The Tour Guy’s “London in A Day” Offers the Royal Experience

If you have clients looking to spend an exciting seven hours in London, we have a land tour for them.  

The Tour Guy’s “London in a Day” walking tour hits spots that any first-time visitor would want to see: Westminster Abbey, Thames River, Tower of London, and more. As a first timer to the city myself, I felt the tour covered lots of ground. It also offered plenty of fun facts for repeat visitors interested royal history. 

The Tour Guy originated as The Roman Guy in 2008, when it began hosting tours of Rome. The tour operator has since expanded throughout the United States and Europe, changing its name to The Tour Guy, and specializes in English-speaking tours of major monuments with skip-the-line and special access to hard-to-reach areas. The company offers 10% commission to travel advisors who book with them. 

In London, the “London in a Day” tour is a top seller. 

“It’s our most popular tour in London, and it’s been running for three years,” Brandon Shaw, COO of The Tour Guy, told TMR. “People love it because it covers so many of the main sites in the city in one day.” 

My friend and I arrived for the tour at about 8:45 a.m. on a recent Tuesday at Parliament Square. We were joined by four other Americans, for a total of six, plus our expert tour guide, Karen Dawson, a blue badge guide with the Institute of Tourist Guiding, which requires two years of study and 11 exams. She was chock full of stories and answers to all our questions. 

We first walked from Parliament Square to Dean’s Yard, where Karen explained the significance of the area’s architecture and school buildings. She then queued us up to be the first group entering Westminster Abbey at 9:30 a.m. 

The tour continued through Westminster Abbey until about 11 a.m., where Karen talked all about the most important parts of the astonishing building. 

We then walked through St. James Park, the smallest of the eight royal parks, and over to a quaint spot to stand and see Buckingham Palace, which only opens in June for tours. This tour does not get close to the palace due to the crowds. Our group did not get to see the changing of the guards because it only happens on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sundays. On those days, tour guides get the group there by 11 a.m. to watch the changing of the guards. 

After some photo ops in front of the palace, we walked down The Mall, the ceremonial route to the palaces. We then broke for lunch at noon, right in the center of London’s West End. Though we separated for lunch, our tour guide recommended a quiet pub that we all ended up eating at. We had a little over an hour to relax and even squeeze in some souvenir shopping. 

By 1:15, we headed to the Embankment Pier for a 20-minute Thames River boat tour with priority boarding. Though the boat was crowded, Karen came around to each of us to talk about important landmarks, and we had nice views of the cityscape. 

At around 2:30, we began the Tower of London tour which includes seeing the famous ravens, Crown Jewels, Tower Bridge, and more. By 4:15, we wrapped up. I was surprised at how quickly the full-day tour passed by and that I didn’t feel exhausted from all the walking. The tour was timed out well, informative, and a lovely way to spend the day in London.