London Eye Tips

All info for the ride on the largest ferris wheel in Europe

London Eye at sunset

In a nutshell: Our tips for the London Eye

  • On a ride on the second largest Ferris wheel in Europe you will experience something special and have a great view at the same time.
  • There is a standard ticket for 36 pounds and a fast track ticket for 51 pounds. We’d recommend the second option – especially if you’re traveling with kids.
  • If you want to see even more London sights, you can also buy a combo ticket. Check out the London Eyes website for all the deals.

London Eye fact sheet: 7 exciting facts

The London Eye
The London Eye Ferris wheel is one of the top attractions in London, especially if you’re traveling with kids

Before we get right into telling you all about London Eye prices and tickets, we have seven cool facts about the Ferris wheel. You probably don’t know these yet!

  • There are 32 gondolas, but none with the number 13
  • At 135 meters high, it’s the second tallest Ferris wheel in Europe
  • One rotation takes about 30 minutes and there is no stopping to get on
  • Around 800 people can ride the London Eye at the same time
  • The construction cost a whopping 75 million pounds
  • You can see up to 40 kilometers far
  • You can rent gondolas for a romantic dinner

Our recommendation: we booked these tickets

London Eye at sunset
The London Eye is one of the top attractions in London – it’s worth booking your ticket online in advance

We opted for the Fast Track ticket as we didn’t want to queue for long with two young children

We didn’t regret it and think this is the best ticket option. If you decide to take the London Eye, the few pounds more won’t matter and you’ll save time that you can use for other London activities.

In the following section, we’ll go into more detail about the different ticket options and explain why we chose the Fast Track Ticket.

Tickets and Prices for the London Eye

In this section, you’ll learn all about your ticket options and prices for the London Eye.

Costs for the ride on the London Eye

To give you an overview, here’s a table with the tickets, prices and a link to book them.

TicketPrice per personTicket on the websiteTicket on GetYourGuide
Standard ticket36 poundsBook nowBook now
Fast track ticket51 poundsBook nowBook now

The different tickets for the London Eye explained

What do the ticket options mean? We’ll explain it to you now.

  • Standard Ticket: You book a fixed time. This doesn’t mean that you leave at this time. You can only join the queue from then on. The start depends on the rush.
  • Fast Track Ticket: You can simply walk past the queue at the time you have booked and leave directly. Our tip!

Where is the best place to buy tickets for the London Eye?

You can either buy your ticket directly on the official website of the London Eye or at the ticket provider GetYourGuide.

We’ve been working with GetYourGuide for a long time and find booking through the platform very convenient. For easier conversion, you can set the currency to your liking. 

We personally find the booking form on the London Eye website a bit annoying.

Important: If you buy your ticket shortly in advance or even on site, the prices are about 10 percent more expensive, no matter where you book.

Is the London Eye Fast Track ticket worth it?

View of the queue at the London Eye from above
There is always a big crowd of tourists at the London Eye

We visited the London Eye during the week, and it was relatively uncrowded. However, the mazes of barrier gates give you a good idea of how long the queue can get at peak travel time in London.

It took us seven minutes from queuing through security to getting into the gondola. Visitors with the standard ticket, on the other hand, queued for at least 30 minutes.

So with the Fast Lane you’re definitely much faster, particularly at peak times. Especially if you’re traveling with children, we recommend booking the Fast Track ticket.

Save money with London Eye Combi Tickets

If you want to see even more London sights, there are combo tickets that are much cheaper than the one-way tickets together. You can combine your London Eye ticket with up to four other attractions on the website and save up to 48 percent.

Combo tickets are available for these attractions on the London Eye website.

  • London Dungeon
  • Madame Tussauds
  • Sea Life
  • Boat trip on the Thames
  • Shrek’s Adventure
  • Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour

Buy combo tickets for the London Eye

If the choices here take you by surprise, here are the most popular combo tickets on GetYourGuide.

London Eye Ticket with River Cruise
London Eye Ticket with Sea Life
London Eye Ticket with Sea Life Madame Tussauds

Is the London Eye included in City Passes?

The London Eye is not included in the London Pass, the London City Pass or the London Explorer Pass from Go City, only in the Merlin-Magical Pass. But the latter is nothing else than the combination ticket for the London Eye with four other attractions which you can book – as described above – on the website.

Our London Eye experience report

Now you know all about tickets and prices for the London Eye. But let’s get to the good part: what are you actually offered?

How does the ride on the London Eye work?

Access to the London Eye gondolas
The London Eye is so slow you get on during the ride

First, of course, you have to get in line. Depending on what ticket you have, you’ll choose the Fast Lane or the normal queue. Either way, you’ll have to go through security. This is not a big deal: your bags will be looked at and scanned with a metal detector.

The Ferris wheel doesn’t stop for boarding, but it spins slowly enough that you can get on without any problems.

One gondola can fit 22 people. But don’t worry, the cabins are really big, so you can easily walk around and take photos. If you want to sit down in between, there’s a bench in the middle of the gondola. Since the gondolas are glazed all around, you can see out to all sides.

The ride takes about 30 minutes and you make exactly one turn.

The view from the London Eye

View of the Thames in London
The view from the London Eye is simply fantastic

In short, you can see everything from the London Eye!

You have a great view of the most important sights of London like Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Thames with the Tower Bridge and the huge tower The Shard. During good weather, you can even see Windsor Castle 40 kilometers away.

Our tips for the London Eye with children

View of London from the London Eye
The London Eye is also a great attraction for kids

We did the London Eye ride ourselves with two young children and the little ones loved it. Here’s some info that’s definitely relevant for moms and dads.

  • Children’s Tickets: Children up to three years old ride for free, but they still need a ticket. Children and teens up to 16 get about a 10-percent discount on both the Standard and Fast Track tickets.
  • Buggies may only be taken folded. If yours can’t be folded, you can park it in a buggy park. The park is guarded by security, but parking is at your own risk.
  • A baby changing room is available.

Is the London Eye worth it?

Our conclusion about the London Eye is that it’s an extraordinary experience on the one hand, but on the other it’s really expensive.

Besides the London Eye, there’d another famous viewpoint, the huge tower The Shard. If we had to choose, we’d choose The Shard. It’s cheaper and in our opinion more impressive, as it’s quite a bit higher.

If you can, it’s worth visiting both attractions. You see very different things from the two viewpoints.

Have you ridden the London Eye?

These were our tips and info for the London Eye. Do you have a question about London Eye tickets? Or have you tried the Ferris wheel yourself? Tell us more in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!