The London Eye!

And it will cost you £23.45. But that’s only if you buy your tickets in advance on their website. We didn’t do this because we were convinced that it was included in the London Pass, which it was not. So my friends and I headed there at around noon on a Sunday. There was a HUGE line for tickets, and the next available time slot wasn’t until 3 or 4 pm. We decided to just purchase the tickets online (10% cheaper) for the following day, and ended up waiting just a total 20 minutes to get on the ride.

The ride itself lasts about 30 minutes for one full rotation. Once you get in the capsule, everyone bum rushes to the left side, since that’s where the view of the Big Ben and the Palace of  Westminster is. But after about 10-15 minutes, people get tired of standing and waiting for that view, so they grab a seat. You can also see the Buckingham Palace just over the river, if you really squint and look for it. The views from inside the ferris wheel weren’t that impressive, and wasn’t worth all the trouble we went through, between figuring out the tickets situation and shuffling our schedule around.

On the other hand, the wheel itself is pretty magnificent. It’s Europe’s tallest ferris wheel (fourth tallest in the world). The best view of it that I saw was from the Westminster Bridge and from a ferry on the Thames. Bottom line – if you don’t have enough time or you don’t want to spend the money, a view of the London Eye is just as good.