Tower of London Tour

Curated route · History enthusiasts

Prisoners, power and intrigue

A deeper route through the prison towers, the graffiti and the execution site, for visitors who already know the Crown Jewels are there.

Time
4–5 hours
Stops
12 (7 essential)
Pace
steady
Essentials only
about 135 min
Adapt it in the planner
Schematic plan of the Tower of London (not to scale) Relative positions of the main places inside the fortress: the entrance at the west, Water Lane along the river to the south, the White Tower at the centre, the Crown Jewels to its north and the wall walk along the east side. Use the list below the map for full details. River Thames Wharf WATER LANE Queen's House 1 Byward Tower 2 Traitors' Gate 3 Medieval Palace 4 Bloody Tower 5 Crown Jewels 6 Tower Green 7 Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula 8 Beauchamp Tower 9 Martin Tower 10 Salt Tower 11 Wall walk 12 New Armouries Café Schematic plan · not to scale · north is up

The route, stop by stop

Minutes are typical dwell times at a steady pace, before queues. Walking between stops and a security check at the entrance are extra; the total above allows for them.

  1. 1

    Byward Tower and Water Lane

    Join the Yeoman Warder tour here if the timing works: it is the best hour of storytelling in the fortress and it is free with admission.

    5 min
  2. 2

    Traitors' Gate

    Elizabeth Tudor, 1554: the story and what the sources actually say.

    Story: Traitors' Gate: the name came later

    10 min
  3. 3

    Medieval Palace optional

    Henry VI's chapel in the Wakefield Tower: a murder never proven.

    Stairs only, no lift

    25 min
  4. 4

    Bloody Tower

    The Princes and Raleigh: two prisoners, two centuries apart.

    Story: What happened to the Princes in the Tower?

    Stairs only, no lift

    25 min
  5. 5

    Tower Green and the scaffold site

    The private execution site and the Queen's House, from which Lord Nithsdale walked out in a woman's cloak.

    Story: Anne Boleyn's last seventeen days; The countess who walked her husband out of the Tower

    15 min
  6. 6

    Beauchamp Tower

    The graffiti: the Dudleys, IANE and Hew Draper's sphere.

    Story: Carved in stone: the Beauchamp Tower graffiti

    Stairs only, no lift

    20 min
  7. 7

    Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula

    Where the executed were buried. Enter with the Yeoman Warder tour or in the last hour.

    15 min
  8. 8

    New Armouries Café optional

    Break before the wall walk.

    Break here

    20 min
  9. 9

    Wall walk (Battlements) optional

    The later prisoners, from Jesuit priests to Rudolf Hess and Josef Jakobs.

    Story: The Tower's last prisoners

    Stairs only, no lift

    30 min
  10. 10

    Salt Tower optional

    Jesuit inscriptions and a second carved zodiac.

    Stairs only, no lift

    10 min
  11. 11

    Martin Tower

    Blood's theft of the crown, on the spot where it happened.

    Story: The morning Colonel Blood stole the crown

    Stairs only, no lift

    15 min
  12. 12

    Crown Jewels (Jewel House) optional

    Last, when the queue has died down, to see what Blood nearly got away with.

    40 min

What it includes

  • Every prison tower open to the public
  • The graffiti
  • The execution site and burial chapel
  • The Yeoman Warder tour if you time it

What it leaves out

  • The Line of Kings and the White Tower interior (add 45 minutes if you want it)
  • The Fusilier Museum

Access limitations

  • This is the least accessible route: the Bloody, Beauchamp, Salt and Martin towers and the wall walk all involve spiral stairs with no lift. The step-free version keeps Traitors' Gate, Tower Green, the chapel (platform lift) and the Crown Jewels, about two hours.

Queues and timing

The small prison rooms queue on their own stairs at peak times; on a busy day this route runs long rather than short. Budget the top of the range and drop the wall walk if you fall behind.

Tickets for this route

Standard admission. Enthusiasts get the most from the official audio guide's Imprisonment and Execution tour (25 minutes), or from a small-group Blue Badge guided tour if the budget allows. An after-hours Ceremony of the Keys tour is the natural extra.

Compare tickets and tours

Official information: hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/visit.

Checked 10 Sept 2026

Sources: hrp-visit, hrp-access, hrp-yeoman-tours, hrp-crown-jewels