Tower of London

Lonely Planet review

With a history as bleak and bloody as it is fascinating, the Tower of London should be first on anyone's list of London's sights. Despite ever-growing ticket prices and the hoards of tourists that descend here in summer months, this is one of those rare pleasures: somewhere worth the hype. Throughout the ages, murder and political skulduggery have reigned as much as kings and queens, so tales of imprisonment and executions will pepper your trail.

The Tower's one of the London's four Unesco World Heritage sites (the others are Westminster Abbey, Kew Gardens and Maritime Greenwich), and will fascinate anyone with any interest at all in history, the monarchy and warfare.

Crowds are quite serious in the high season and it's best to buy a ticket in advance (available obnline) as well as to visit later in the day. After 15:00 the groups have usually left and the place is a lot more pleasant to stroll around. During the winter months it's far less crowded, so there's no need to do either of the preceding.

The Yeoman Warders have been guarding the tower since 1485. Known affectionately as 'beefeaters' (due to the large rations of beef given to them in the past), there are 35 Yeoman Warders today, including Moira Cameron, the first ever female beefeater, who began serving in 2007.