Big Ben: Worth It? An Honest Look
The old advice that only UK residents can climb Big Ben is dead. Since the restoration finished, anyone can book the Elizabeth Tower tour direct through Parliament: GBP 55 for adults from 1 August 2026, 334 spiral steps, no lift, and a batch of tickets released once a month that sells out inside minutes. Worth it if you can get a slot and don’t mind the noise; if you can’t, the free view from Westminster Bridge is doing most of the work anyway.
| Detail | Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower) |
|---|---|
| Price | GBP 55 adult / GBP 35 child 11-17 (from 1 Aug 2026); UK residents can still request a free tour via their MP |
| Hours | Tours run in the daytime on release dates, roughly 90 minutes each |
| Time needed | 90 minutes, 334 steps, minimum age 11, no lift |
| Booking lead | Released 10:00, second Wednesday of each month, 3 months ahead, via tickets.parliament.uk |
| Getting there | Westminster Tube (Circle, District, Jubilee); one exit puts you directly at the tower’s foot |
Can anyone book the Big Ben tour now, or is it still UK residents only?
Anyone can book it. That changed once the tower’s restoration wrapped: tickets go on public sale through tickets.parliament.uk at 10am on the second Wednesday of each month, three months ahead, capped at eight per person. UK residents keep a separate, free route via their MP, but it’s no longer the only door in.
What does the tour actually involve, and is it worth GBP 55?
You climb 334 spiral steps with no lift, passing the clock mechanism room and the belfry, over about 90 minutes. Ear defenders are provided; the bell is genuinely loud up close. It’s worth it for the mechanism and the belfry access alone, not for photographs, since no photography is allowed inside.
Where’s the best free view of the tower if you can’t get a ticket?
Westminster Bridge’s midpoint, looking upstream before 8am, still beats anything paid for composition: the tower fills the frame above the Palace with the Thames in the foreground. The gardens of St Thomas’ Hospital across the river, a few minutes south, give the same view with almost nobody in it.
Big Ben is one piece of a bigger complex. The tower belongs to the Palace of Westminster, and the wider public-galleries visit, including the free House of Commons and House of Lords debates, is its own separate trip: see our UK Parliament page for that side of it. Westminster Abbey stands 200 metres southwest, and the whole trio’s UNESCO listing gets its own treatment on our World Heritage page .
Staying in Westminster itself puts you at the tower’s foot for the early photo run; check rates for the area on Booking.com , or book a Westminster walking tour on GetYourGuide if a guide covering the whole complex, tower included, suits the day better than a solo climb. Confirm current tour dates and prices on parliament.uk before building a day around either option.
If the monthly release has already sold out for your dates, don’t wait around: set a phone reminder for 10am the next second Wednesday, book instantly, and treat the Westminster Bridge dawn walk as the fallback plan rather than a consolation prize.