Best Of Greenwich Private Day Tour

We booked this tour based on the excellent reviews we saw on Viator. Our actual experience ended up being less than ideal. Let’s start off with the positive aspects of the tour: our guide was punctual and friendly. He chose a lovely place for us to have lunch (which is included in the tour), and he brought us to all the important places to visit in Greenwich. He is as also flexible in terms of adjusting the order of site seeing to what worked best for us. Unfortunately, the negatives outweigh the positives of this tour. He seemed to lack detailed knowledge of the places he took us. He often relied on reading signs at each place we visited. When asked for more substance or detail, he was unable to provide it. And he repeated the same set of facts repeatedly, seemingly forgetting that he had already told us these things. All in all, we were left with the impression that we could have done the tour on our own with a guidebook and saved a lot of money. We have done many private tours in the past and throughout the world and have never really experienced this level of lack of expertise. We did speak with the owner of the company regarding our experience and he is offered us a free tour of Greenwich in the future as a way to make us for our experience. As we do not have plans to visit Greenwich again, this remedy is unuseful to us.

Out tour guide, Muhsin, was very friendly and knowlegable. We got a very detailed tour of Greenwich and saw everything the tour advertised, including lunch! Our walking was a bit slow and Muhsin was most kind in moderating to meet our walking gait. Our questions and discussions were most interesting. I would recommend highly!

Certainly one of the two worst private tours we've been on. Over 5+ hours, the guide told exactly 3 interesting stories. We felt as though we were indulging a grandparent by taking part in this tour. Some example lines from our guide, which now cause us to laugh, "This is a painting of Burns. You know Burns? He's famous." "This wall is blue. It was white." "Cook. Famous for the islands. Sailor." Whenever we approached another guide who was talking, our guide would hustle us along to prevent us from overhearing anything being said, as that might prove interesting. He was very interested in telling us what things cost, but in each instance unsure about each figure quoted. "This painting cost £13 millions, or was it something like that?" (Turns out it was £8.9M.) He also insisted we cut across the grass, "We will take a shortcut," but each time would begin sneezing and wheezing, complaining about the grass, "It must have just been cut, or they have sprayed it, or something." After the Cook comment, I stepped in to give some history lessons, as I often do while on family travels. The guide couldn't stand it and would interrupt. "Imagine the cannonball bursting through the walls, killing and maiming all in its path. In a battle like this, half the men might be injured or killed. Ships like these with 500 or 600 men turn and sail into the fire of a row of enemy ships, getting close enough for the ideal shot..." "Excuse me, excuse me...this ship," referring to a nearby model, "had 600 or 700 men, not 500," while victoriously pointing to a sign. Before the interruption, the guide's only comment regarding Napoleonic sea battles had been something like, "Nelson was very popular, but he died at Trafalgar." I don't believe our guide has watched a documentary, read a single book, or even the Wikipedia pages focused on the subject matter of this tour. If he has, he was unable to pass along any acquired expertise. As mentioned, he had three skin-deep sets of prepared comments, but mostly he liked to point at the signs underneath the displays and read phrases from them.

The tour of Greenwich was wonderful! I met with the guide on time at the specified location. The organization and structure of the tour was very efficient. We did not encounter any crowds even though it was Sunday, bc we started with most popular sites first. The tour was informative and well paced. The historical information was presented in a lively manner. The lunch was great and the time I spent in Greenwich was memorable.

Theo was a very informative guide. We covered a lot of areas at a nice pace. The restaurant was excellent. Historic and delicious food. We are glad we decided to explore this area of (London) England. Thank you Theo.

Our guide Musaf was very informative and we learnt so many new things about Londons maritime history. Would highly recommend

We did not regret booking this tour! Our guide Muhsin was exceptionally knowledgeable and friendly. He made us feel comfortable and went at our pace, allowing us to interact and ask questions. Having a local lunch at the pub along the river was a great scenic experience. Thank you Muhsin!

