Houses of Parliament
Houses of Parliament
4.5
Historic SitesArchitectural BuildingsGovernment Buildings
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Monday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Tuesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Wednesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Thursday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Friday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Saturday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Sunday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
About
Most of this iconic building was built in the mid-19th century following a devastating fire in 1834. Westminster Hall survived the fire and dates from 1097. All visits are currently suspended. For the latest updates and online content, please go to the website and sign-up to the e-newsletter.
Duration: 1-2 hours
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The area
Address
Neighborhood: Westminster
If you only had an afternoon to experience London on a grand scale, Westminster would be a wise place to start. The ornate Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey sit adjacent at a corner of Parliament Square, and a short stroll along The Mall leads to Buckingham Palace. Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column are just up the road as well. As captivating as the architecture is, the wonders of Mother Nature are highlights of the area too. St James's Park (arguably London's loveliest), the expansive Green Park, and pedestrian friendly tree lined paths along the river showcase the exquisite manicure provided by English gardeners. Just beyond the landmarks and the gorgeous outdoor spaces, quiet residential squares and age old local pubs offer a more subdued take on this global seat of power in the heart of London.
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See what travelers are saying
  • Jeffry b
    Essendon, Australia14,153 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Houses of Parliament are really spectacular
    The Houses of Parliament consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is quite small, in fact it won't accommodate all Members of Parliament at the one time. The House is green and functional. The House of Lords is quite spectacular, it is here that the Sovereign delivers the speech to open the Parliament. Red is the predominant color in the House of Lords. Visitors can undertake a self-guided tour of the Houses of Parliament. However, the best view of the Houses of Parliament is from the London Eye, where the building is laid out in front of you and you can get o sense of the structure of governance.
    Visited January 2023
    Written March 21, 2023
  • Marc G
    Redhill, United Kingdom14 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Well worth visiting
    We where very fortunate to have a tour of the House of parliament and watch the prime minister’s questions time last Wednesday. Definitely recommended if you are ever visiting london. One more of my bucket list. You can go to the visitor section of the Palace of Westminster and get a ticket. Excellent tour. Impressive.
    Visited March 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written April 1, 2023
  • Gill P
    Edinburgh, United Kingdom95 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Highly Recommend Guided Tour
    Best tour of our trip to London. Very interesting, funny and informative (tour guide was Paul ???). Beautiful architecture and the usual quintessential British traditions. We were lucky enough to see both the Lords and the Commons - both much smaller in real life than on the TV.
    Visited March 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written April 2, 2023
  • Christina
    Lancaster, Pennsylvania71 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great, educational tour; worth the money
    Melissa was our fabulous tour guide for a crowd of 5 Americans and my British husband. We learned a lot, were entertained and were so impressed with how much our guide knew. A true expert. Glad we spent the money on the tour.
    Visited April 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written April 7, 2023
  • KB91
    3 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Amazing trip and tour with Phil
    Amazing trip, the tour was fantastic and our tour guide Phil was absolutely fantastic. Phil really helped bring history to life for us and made the tour engaging and interesting. The building itself is a wonder and really needs to be seen. Ask for Phil as your tour guide!
    Visited April 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written April 17, 2023
  • mattfrost216
    Ipswich, United Kingdom489 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Excellent self guided tour
    We did the self guided multimedia tour here, and saw far more than we were expecting to see! From Westminster hall to actually in both the lords and commons chambers, the tour covered far more than we were expecting and got us far closer than we’d imagined. Well worth a visit
    Visited April 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written April 23, 2023
  • Gr9999
    Albany, New York142 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Highly recommend
    Probably the best tour/attraction we visited in London. The history, architecture,and experience is very memorable. It's so amazing to have access to the floor of the House of Lords and Commons where governmental decisions have been made for centuries. The pre-recorded virtual tour was excellent, and I usually do not like that sort of presentation. You can go at your own pace. There are even options in the program to go deeper and get more in areas that interest you and to gloss over areas that don't. You definitely do not need a private tour or guide here. I do wish we could take pictures in more areas of the building but I i that it is a working governmental building.
    Visited March 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written April 23, 2023
  • Mr M L
    4 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Fascinating tour by entertaining guide.
    I took a party of 6th form politics students here and we had a brilliant time. Our guide Phil was fantastically entertaining and full of fascinating stories. The building is incredible and it is such a privilege to walk through rooms where history was - and continues to be - made. If you love history and politics then I cannot recommend highly enough. You can also see parliament in action by watching from the public galleries in both the Commons and Lords. Also worth popping across the road to the Supreme Court.
    Visited April 2023
    Traveled on business
    Written April 27, 2023
  • dazw71
    4 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A Must do Tour highly interesting if you've never been
    A selection of People from our town were invited by our local MP to meet him for a Q&A session then have a guided tour of Parliament. What a fantastic day was had, Our Guided Tour "Phil" was brilliant, Gave a complete history of Parliament from then to the modern day, He made it both interesting and funny at the same time, and covered everything. If you do ever go, ask to have a Tour with Phil his impressions of certain MP's both old & new are excellent.
    Visited April 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written April 29, 2023
  • Cees H
    Hengelo, The Netherlands25 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great and very interesting
    We arrived a bit early and were given the possibility to go past the long queue waiting for a spot. We booked a guided tour so we could go straight through. We were told to not taken pictures beyond a specific point, but our German companions did their best to annoy our guide.
    Visited April 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written April 29, 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles16,813 reviews
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12,012
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3,968
Average
689
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92
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Mari N
Pontefract, UK127 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Family
As a UK resident I applied for a free tour of the Houses of Parliament. The tour guide was very interesting albeit a little unsympathetic to an elderly member of the tour who was a bit unstable on her feet, especially when she had a dizzy spell and nearly sat on the benches in the Houses of Commons, heaven forbid. The gothic architecture and opulence is fascinating but we didn't get time to look at anything in detail en route which is a shame as some.of the murals and paintings look fascinating. At the end of our tour we did go to the gift shop which catered for those who wanted a small keepsake to those who wanted an extravagant gift. Final stop was the cafe, which was not subsidised unfortunately but given the tour was free I don't think we could expect the same priviledges offered to our parliamentary members. We partook in a very tasty sausage roll, a chai latte and a can of Coke for less than a tenner.
Written January 12, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

