London Eye and Houses of Parliament at dusk.

©Matt Munro/Lonely Planet

London Eye

Top choice


It’s hard to imagine South Bank without the London Eye (officially named the lastminute.com London Eye after its current sponsor), the world’s largest cantilevered observation wheel, which began twirling in 2000 to mark the turn of the millennium. It was originally a temporary attraction, intended to be dismantled after five years, but its unceasing popularity has ensured its longevity. Standing 135m tall in a fairly flat city, it has fundamentally altered London's skyline and is visible from various viewpoints.

A night time shot of a river with a large Ferris wheel lit up in pink, yellow and blue to the left, and a huge neo-Gothic building to the right
Views from the top of the London Eye can stretch as far as 25 miles © FenlioQ / Shutterstock

A ride – or "flight" as it is called here – in one of the wheel’s 32 glass-enclosed eye-shaped pods takes a gracefully slow 30 minutes and, weather permitting, you can see 25 miles (as far as Windsor Castle) in every direction from the top. Don't let poor weather put you off: the close-up views of the Houses of Parliament, just across the river, are the highlight of the ride. Interactive tablets provide multilingual information about landmarks as they come up in the skyline.

The London Eye is the focal point of the capital's New Year's Eve fireworks, for which it is rigged with thousands of fireworks.

A glass pod on a Ferris wheel high up in the sky with the sun setting in the distance
There are 32 glass pods on the London Eye © Tasan Phatthong / Lonely Planet

London Eye tickets and other practicalities

Tickets must be pre-booked to ride the London Eye. If you're planning to take a river cruise or visit other sights, such as Madame Tussauds or the Sea Life London Aquarium, you're likely to save money by buying a combination ticket. 

Tube stations Waterloo (Northern, Jubilee and Bakerloo Lines) and Westminster (Jubilee, Circle and District Lines) are both within five minutes' walk of the London Eye.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Sea Life London Aquarium

0.09 MILES

Mostly geared towards kids, the Sea Life London Aquarium includes a shark tunnel, ray lagoon and Gentoo penguin enclosures that will keep little ones…

2. County Hall

0.1 MILES

This grand building (1922) with a curved, colonnaded facade was the home of the London County Council, and later the Greater London Council, until 1986…

3. London Dungeon

0.12 MILES

A scary tour of London's gruesome history awaits. Expect darkness, sudden loud noises, flashing lights, squirts of unspecified liquid and unpleasant…

4. New Scotland Yard Building

0.22 MILES

The London Metropolitan Police has moved several times since its founding in 1829 but the latest move – to this renovated neoclassical block with a modern…

5. Leake Street Arches

0.22 MILES

A grungy road under Waterloo station seems an unlikely place to find art, theatre and restaurants, but Leake St is the latest of London's railway arches…

6. Southbank Centre

0.23 MILES

Southbank Centre, Europe's largest space for performing and visual arts, is made up of three brutalist buildings that stretch across seven riverside…

7. Florence Nightingale Museum

0.24 MILES

This small but almost perfect museum looks at the life and legacy of Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), considered the founder of modern nursing. Her story…

8. Hayward Gallery

0.26 MILES

Part of the Southbank Centre, the Hayward Gallery hosts a changing roster of contemporary art in a 1960s brutalist building. It doesn't have a permanent…