Royal London Guided Tour With Changing Of The Guard

It was not quite as advertised. It said Changing of the Guard happened on Sunday. Did not see the Changing of the Guard and that is what we booked the tour for. Did half day tour was left off on the sidewalk. Had a mobility impaired person in the group and it was a struggle for him. He never got out of the bus because he was there for the Changing of the Guard. Buildings were interesting but not what the tour was booked for. Buyer beware.

Really good tour for families with elderly parents. Tour guide was quite knowledgeable and the Driver Adrian was very attentive and safe.

Very misleading description. We did not see any changing of the guard nor a guard on a horse. All we saw was a dirt field about an 1/2 mile from Buckingham Palace and was told by the tour guide that “this is where it happens. But today is Saturday and there is no changing of the guard on Saturdays”. Then why is this tour offered on days there is no changing of guard? And, a lot of this tour is a walking tour, not coach. You will walk about an hour. Once again the description of tour is very misleading. I would not have booked this tour had I known it’s a coach and walking tour and especially if there’s no changing of the guard. I actually want a refund.

Our tour guide was excellent!!! Very easy check in process. Bus was clean. Tge audio worked perfect.

It was great our tour guide was very informative and took the time to explain everything in detail Very friendly and great service very helpful.

Sheila was an amazing guide! She was very friendly, knowledgeable and funny! My family had a great time an - thank you Sheila!

It would have been amazing, except it is not handicap accessible. The tour bus had to park well over a mile away and then you have to walk down several steps (at least 20) to get to the area to see the guards come down the street and turn toward the castle. That's as far as I was able to go. I did not get to see the changing of the guard because it was too far for me to go.

I was expecting to be guided towards the front door of the palace but not… so we have to run towards the front to be able to see the changing of guard.it’s not worth it… to expensive.

The tour was terrible, she was biased and did very little than talk about the elite and privileged people of London. Did not find her knowledgeable, kept talking about Harrod’s, very monotone. It was a disappointing tour.

Sheila was an excellent tour guide. She was very knowledgeable, funny and thorough. Her information was interesting. The changing of the guard portion was a little chaotic.

This tour is a good way to get see to a lot of the key places in London if you’ve got a limited amount of time. We didn’t get to see the changing of the guard because of the day we went, but we got to pass by a lot of the big tourist attractions and had a chance to get off and walk over to Buckingham Palace which was cool to see up close!

Great tour! Very knowledgeable guide who provided detailed information about London’s historic places.

Our guide was fabulous. We really enjoyed listening to her. We got to see great sights of London. Great tour!

The history of London. Our guide was very informative. Oliver had a great story of princess Kate before she was married.

The guide was informative but, due to preparations for King Charles’ coronation (7 days before), there was no changing of the guard to see. There was no wifi on the bus.

It was a very informative tour. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the changing of the guards but only because they were preparing for the coronation so the schedule was not normal. We were able to see some of the preparation for the event sort of replaced the event that we missed. It is a great way to see the city, hear the history and the background of way things are in that country. I would highly recommend doing the tour, it is a great introduction.

I don’t fault the driver or guide, however the tour itself was not great. Basically we drove around and were let off at various points to take photos. We didn’t see the changing of the guard or rather we caught the tail end of it.

Great experience. Saw alot of the city. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable & out driver was great.

Sheila, our tour guide is wonderful! She guided us with lots of knowledge, way beyond historical or details. All the explanations were given with a smile and a pleasant demeanor. We absolutely loved the tour and enjoyed her guidance!

Debbie our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining and made this tour a splendid experience. We were able to see most of the prominent sites and changing of the guard.

Our family of four (two teens) did the London in a day. We only had three days in London and wanted to pack in as much as we could. Norma was our tour guide. She was excellent and kept up interested. This was perfect for us since we didn't have enough scheduled time in London to do all of these things in a more relaxed way. We appreciated how she did her best to make The Changing of the Guard experience interesting, despite the fact that Buckingham Palace is blocked due to Jubilee preparation. My only complaint is that the bus did not have wifi. We were told when we booked that wifi would be available. This was a disappointment.

Changing of the Guard and explanation of all the landmark sights. Guide Leslye was outstanding. Incredible wealth of information.

Our tour guide Norma was very pleasant and knowledgeable. We really enjoyed all of the attractions we were able to see in a single day. Highly recommend this day tour - especially those with only a few days in London. Very worth it!