DenJ
4 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Family
Absolutely brilliant!!
Unexpected visit in February half term ....we were planning on going to go to London aquarium but the massive queues put us off. We booked our ticket on the audio tour on our phone online while standing outside of the entrance gate and was really easy and went straight in. The place is totally Fascinating. the audio tour was great for us as we could take our time and spent about 2 hours doing the tour. Was completely in awe of the beauty of the building and the fact that you were allowed access to all areas including the chamber of the House of Commons and Lords. Would recommend highly if you want something to do with the kids in school holidays which is off the beaten track as it was not busy at all. Our kids aged 9 and 15 enjoyed it too but us oldies went a bit too slow for them at times. The guided tour looked good too but was more expensive. We didn’t stop in cafe as had other plans but it looked nice. Will definitely return
Written February 22, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Emma W
Norwich, United Kingdom25 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2021
I have always wanted to go round the Palace of Westminster and i was not disappointed at all in my visit.
It is such a beautiful place with huge amounts of history that it would take all day to go round the entire place but my guided tour was only 90 minutes. Still our tour guide Leigh was very knowledgable and fun to listen to and crammed so much into the 90 minutes that the entrance fee is well worth it.

I loved that you get to see the House of Lords and the House of Commons which was my favourite part. To be able to stand where the MPs stand during their debates was amazing. The place even has its own post office!