We highly recommend this excellent tour of Greenwich with Greenwich Royal Tours. Our guide, Stephen, did a great job of tailoring our activities to our interests. We started with a tour of the famed Cutty Sark sailing ship. We loved touring that beautiful vessel, and learning about the tea and wool trades. We toured the beautiful grounds along the river where Henry VIII was born. We explored the National Maritime Museum, where Stephen shared his great knowledge about many pieces of art and the Naval battles depicted in the paintings. We walked the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, and saw the Navy Pensioners Home. We had lunch at a wonderful pub on the banks of the Thames River that was included in the price of the tour. The traditional pub fare was delicious, and we enjoyed our conversation with Stephen as we ate. The highlight of the day for us was our trek up to the Royal Meridian Observatory. The view on the walk up that hill was lovely, and it was fascinating seeing the collection of clocks and navigational instruments displayed in the Observatory, which helped sailors figure out longitude. We had the experience of standing on the meridian line, where east meets west at zero longitude. The Royal Observatory is the home of Greenwich Mean Time, and is a totally fascinating place filled with amazing artifacts. We cannot recommend this tour highly enough!

I had a very informative full day tour of Greenwich with Muhsin. I went expecting maritime history and to see the observatory, but there is so much more. I learned this is where important English royal history occurred, the site of many movie sets and so much more. It was helpful to have someone guide you through all of the sites because on my own I wouldn’t known how much time to spend at each one and be able to see everything in one day. Muhsin is so knowledgeable and was willing to answer all my questions. It was like having an old friend take you around their community. It was fun and there was a great lunch, what more could you want.

The Best of Greenwich Day Tour was very exciting for me as I saw and learned so much about Greenwich - its history and also how we came up with " Greenwich Mean Time ". My guide, Graham, was very knowledgeable and friendly. This is a walking tour so one must be ready and fit for it! The tour included a nice, delicious lunch.

Great history tour. No complaints. Picturesque. Lunch was very good. Our guide is very knowledgeable

Our guide Graham was extremely informative and improved our tour ten-fold compared to if we had attempted to visit Greenwich on our own. The history and context really highlighted the best of what Greenwich has to offer. 10/10 on this tour and would recommend to anyone. Excellent!

This walking tour was a lovely revelation. We took the ferry from Embankment downriver to Greenwich on a perfect, blue-skied day so in this respect we were really just lucky. We were a little late but Stephen, our guide, was generous and unperturbed. Our first stop was the Cutty Sark about which I only knew that it was a whiskey. It is worth the trouble to learn more. The clipper is a sort of history of Great Britain's trade in the nineteenth century. From the Cutty Sark we went on to the Old Royal Navy College and the Painted Hall which was magnificent. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about the Hall's history and the artist, James Thornhill. We then went to the navy Chapel where we learned more about the College's history. Lunch was simple and hearty! Perfect for the day. After lunch we spent time in the National Maritime Museum where the history of Nelson's great naval battles was really brought to life. I had only known of these battles as dates memorized to pass exams. This museum would have helped a lot back then! My daughters (aged 11 and 13) were engaged throughout the tour. We finished off walking up the (slight) hill to the Royal Observatory. Though it was closed for renovations, it was still worth the walk for the view. And the fun of straddling a meridian line of course.

The Observatory on the hill. Great to walk the meridian line and be in such a special place Loved the Cuttysark

What an experience! We contemplated doing a self-waking tour around Greenwich, and that would have been a mistake. Our tour guide Graham was kind enough to accommodate our arrival time, and made the most of the time we had available, catering the experience to what we wanted. His knowledge and experience with the area was obvious and provided history and context that we would have been ignorant of otherwise. The tour basically handled all the entrance tickets to exhibits, and the included lunch at a local pub was perfectly timed to when we started to get hungry. There definitely is a fair amount of walking involved, but Graham was always making sure we were doing ok and adjusted the pace accordingly. 10/10 would recommend this tour to anyone that wants to see essentially all the main points of Greenwich in one day.

This tour was very enjoyable. My guide Graham, was very friendly, approachable, knowledgeable and charismatic. His stories were informative as well as entertaining and I would highly recommend taking a tour with Greenwich Royal Tours to everyone. Truly grateful for the experience.

Had a great time trying various foods, including Indian, pizza, sausage, fudge, craft liquor, pastry, port and cheese, and cream tea with scones, and more. Learend a lot and had a fun time as with Victoria. This is the tour to take.

Signed up for the half day walking tour of Greenwich. Had a few problems with the booking on the day but the Tour company was extremely helpful and flexible, In the end joined the full day tour. Was impressed by the determination of the tour company to make it a good day and solve problems. The tour was very interesting and well worth the while. Greenwich is spread out a bit so having an expert guide is very helpful. Our guide was Muhsin, who is a long term London resident and lived not far from Greenwich. He guided us to the interesting stuff and navigated us around all the obstacles like school parties etc. Didn't have to queue for tickets as that was all done. Very good use of our time. Muhsin knew everything about Greenwich and its surrounds and was informative and interesting. We stayed for the pub lunch and the food was great with everything sorted out for us. Can recommend this tour company and Greenwich as a tour location. Its definitely a whole day tour. You need to be OK to be on your feet for a day. There's a lot to see.

