The London Eye, July 2025

Stop 4 on our London tour was to the London Eye. There’s not much to describe: Its the London Eye. You’ve seen it on TV a million times. Its the big 25-year-old wheel on the south bank of the Thames.

We thought we’d left ourselves enough time between booking our Merlin events on the Tuesday, but we were rushing out of Shreks Adventure to get over to the London Eye in time. I’m sure we’d have been fine if we were a few minutes late, but we didn’t want to risk it.

A standard ticket for the London Eye starts at £29 per adult depending on your selected date. Children start from £26 and Under 2’s are free. Through the school holidays it’s showing as £31–£35 per adult and on the day prices start at £39, so always best book in advance. If you’re feeling extra fancy, you can also choose the Champagne Experience which will set you back from £49 per adult.

Multi Attraction Tickets are also available to combine with SeaLife London Aquarium, Shrek’s Adventure and the London Dungeon to save some money if you plan to visit multiple attractions.

You can also do Fast Track tickets to skip the massive queues, which start from £44 per adult, and it’s worth noting that with a Merlin Pass, you can also use the Fast Track queue to skip ahead and get on! We have the platinum pass, so I’m not sure if this is valid for other pass types, so check when you get there.

As I’ve said, we did a very grateful queue jump with out Merlin pass and headed up the ramp to get on. First stop is the green screen photo op that you can buy at the end. It wasn’t anything special, just pics of you superimposed over the wheel or a London Backdrop. After that, head up the ramp and get in!

The pods are fairly spacious and have a small seating area in the centre, but most people are wandering around taking in the views, so there was always a space if you needed to sit. Pod capacity is 25 on a busy day, and I think there were around 16 in our pod and it didn’t feel particularly cramped.

The whole trip around takes around 25-30 minutes, in which time you’ll get to see across London and up and down the Thames. It’s by Big Ben too so you can see the Houses of Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower clearly. Weather dependant you’ll see for miles too. On a clear day you can just about see the arch of Wembley Stadium in the distance. It wasn’t that clear for us on this trip, the weather had been a bit hit and miss all morning with grey skies and rain, but had brightened somewhat by the time we ascended.

You can see Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral, the BT Tower, The Shard, that odd looking building on Fenchurch Street that looks like a Walkie Talkie and many of the skyscrapers and buildings that make up the London skyline, and great views down over County Hall below you.

As the Eye comes back down to ground level, you can stand in the photo spot to get your ‘on ride’ photo. We did it to see how well it came out, but with poor lighting and dirt on the glass it wasn’t the best pic. If you do want the photo, packages are available in the gift shop to buy the on ride and green screen pictures.

The London Eye does have a gift shop at the end selling some souvenirs, magnets, keyrings, t-shirts, mugs, the usual paraphernalia you’d expect. Nothing outrageously priced. As usual, we picked up a magnet. They did have some 25^th anniversary items in stock too. Crazy to think it’s been around that long! Meh, I’m getting old…

I don’t know. Its hard to put a price on something you may cherish as a memory. If you’re in London and it’s a one off experience, then yes it’s worth doing. Its a fun way of seeing the sights of London. A base off-peak price of £110 for 2 adults and 2 children feels steep for 30 minutes on a big wheel though. As an inclusion in a Merlin Annual Pass, it’s a great addition and well worth taking advantage of if you can get to it. This was the first time we’d done a family break in London, which we were more inclined to do with multiple attractions we could visit with the pass, so I’m sure we’ll be back again for another ride.

Up to date pricing and booking details can be found on the official London Eye website.