look straight down on the road, the buses and, if you time it, the bridge opening beneath your feet.

    3. The engine rooms

      Under the southern approach are the steam engines and the great accumulators that raised the bridge by water pressure until 1976, kept polished and painted.

    4. A bridge lift

      The times a ship is booked to pass are published on the bridge's site. The road is closed for a few minutes and the two halves rise.

    5. The bridge from the bank

      The classic view is from the riverside walk in front of the Tower of London, or from the lawn by City Hall on the south side.

    Tickets and tours for Tower Bridge

    • Sold by GetYourGuide

      London: Tower Bridge Entry Ticket

      Entry to the towers, the high-level walkways with the glass floor, and the Victorian engine rooms.

      Included

      • Entry to the towers and the high-level walkways
      • The glass floor
      • The Victorian engine rooms

      From

      £18

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    Visiting Tower Bridge: hours and admission

    Opening hours

    Every day
    9:30 to 18:00, last entry 17:00
    • On 1 January the bridge opens at 10:00.
    • On the second Saturday of each month the first two hours are a quiet session with few visitors.

    Who gets in free

    • Everyone may cross the bridge on foot at road level. The ticket is for the towers, the walkways and the engine rooms.

    Getting there

    Tube
    Tower Hill (District, Circle), seven minutes on foot to the ticket office.
    Tube
    London Bridge (Jubilee, Northern), about a kilometre along the south bank to the engine rooms.
    DLR
    Tower Gateway, ten minutes on foot.

    Address

    Tower Bridge
    Tower Bridge Road
    London SE1 2UP, United Kingdom

    Entrances

    The ticket office and the way in are on the west side of the north tower, the one nearer the Tower of London. The visit crosses the walkways and ends at the engine rooms, which have their own door at the southern end of the bridge. There is no café inside.

    On the map

    Before you go

    • Look up the bridge lift times before you go and plan to be on the glass floor, or on the bank, for one.
    • Crossing the bridge on foot costs nothing. The ticket is for the towers, the walkways and the engine rooms.
    • The way in is at the north-west tower. The engine rooms are at the other end, on the south bank, and the same ticket lets you in.
    • An hour is enough. It goes well with the Tower of London, five minutes away.
    • There is no café inside. Borough Market is fifteen minutes' walk along the south bank.

    A drawbridge for a port

    By the 1880s the east of London needed a bridge, and the river needed to stay open to tall masts. The answer, by the city architect Horace Jones and the engineer John Wolfe Barry, was a bridge whose two halves swing up like a drawbridge, between towers 65 metres high. It took eight years to build.

    The towers look like stone castles because Parliament asked for a bridge in keeping with the Tower of London beside it. Under the granite and Portland stone is a frame of steel. The two walkways that join the towers at the top were for people on foot to cross while the road was raised.

    It is not London Bridge. That is the plain one next upstream, and the two have been confused ever since.

    Tower Bridge: common questions

    What are the opening hours of Tower Bridge?
    Every day: 9:30 to 18:00, last entry 17:00. On 1 January the bridge opens at 10:00. On the second Saturday of each month the first two hours are a quiet session with few visitors.
    Is Tower Bridge ever free?
    Everyone may cross the bridge on foot at road level. The ticket is for the towers, the walkways and the engine rooms.
    What does the ticket include?
    Entry to the towers and the high-level walkways. The glass floor. The Victorian engine rooms. It is sold by GetYourGuide.
    Is Tower Bridge free to walk across?
    Yes. The pavements at road level are open to everyone. The ticket is for the inside of the towers, the high walkways with the glass floor, and the engine rooms.
    When does Tower Bridge open for ships?
    About eight hundred times a year, at times booked by the ships that need it. The bridge publishes the coming lifts on its own site.
    Is Tower Bridge the same as London Bridge?
    No. London Bridge is the plain modern bridge next upstream. Tower Bridge is the one with the two towers and the lifting road, beside the Tower of London.

    What visitors say about Tower Bridge

    Rating from Google

    4.8

    186,382 ratings on Google

    Google's figures as read on 8 October 2026.

    Read every review on Google

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