"The Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look back down on it. Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. That's the beauty of it: it is public and accessible, and it is in a great position at the heart of London." - Sir Richard Rogers, winner of the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Although no longer sponsored by British Airways, the Eye retains much of the terminology associated with them; you queue at the "boarding gate", and take a "flight" rather than a ride, something I couldn't help but smile at. Pretentious terminology aside though, a flight on the London Eye is an excellent way to start a visit to London. When we were planning our weekend in the city, this was one of the first things that came to mind, partly due to its proximity to where we were staying, but mostly because it would be a great introduction to London. Tickets can be bought from the box office in the adjacent County Hall on the day, or purchased in advance online (with a 10% discount); "standard flights" cost £15.50^, "fast track flights" with minimised queuing cost £25^^, and "champagne flights" that include a glass of Laurent-Perrier champagne are £33^^^. We bought our tickets online to reduce the amount of time we had to spend queuing, and paid an extra fee (less than £2 as I recall) to have them sent first class to us. I would recommend this approach, as the tickets arrived impressively fast (we ordered them on Sunday afternoon and they arrived Tuesday morning) and it meant we knew we could get on the attraction at the time we had planned for it no matter how busy it was. Tickets are timed, although there is a degree of flexibility if the attraction isn't too busy. Our flight time was given as 4.30pm, with a recommendation that we arrive from 4pm to allow for waiting times; as it was quiet, we turned up about 3.45pm and were able to queue up and be on the Eye before 4pm. Queuing begins at the entrance building unless the attraction is busy, in which case visitors proceed to the boarding gate, which is essentially an overflow queuing area. You need to show your ticket to staff to join the queue, and then pass through security where bags will be searched and each visitor checked over with a hand-held metal detector. Once inside the entrance building, there is a refreshment stand and the chance to buy cheap binoculars and cameras, and a panorama card that helps you to identify the buildings and landmarks you are seeing. I had rather hoped that such information would be provided as standard in the capsule, but I bought one of the cards for £3 to help make the most of the experience.

Pictures of London Eye, London

Me on the Eye

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Within just a couple of minutes of your flight starting, the view starts to improve dramatically; I found at this point there was a mass movement to grab cameras and a bit of a jostle to get to the river side of the capsule, as the Houses of Parliament provided a spectacular backdrop to photographs. As a tip, I would suggest if you want such a picture it is best to wait until the capsule is on its descent - the view is just as good, but most other visitors will have taken all the photos they want by this point and so it will be easier for you to do so. As we got higher, it was possible to identify other landmarks: Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Horse Guards' Parade, Canary Wharf, St Paul's Cathedral and Harrods' to name but a few. According to our panorama card it was just possible to make out Wembley Stadium on a clear day, but the afternoon we visited the Eye the weather was too overcast to see that far. I'll admit at this juncture that I don't have the best head for heights in the World, and that climbing 135m into the air on an over-sized Ferris wheel did worry me slightly when I first saw it. However, at no point did I feel uncomfortable during this trip, in fact I felt quite relaxed throughout - although I wouldn't recommend looking down when you are near the top of the Eye! The views are as spectacular as promised, and I found the whole experience to be immensely enjoyable and it was a very relaxing way to spend half an hour.

Opening Hours:
October to March, 10am to 8pm daily (except Christmas Day)
June and September, 10am to 9pm daily
July and August, 10am to 9.30pm daily

Nearest Underground: Waterloo (on South Bank, 5 minutes' walk) or Westminster (10-15 minutes' walk over Westminster Bridge)