We had a great time with our tour guide Muhsin Mustafa. His plan to start with the Royal Observatory was wise, following the rest of the sightseeing. He was a good storyteller, we learned a lot about Greenwich.

My wife and I booked this tour and our guide was Graham. This tour was highly rated and rightfully so. We learned interesting facts about Greenwich, visited various sites and had an excellent lunch as well. But what made this tour special was Graham himself. He was well versed in Greenwich facts. Plus he was so kind and down to earth, patiently answering our questions and just being an overall friendly gentleman. We would definitely recommend this tour to visitors and residents alike.

Tom and I had a fabulous full day tour of Greenwich with Graham including a delicious lunch at a local pub overlooking the Thames. We were so glad we booked the full day tour as there was so much to see. We walked aboard the Teaclipper Cutty Sark while Graham shared its sailing history and we explored the vessel. Other highlights for us were the Old Royal Navy College and the Royal Observatory with its magnificent clocks developed to conquer the mystery of longitude. Graham was friendly, knowledgeable and truly a pleasure to be with. If you want to "really" experience Greenwich, this is the "Best" tour!

We spent a wonderful day in Greenwich with Stephen, with highlights including the newly restored "dining room" at the Royal Naval College, the Queen's House and the Royal Observatory. The tour was comprehensive but reasonabl paced and we learned so much. Stephen knows his stuff and is excellent company.

Graham provided us with a wonderful tour of Greenwich! He's extremely knowledgeable of all the different sites we explored not to mention he's a very nice, warm person.

On August 12, 2018 my wife and I took this tour. We had a private tour with Stephen. He was an excellent guide. We toured The Cutty Sark, Painted Room, and National Maritime Museum. We also had an excellent lunch at a riverside pub. We had a great tour with Stephen. I would recommend this tour and Royal Greenwich Tours.

We had an excellent day with our guide Stephen who brought the history of this very old town to life. I would recommend this tour to anyway who is looking for a relaxed, fun & friendly way to explore Greenwich.

<p>This was a great day. Our guide Stephen was very knowledgeable and friendly. He kept the tour moving at a pace that accommodated everyone on this tour. It was just our family and with our 11-year-old daughter and another couple. The museum was very interesting and we hit the highlights. Our favorite part was the royal observatory and standing on the prime meridian. The Cutty Sark was also well done. The pub at lunch was at an old pub right on the water. It was a very good eye and a very quaint place. We took the public ferry to Greenwich from Westminster Bridge. This was a very nice way to travel and to Greenwich Avenue. You get a nice view of the sites along the river. We would highly recommend this tour!</p>

<p>Our guide Stephen was passionate about Greenwich and his knowledge especially in the observatory outstanding. Apart from a slight hiccup with the lunch, all ran smoothly.</p>

On our Best of Greenwich Day Tour, Muhsin, our guide, chose great highlights. He added depth and context. Very engaging and sensitive to our interests. Greenwich offers so much that a) it's easy to miss things, and b) one scarcely knows where to begin. Muhsin made it stress-free.

<p>Our guide Stephen was just wonderful. Great knowledge which we so enjoyed. Would certainly recommend Greenwich Royal Tours to friends and family!</p>

<p>" We enjoyed a wonderful combination of sights, history and walking - and lunch - on the Best of Greenwich Tour.</p> <p>Our guide was able to give us a balance of information, humour and a passion for this history of Greenwich. We highly recommend this tour for couples and families, as a way to experience the best of Greenwich in a day" !</p>

<p>The best part of this tour was that no one else showed up for it. So it was just me and a highly knowledgeable local expert that spent the day together. He was quite friendly, pretty funny and really cared about what I wanted to see and do. We had a great lunch in a proper pub right on the Thames. And we had some good pints to boot. If you want to visit Greenwich and you are not an expert, this is my recommended way to do it. I took several hundreds of photographs and the tour guide helped me set up many of my shots. Unfortunately, my computer crashed after I had gotten home and I didn't back them up. I'm so sorry I can't share them with you all.</p>