London Eye opening hours
Before buying your tickets to the London Eye, I recommend you to know its opening hours, so you can better plan your activity!
Visiting London Eye | © Chait Goli
The London Eye is one of the must-see tourist attractions you must visit during your trip to London, but do you know the opening hours or how long the experience lasts? And the best time to go up?
Don't worry, so you can organize this visit in detail, in this post I tell you all about the opening hours of the London Eye. Read on!
1. What are the opening hours of the London Eye?
The London Eye is open from Monday to Sunday. However, the opening hours of the Ferris wheel may vary depending on the winter or summer season, see it in detail!
London Eye winter opening hours
During the winter months, the Ferris wheel is usually open from 11 AM to 6 PM. However, there are some exceptions. For example, during Christmas in London, the London Eye opens until 5:30 PM on Christmas Eve (December 24) while on New Year's Eve (December 31) the hours are even shorter and open until 3 PM.
If you plan to travel to London in winter and want to include this attraction in your route, keep it in mind to organize your sightseeing day.
London Eye summer opening hours
As for the summer months, the Ferris wheel extends its hours compared to winter and opens from 10 AM to 8.30 PM.
With a more flexible schedule, if you visit London in summer this will allow you to schedule a greater number of activities during the day and leave the visit to the London Eye for the end of the day if you want to enjoy the sunset and the night views of London from a bird's eye view.
2. How long is the tour?
The London Eye experience lasts about 30 minutes. It may seem short but it is actually enough time to enjoy the panoramic views and take lots of pictures of the city skyline and the surrounding tourist attractions such as the River Thames, Big Ben or the Palace of Westminster.
In addition, the Ferris wheel has interactive screens that will help you find each monument more easily in case you need it.
3. When does the London Eye close?
The Ferris wheel is open every day of the year except Christmas Day (December 25) and during the attraction's maintenance period, which usually runs from January 7 to 22.
Unfortunately, during these dates you can not go up to the London Eye but, if you wish, you can go there to take some pictures of the landscape with the spectacular wheel in the background and take a cruise on the River Thames which is right next to it.
What time is the last time to visit the London Eye?
Taking into account the season of the year in which you are going to visit the London Eye, the last entrance to the wheel is 30 minutes before closing time.
If you decide to go see the London Eye at the last minute, a good plan to do afterwards is a dinner cruise on the Thames. Sounds good, doesn't it?
4. What is the best time to go on the London Eye and the best day?
Best time
The best time to ride the London Eye is early in the morning, as soon as the attraction opens, i.e. in winter at 11 AM and in summer at 10 AM (ticket offices open 30 minutes earlier).
The London Eye is one of the most popular attractions in the British capital. It attracts thousands of visitors every day eager to contemplate the stunning views of London from the Ferris wheel at 135 meters high, so it is common to see long queues. If you want to avoid them, as I said before, you will have to get up early!
In case you can not go in the morning because you have another activity scheduled for that day, you can go to lunch near the London Eye and enter just after lunchtime, around 3 PM, when there are also few people.
Best day
The London Eye receives a whopping 10,000 visitors every day, which is amazing! So you can get an idea of the long lines that form at the foot of the Ferris wheel to get in.
If you want to avoid standing in line for a long time, my advice is to book your tickets to the London Eye to go if possible on a weekday and avoid weekends and holidays at all costs.
On the other hand, the views from the Ferris wheel are much more enjoyable if the day is sunny and there are no clouds but the weather in London is unpredictable.
I'll share a trick with you! Don't buy your tickets to the London Eye too far in advance. Wait to buy them 1 or 2 weeks before your getaway and this way you can check the London weather forecast more accurately to choose a day with clear skies.
5. How long are the queues to get on the London Eye?
There are two queues to access the London Eye: one for those who have the standard ticket and one for those who have the queue-free ticket with priority access.
On average, the waiting time in the queue for the standard ticket is 30 minutes. But on days when there is an avalanche of visitors it can reach one hour. On the other hand, the queue for the priority access ticket is very short, just a few minutes.
And depending on how you choose to go up to the London Eye you will have to be patient because there are several queues!
How to skip the lines to ride the London Eye?
You can skip the first queue at the ticket office to buy tickets if you do it in advance and online through Hellotickets.
To escape the queue and save time, something that will help you a lot is to buy online a skip the line ticket to the London Eye, which will give you priority access to the attraction. You can know in detail the prices of this and other tickets in the post London Eye prices.
The one you will not be able to avoid is the security check queue but that is necessary for the welfare of all visitors during the visit and should be passed by everyone.
6. When is the best time to watch the sunset from the London Eye?
Sunset is one of the most beautiful times to go up to the London Eye. If you are sure you want to visit the attraction just at that time, first I recommend that you make sure when the sunset occurs in London, as this phenomenon varies depending on the time of year and month.
Once you know this, the visit requires a bit of planning to be up there just at that instant. If you choose a skip-the-line ticket to the London Eye you will only have to go through the security checkpoint queue so try to be there about 30 minutes before sunset time that day.
Watching the sky become multi-colored as the sun goes down and the city lights slowly illuminate is a magical experience not to be missed.
7. Opening hours of tourist attractions near London Eye
After riding the London Eye you may want to visit other tourist attractions in the surrounding area. Below you can see the opening times of some of the most popular places of interest near the Ferris wheel such as Westminster Abbey orthe National Gallery.
- Westminster Abbey opening hours: Open Monday to Friday from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Saturdays from 9 AM to 1 PM. Sundays open for religious services.
- National Gallery: Open daily from 10 AM to 6 PM. Fridays until 9 PM. Closed December 24 and 26 and January 1.