We took the 3 hr tour where we expected to hear relevant commentary regarding the ‘Royal’ places listed for the tour. We acknowledge that we saw a number of ‘Royal’ areas/palaces etc however our guide Anthony was too busy talking about himself that a number of known significant places were missed e.g. the V&A! His unedited, disrespectful, sexist, racist commentary meant that any positive aspects of the tour were overwhelmed by his behaviour to the point where we removed our earpieces when we were outside; we were denied such a luxury when captive in the bus. We would recommend the Tour however some performance review of this Guide’s presentation should be undertaken otherwise I’m sure further negative comments will follow. We have travelled a lot particularly over the last 5 weeks in Norway, Scotland & now England & Anthony (ex military, Oxford Classics degree, US history writer - we could buy his book he suggested) has been our one & only poor Guide experience. It was a shame as London is a wonderful historic city; the majority of history we heard was personal, Anthony’s!

Great tour ! Our tour guide Sheila was amazing. Very knowledgeable, courteous & friendly. I would highly recommend.

Tour was for Sunday August 4th and there was a 100km bike race (Prudential Bike Race) which has happened every year since 2012 so it obviously is a 'known' factor. Streets and bridges were closed and we were unable to do the tour as planned but not informed ahead of time. I even called on Saturday the 3rd to see if it was still on and woman on the phone confirmed all was ok. No changing of the guards or horse parade, no Big Ben, Westminster or Parliament. They took us to Kensington Palace (just walked around the gardens a bit) and then drove near Buckingham Palace - we walked to the front and took pictures and that was it. As we had done our own Kensington Palace tour the day before (inside and out) it was a total waste. Tour guide told us he had advised tour company to email everyone a week before that tour would be different but we received no notice. Requesting a full refund of our monies.

Totally enjoyed seeing All the amazing sights on this tour Wonderful experience I would recommend this tour to anyone.

The driver and guide were courteous & professional. The guide had some fun stories about hotels and buildings we drove past. He would answer questions. The disappointment began when the bus arrived late and we had to chase the changing of the guard parade. When we caught up, we stood far away on the street watching the marching of the guard (new guard in, old guard out). We were not taken to view the changing of the guard ceremony in the courtyard. In fact, during the actual Changing Ceremony, we were told that not much was going on and it was suggested, if needed, use the toilets. There was little attempt to explain the true history and pageantry of the guard ceremony or share “insider knowledge” to explain what was happening and why. While we did somewhat enjoy viewing the “marching guard, from a distance” – but this fell short of expectations.

Including this one, We have had 3 tours up until this point and out of all of them, this was the most boring. Really did not learn a whole lot from the guide. Difficult to see or take pictures. Luckily we were able to get off bus twice to take pictures but felt rushed. Not very engaging or interactive with the guests. There were issues with the device used to listen to guide and the guide was not as friendly as expected when asking for replacement. Guide did offer coins for restroom use at Changing of Guard Ceremony. Guide definitely knew the excellent locations to stand to watch Changing of the Guard Ceremony. Just wish we had arrived sooner. Check in was easy but signage outside of Victoria Station needs to be more clear. Guide was difficult to locate in crowd due to fact the guide used black umbrella which many others were carrying. Compared to the other tours; would not recommend.

We found the guide for the half day tour to be exceptional. Gave us a good overall view of London at the start of our holiday.

We booked a 3.5 hour tour with Evan Evans on our first full day in London. We had a fantastic tour guide - Debbie Bardon, who had a passion for the city of London. A combination of walking and tourning on a double decker bus got us around the city. We saw several parks, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abby & Buckingham Palace. It was a really good way to get an overveiw of London and hit the highlights. While our guide was top notch, the tour itself was a little underwhelming. We expected to see inside Westminster Abby. Unfortunately there was an event going on in the Abby, so we could not go in. We also expected to see the changing of the guard. This only happens every other day, and we did not see it. We saw the changing of the horse guard instead. While the tour was interesting, we thought we'd check the boxes on these aforementioned items, so if these are a must, do your homework and make sure that you have time to see them other days if it doesn't work out on the tour. Again - Debbie Bardon was fantastic. If we'd see these other things originally listed on the tour. One important tip, nearly all public washrooms are pay washrooms. Keep some change with you.

This was a wonderful tour, our driver was Paul who took great care in looking after all the passengers. Our guide, LEON was the most informative, patient and humorous person anyone could ask for as a guide for the day. The bus was only a week old and after our first stop it had to be replaced with another bus. With that being said, Leon asked everyone to take the same seats as they had on the previous bus, as my wife and I boarded the new bus there was a couple in the first row that is reserved for those with a disability (my wife uses a motorized wheelchair). Leon was right there telling the young couple that they had to move. As for Leon's knowledge of the areas that we visited, it would be hard to find anyone more knowledgeable. His delivery was always with a statement that made you smile, it was one way of holding everyone's attention. Whenever we entered any facility with stairs he was always looking after my wife and her chair for a safe way for her to also enjoy the tour. Upon entering St. Paul's, he made sure that everyone was aware of the rules, no hats for men and NO photos, they have people that will tell you to put the camera away. Evan Evans tours should be very proud to have a person of Leon's experience representing them on their tours, again he's the BEST.