I didn't go to the Cafe but the shop was well stocked with lovely gifts and overall i would highly recommend this venue and would definately go again.
Written October 6, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Samm
33 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020
If you'eve ever been to London or seen pictures of it you may have wondered if this building is actually the Houses of Parliament.
Luckily for you I can confirm these rumours - they are true. Whilst you cannot get close to the building you can always appreciate the majestic grandeur of this edifice from the other side of the Thames.
A great view for when you're passing by. Expect to spend about 10 minutes here taking photos (and waiting for the person who stepped in front of you to move so you can take a photo.) Worth seeing.
Written August 27, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kels E
Manchester, England, United Kingdom12 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2021
We booked the trip through Parliament directly and as a UK Resident, the tour was free. Our tour guide, Phil, was very impressive, knowledgeable and kept the group engaged. It was the first week using the headphones, you wouldn’t have known. Everything worked well from the security checks through to the tour itself. We learned so much about the history of parliament, the rules and traditions that are still followed today. We highly recommend all UK residents should go and find out more about where the key decisions are made in the UK, how the system works and encourage others to go as well. Truly eye opening.
Written September 19, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

416patrickc
Birmingham, UK28 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2021 • Family
We spent a wonderful 75 minutes been shown around this amazing building by our extremely knowledgeable guide Louise, learning about the workings of our Democratic system.
Tickets are available via application to your local Member of Parliament and are free of charge.
You often see these places on TV and it is slightly surreal to visit in person . We all wore headphones and Louise had a microphone so communication was not hindered by wearing of face masks.
No photography allowed but so memorable, I highly recommend that everyone visits if they have the opportunity.
Written November 3, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Beth Hodgkinson
Lancashire, UK276 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Solo
I took the free guided tour available to UK residents, which I booked a month prior to my visit to London. The security is excellent on arrival to the building with the whole process being relatively quick. From there you join your tour at Westminster hall, where the groups are called. You visit both the House of Commons and House of Lords and learn the role of both houses. The tour last around 90 minutes, which is of appropriate length for the detail of the tour.
Written June 20, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

chipkaart36
Bath, UK34 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2022
We had booked a tour via our local MP. As instructed, we arrived early to allow for security, which took around 20 minutes but most of this time was queuing up to go through the checks but which was easy enough. Our guide, David, gathered up everyone booked in our group and issued us all with headsets so we could hear him clearly on the way around. The building is fascinating and David was very clearly incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about its history and had lots of stories and anecdotes. We visited on a Wednesday morning, so had to be quick in the Commons chamber as they needed to close it for security to do a sweep before PMQs but we still had plenty of time to see everything and thoroughly enjoyed it all. You aren't allowed to take photos on the way around but can do in the Hall at the start and end of your tour. We had a browse around the gift shop and stopped off for a very nice piece of cake and a coffee in the cafe. Everyone we dealt with was very friendly and helpful and my teenager enjoyed it so much he asked to come again so we have booked to visit for a PMQ session next time. Highly recommend visiting!
Written November 18, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

cityfan097
The Hague, The Netherlands172 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2019
A super top, very interesting location, if you're interested in UK politics. Tickets have to be booked online or by telephone which is what we did, whole process went smoothly and very efficiently handled by the friendly booking clerk. We chose a Saturday since the house is not sitting, giving us more access and we opted for the cheaper audio tour which meant we went at our own speed, great choice! There are plenty of staff to answer additional questions you might have and the audio tour has plenty of extra info too. Unfortunately no photography allowed and whilst you're permitted to wander along the benches in both Houses you are not allowed to sit (members only have that privilege!)
Informative couple of hours, will certainly return!
Written January 9, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

StaciH147
San Francisco, CA19 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2023
We visited Parliament on our third trip to London and I only wish we had seen it sooner. What an amazing place! Kudos to the Victorians who were able to save the 11th century Westminster Hall from the fire in 1834 and made the decision to rebuild the rest in the Gothic style. We booked the 90-minute guided tour and it was well worth the £32.00. There is so much to see and learn, I think it might have been overwhelming to rely on the multi-media guide. Note that this is a working government building and the guards are serious about security, so it's best to follow directions and only walk in the permitted areas. Also note that there is no coat check, so be prepared to wear or carry your jacket the whole time.
Written March 15, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Houses of Parliament, London

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