Does "Skip the Line" at the Tower of London Actually Work?
The short answer: yes, and it covers the external entry queue specifically. Here's the nuance: there are effectively two separate queues at the Tower of London. The first is at the ticket booth/entry gate outside the complex. The second is at the Crown Jewels once you're inside. Skip-the-line addresses the first. The second is, by admission of everyone who runs the Tower, internal crowd management — and it cannot be bypassed with any ticket type.
That said, fast-track entry can save you between 20 and 60 minutes depending on the day. During peak season that's genuinely significant — especially when you're travelling with children who have limited patience for standing in line.
I've visited on crowded Saturday afternoons with a skip-the-line ticket and also on quiet Tuesday mornings with a standard pre-book. The honest difference: on busy days, skip-the-line saves real time at the gate. But the Crown Jewels bottleneck inside — which no ticket can solve — is the bigger time cost. My recommendation: book any ticket online in advance (even standard admission gives you a faster entry lane), and if you're visiting on a weekend in July or August, pay the small premium for fast-track. On a weekday outside school holidays, save the money.
What Exactly Is Included in Skip the Line?
A Tower of London skip-the-line ticket typically includes:
- Priority/fast-track entry lane at the Tower gate — bypassing the general walk-up queue
- Full standard admission — Crown Jewels, White Tower, Medieval Palace, all galleries
- Free Beefeater walking tours (depart every 30 minutes from inside the gate)
- Pre-confirmed time slot — your entry window is secured, no risk of selling out on the day
What's NOT included or covered:
- The Crown Jewels queue — this is internal and managed separately
- Audio guides — available separately at the entrance
- Special events (Ceremony of the Keys, Night Tour)
- Food and drink
How Long Are the Queues? A Realistic Guide
Queue times vary dramatically by season, day and time. Here's an honest picture based on visitor reports and our own experience:
| When | Walk-up queue | Pre-booked queue | Skip-the-line benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue–Thu, Jan–Mar | 0–10 min | 0–5 min | Minimal |
| Fri–Sun, Jan–Mar | 10–25 min | 5–10 min | Some benefit |
| Weekdays, Apr–May | 15–30 min | 5–10 min | Moderate benefit |
| Weekends, Apr–May | 30–45 min | 10–15 min | Good value |
| Any day, Jun–Aug | 45–90 min | 15–25 min | Strongly recommended |
| School holidays (Easter, Oct half-term) | 30–60 min | 10–20 min | Worth it |
| Dec–Jan (except Christmas week) | 0–15 min | 0–5 min | Less necessary |
Skip the Line vs Standard Pre-booking — Which to Choose?
This is the practical question most visitors face. Both options let you book in advance and both give you a faster entry than a walk-up purchase. The difference is the lane you use at the gate and how much priority you get.
| Feature | Standard Online Booking | Skip the Line |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-booked time slot | ✔ | ✔ |
| Faster than walk-up | ✔ | ✔ (faster still) |
| Dedicated fast-track lane | ✗ | ✔ |
| Crown Jewels queue bypassed | ✗ | ✗ |
| Full admission included | ✔ | ✔ |
| Price premium | — | +£3–10 approx |
| Best for | Off-peak visits | Peak season / weekends |
How to Get the Most Out of Your Skip-the-Line Ticket
Buying the ticket is step one. Here's how to make the visit itself as efficient as possible:
Timing your arrival
Even with a skip-the-line ticket, arriving at the very start of your time slot — not 20 minutes into it — means shorter internal queues. The Crown Jewels are the main bottleneck inside. Head there immediately after passing through the gate. Don't stop to look at the map or grab a coffee first.
The Crown Jewels strategy
The Jewel House is in the Waterloo Block, to the left as you enter through the main gate. Turn left immediately. Even with a full site of visitors, the queue at 9:15am (for Tuesday–Saturday opening) is consistently shorter than at any other time of day.
Download your ticket before you go
Mobile tickets on GetYourGuide, Tiqets and other platforms work fine — but download them to your phone before you leave your accommodation. The area immediately outside Tower Hill station can have patchy mobile signal and scrambling to load a PDF ticket while holding up the queue is avoidable.
- Screenshot your QR code — faster to load than a PDF
- Make sure your screen brightness is turned up at the scanner
- Print a backup if travelling with elderly relatives who prefer paper
- GetYourGuide tickets are scanned at the gate — no separate collection needed
Skip the Line with a Guided Tour — The Best of Both Worlds
Several guided tour products combine skip-the-line entry with an expert guide. These are particularly good value for first-time visitors because you get context alongside the fast entry. A guided tour group typically moves through the site on a structured route — the guide knows which galleries are quiet at which times and can steer the group accordingly.
The Beefeater-led private tour is the premium version of this — a small group with a resident Yeoman Warder, storytelling that goes far deeper than the general tour, and priority entry included. See our Beefeater tour guide for details.
When Skip the Line Is NOT Worth It
Let's be honest about the cases where you're spending money unnecessarily:
- January and February (non-holiday): The Tower can be quiet enough that walk-up times are under 15 minutes. Standard online booking is plenty.
- Early weekday mornings in shoulder months: If you arrive at 9am on a Wednesday in November, you'll walk straight in regardless of ticket type.
- When you have children under 5: The time saved at entry doesn't compensate for the pace you're travelling at inside anyway. Save the premium.
Alternatives to Skip the Line
Book any ticket online
Simply booking standard admission online — even without the explicit "skip the line" label — gives you a pre-booked time slot and access to a faster entry process than a walk-up purchase. In many cases this is sufficient, particularly outside peak season.
Arrive at opening
The Tower opens at 9am Tuesday–Saturday and 10am Sunday–Monday. Arriving at or before opening means the shortest possible queues regardless of ticket type. This is the single most effective crowd-avoidance strategy and it costs nothing extra.
Visit off-peak days
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are consistently the quietest days. School term time weekdays are dramatically less crowded than weekends. If your schedule is flexible, adjusting your visit day matters more than your ticket type.
Skip the Line — FAQs
During peak season (June–August) and on weekends throughout the year, yes — the external entry queue can reach 45–90 minutes for walk-up visitors. Skip-the-line typically saves 20–60 minutes. Outside peak season on weekdays, standard online booking is usually enough.
No. Skip-the-line covers the outer entry gate only. Once inside, the Crown Jewels exhibit has its own queue that applies to all visitors equally. The strategy to minimise this queue is to head there immediately upon entry, before other visitors spread through the site.
Typically £3–10 over standard admission, depending on the provider and time of year. Compare current prices via the booking widget on this page.
Yes, walk-up tickets are available at the box office if the day's allocation hasn't sold out. But walk-up prices are higher and the queue longer. During peak months, same-day tickets regularly sell out by mid-morning.