London is an enormous, vibrant city. Metropolitan, cosmopolitan, diverse, dynamic, exciting, exhilarating: there are too many words to describe it, but none of them can truly capture the essence of this global powerhouse. The only way you can start to understand London is by coming here and seeing it with your own eyes. But where should you start? How can you get to know something so large, varied, and constantly evolving? One thing’s for sure, if you try to tackle it alone, you’ll only scratch the surface. Which is why we’ve sought out the best of London’s guided tours so that you can hit the ground running, with the help of an expert guide and a carefully curated itinerary.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you want to get out of your time in London, there's a tour for you. There are classic walking tours of the most famous central sites, there are themed tours to cater to all interests and personalities, there are food and drink tours to get a taste of the London lifestyle, there are different ways to get around the city and see it from a different angle, and many alternatives besides.

What kind of guided tours can you take in London?

• Sightseeing tours: We all know the iconic London landmarks - Big Ben, Tower Bridge, the red phone box to name just a few - but to understand their significance, stories and secrets you have to visit them in the company of a knowledgeable guide. There are tours everyday of the year that visit these unmissable places on carefully planned routes to make the experience as informative and interesting as possible. You can also take a more interactive tour, a Treasure Hunt, where you follow the guide’s clues to get from one place to another. Or you can go straight to the place that interests you - be it Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the London Underground or Churchill’s underground war bunkers - and take a tour of the site, getting to know it in intimate detail. There are also sightseeing tours outside the centre, for example down the river at Greenwich or, for the sports fans, guided visits of the famous football grounds of Chelsea or Arsenal FC.

• Themed tours: If your interest goes beyond the general picture, or if you live in London and want to see a different side of the city, take a tour with a special theme. Almost anything you can dream of has its own tour in this city. There are itineraries based on famous works of fiction, such as a magical Harry Potter route, a Sherlock Holmes investigation or a Downton Abbey experience. Or you can dive into the city’s past on a tour of places associated with the Beatles or rock and roll in London, or the dark mystery of Jack the Ripper’s Victorian-era crimes. More edgy tours can take you around the street art of Shoreditch, Camden Market, or haunted locations around the capital.

• Gastronomy tours: There’s no need to miss lunch to go on a tour! Combine the journey with some of London’s best food and drink. There are several markets that you can get a local’s knowledge of, including Borough Market at London Bridge and historic Billingsgate Fish Market in the East End. Later in the day we recommend an afternoon tea tour to sample cakes, crumpets and other sweet treats, before the sun sets and you can enjoy a guided pub crawl taking in some of London’s best watering holes and most delicious beers.

• Transport: Most of the routes that we’ve mentioned above are walking tours, but if you prefer to save your walking for the countryside, we’ve got you covered. You can cover a lot more ground on a bike tour so you’ll fit even more sightseeing into your day, while enjoying the cycling experience that London has to offer: cycle lanes, paths through Hyde Park and other green spaces, the banks of the Thames, you can cycle on all of them. Then there are the famous double decker buses of London. You can go still further on these iconic tours and get the lowdown on what you can see as you move. You can also enjoy themed bus tours, such as an after dark Christmas lights tour, or an afternoon tea on a London bus! Finally, there’s the river. You can see the capital from a completely different perspective by climbing aboard a boat on the Thames. There are large boats, speed boats, inflatable ribs and other vessels that will carry you along this famous waterway to see London from a new angle.

How long does the activity last?

That all depends on where you’re going, how you’re getting there, and why. A typical sightseeing walking tour of the centre of London takes around 2 hours, although you can find shorter alternatives if you’re pushed for time or longer routes if you want to get into the details of the sites. The same goes for most walking tours: 2 hours is about the right amount of time for you to learn a lot without your feet going to sleep. Tours of specific locations, such as the Tower of London or the City might be a bit shorter as well, 1 hour or 90 minutes, leaving you more time to go exploring elsewhere.

A gastronomic tour of London is likely to last longer for obvious reasons: your guide doesn’t want you to get indigestion. Bike, boat and bus tours are often longer as well, in part because you’ll be sat down for some of it. From 2 hours to 4 hours are normal durations, but you can also find full day curated experiences or organise them privately.

Are there any restrictions?

Most of the guided tours in London take place in public spaces and so anyone can join a tour group, but there are some things to bear in mind and some special cases. A walking tour could involve covering a considerable distance on foot and you won’t be guaranteed to have places to sit at each of the stops, so not all of them are suitable for the very young, older people or those with reduced mobility. When it comes to cycling you need to be confident on a bike and have some road awareness because, although you’ll stay on designated cycle paths as much as possible, there’ll be moments where you have to deal with some traffic. There are minimum ages for different bike tour routes which can range from 10 years old to 13 and up.

The content of other tours make them unsuitable for youngsters. Of course, if you want to experience London’s pubs you can’t take under 18s, but age also has to be a consideration on some tours that deal with adult themes. Ghost tours and Jack the Ripper tours are designed for adults, and while children under 10 aren’t allowed, you should think carefully before bringing children over 10 as well. In spite of all that, London tour guides love their city and are passionate about their subjects, so they’ll be happy to discuss your needs with you.

Finally, there are some kinds of tours in London which you’ll need to organise as a group. These include cycle tours, which can’t be too big, river tours on small boats, and some of the more niche interest tours. We’re sure you won’t struggle to convince people to join you if you need to make up numbers for a minimum group size, but if there’s a limit on the number of people who can get involved you’ll have to choose your companions carefully.

With so many tours on offer in this amazing city, it’s impossible to choose just one. But that’s okay, all you need to do now is choose the first one, and worry about the rest later!