We really enjoyed this tour, which included quite a bit of walking. A nice coach bus took us from the bus station for a driving tour of London then to a drop off point where the tour guide took us to the back of a building. We watched them lining up for inspection and listened to the band. From there we walked farther along the route to the palace and watched them march in. We were across the street from the palace so we didn't see the actual changing of the guard, but to see that we would have to have been there many hours before. This way we saw everything except that actual change and saw a lot more of the guard. We then went to another spot where we saw more of the guard. After walking back to the bus, we were driven to Trafalgar Square. The tour guide was excellent and I'm really glad we got this tour. We saw a whole lot more than we would have seen just standing in front of the palace for hours. It was well worth the price. The tickets say to arrive at least 30 minutes before departure. Be sure you do that because there are a lot of different tours and it can take some time to figure out exactly where you're supposed to be. We saw several people miss their tours because they got there too close to departure time. You can't expect them to hold an entire busload of people who might miss seeing things because you're late. I do not recommend this tour for anyone who has trouble walking. If you fall behind in the crowds you could get separated from the tour. You're given radios connected to the guide but if you get too far behind you'll lose that audio and won't know where to go. If you really just want to see the changing of the guard, instead of doing the tour you should plan to be at the palace fence hours before the change. I wanted to see that but after seeing everything we saw on the tour, I was happy with it.

excellent tour guide good options for seeing the changing of the guard.Used a microphone (vox) system so we were able hear her as she walked along

The tour itself was good, but we actually received a very similar experience from the hop-on/hop-off double deck bus tours around town. The Changing of the Guard Ceremony was fun/interesting, but it's also very hectic and you better be able to walk fast to keep up with the tour leader and the marching guards. Wasn't a problem for us, but some older folks were definitely struggling. What was disappointing was our London Eye Upgrade! We thought by purchasing this upgrade, we would be given a ticket for the London Eye and actually taken to the location. Instead, we were given a voucher and left at Trafalgar Square to find our own way. Getting there wasn't a crisis, but it definitely took some walking and a tube ride. With the voucher, you still have to wait in line to purchase tickets at the London Eye and then wait in line again to ride the attraction. We were running a little short on time, so we returned the next day. To make things go more quickly, we upgraded our voucher to a Fast Track ticket, which had a much shorter line to purchase the ticket and we basically got right on the attraction (was a 12 pound upgrade per person).

<p>Truly a fabulous tour and an extraordinary guide. Weve been to London many times and this tour made our latest visit really special. A real insiders view of the changing of the guard well always cherish</p>

<p>Once again our guide Sheila was fantastic. Thanks. If was not for her knowledge and taking us to the best sports to see the changing of the guard we would have missed out. Thanks again Shiela. Awesome job.</p>

<p>We got caught in traffic on our way to the tour. We did not realize how bad it was in London - add 15 to 20 minutes on top of what uber says time will be. We called the office to ask them to let the driver know we would be about 5 minutes late. The office informed us the bus had already left. They didn't offer any rebate or any other solutions of taking another tour at another time. I was very disappointed in Viator.</p>

<p>Extremely knowledgeable tour guides. Witty not dry while explaining the sites. This makes things informative and interesting.</p>

<p>Our tour guide was great, she was so nice, pleasant, great sense of humor and did a great job explaining everything. We saw Changing of the Horses, not the Guards. I hope this is still being done in London.</p>

<p>Great tour. Our guide was entertaining, funny and informative. We really enjoyed this tour.</p>

<p>Guide was unprofessional, couldn't answer simple questions like why no changing guards</p>

<p>The guide and bus driver were amazing. My dad needed extra help with his walker, and they were most accommodating to his needs! Your great staff is why we will book with you again. Thank you</p>

<p>Our guide was wonderful,but we really did nothing that you could not do on your own for free. We met the bus at Victoria Station, went to the area of Westminster and got out, only had about 15minutes to walk around. After that the bus took us to the area of Buckingham Palace, where we got out and walked near the palace and took some pictures. Never did see the changing of the guard because it was not a day they change. That was all we did and we did the a.m. only and felt it was a total waste. The London Eye was nice but if you purchase with that option you do it on your own, and it can be done any day you wish. The only thing is you still have to wait in two lines with your voucher, one to get the ticket and than another, which is extremely long, to get on the eye itself.</p>

<p>I would preferred a walking tour . The guide was extremaly nice .</p>

<p>Provided us with a good overview of London. The guide was knowledgeable.</p>

<p>The tour feels a bit random. Photo stops are too short to see anything.</p>

<p>The guide has a wide knowledge in history, but watching the changing of guards was a bit chaotic, I presume just too many people in that area !</p>

<p>We did not see the changing of the Guard. It turned out that all we saw was the Horseguard. Marching in. This tour was disappointing overall.</p>