Thames River Cruises from Tower Pier, by the Tower of London

For a meal on the river that starts at the Tower, book the Thames lunch cruise. It leaves Tower Pier, in front of the Tower of London, sails up past the Shard, Parliament and the London Eye and comes back in 105 minutes, with a two-course lunch and tea or coffee, for $71 per person (4.5 from 2,277 reviews, checked October 2026). Panoramic windows give a view from every table. If you would rather spend 40 minutes and $25, the Tower of London River Tour leaves the same pier with a live guide telling the Tower’s stories from the water.

Check lunch cruise dates

Which boats leave from Tower Pier

Tower Millennium Pier sits on the river in front of the Tower, a few minutes’ walk from the entrance. These cruises board there:

• The lunch cruise ($71, 105 minutes) and the afternoon tea cruise ($66, 1.5 hours), both run by City Cruises, both round trips. The tea cruise serves sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, cakes and unlimited tea and coffee.
• The evening cruise with bubbly and canapés ($54), the short evening option.
• The Tower of London River Tour ($25, 40 minutes, 4.8 from 144 reviews), a round trip with a guide whose stories were curated by Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that runs the Tower, on what the operator describes as the UK’s first electric tour boat. You get a guaranteed seat at a set time.
• The 20-minute Tower RIB blast ($43), a speedboat that runs under Tower Bridge to Canary Wharf and back with the Bond theme on the speakers.
• The City Cruises hop-on hop-off boats: the 24-hour ticket from $33 and the one-day river pass listed from $13, both stopping at Westminster, the London Eye, Tower Pier and Greenwich. Compare what each includes on your date, because the two prices are far apart.

Coming from the West End, the Big Bus ticket with the London Eye and a river cruise ($74) includes a one-way boat from Westminster to Tower Pier, about 40 minutes, so you can arrive at the Tower by river.

The Tower and a cruise on one day

A morning inside the Tower and a lunch or afternoon cruise fit into one day without crossing town. Start with the Tower of London tour with a Beefeater, which covers the Crown Jewels, then walk down to the pier. From the water you see what the visit inside cannot show you: the Tower’s whole river frontage, with Tower Bridge right alongside. HMS Belfast, the Second World War cruiser run by the Imperial War Museum, is moored almost opposite.

For Tower Bridge views, take a boat heading downriver, because those pass right under it: the RIB, and the hop-on hop-off boats on their way to Greenwich. The bridge itself is free to walk across, and if you want photos of yourself with it, the Tower Bridge sunrise photoshoot works around the same riverside.

Routes and journey times

Prices per person, checked October 2026. The Tower Pier cruises and the dinner cruise are round trips; the Westminster sightseeing times are one way, and the Tower Bridge boat ends at Butler’s Wharf Pier, on the south bank just past Tower Bridge. Times from each operator’s listing.

Cruises from elsewhere on the river

Most sightseeing cruises start at Westminster rather than the Tower. The Westminster to Greenwich boat ($23) is the most booked Thames river cruise by a wide margin, with 25,699 reviews: about an hour to Greenwich, calling at Embankment, Festival and Bankside and passing under Tower Bridge on the way. The Cutty Sark, the tea clipper built in 1869, stands in dry dock a short walk from Greenwich Pier. The shorter Westminster to Tower Bridge cruise ($19) ends at Butler’s Wharf Pier, on the south bank just past Tower Bridge.

For an evening, the dinner cruise ($106) is three hours with three courses, a glass of sparkling wine and a live singer, and the Thames Rockets speedboat ($70) is 50 minutes at up to 30 knots with a comedian guide, rated 4.9 from 1,045 reviews.

Which cruise fits you

Book whichever fits your day at the Tower:

Prices, ratings and review counts from our October 2026 data check. Cruises are priced per person; check the options on your date when you book.

The river bus or a sightseeing cruise?

London also has a commuter boat. Uber Boat by Thames Clippers runs the River Bus along the same stretch of river, and Transport for London says you can pay with contactless or Oyster and get a third off if you hold a Travelcard. If you only need to get between piers, it does the job. A sightseeing cruise adds a commentary on what you are passing, from Parliament to the Tower, which is most of the reason a first-time visitor is on the river at all; the Tower of London River Tour does that in 40 minutes from the Tower itself.

Before you book

The cancellation rules differ more than the prices do. The Tower river tour, the RIB and the sightseeing boats refund up to 24 hours before, the City Cruises hop-on hop-off ticket up to an hour before, but the lunch, afternoon tea, evening and dinner cruises need 3 days’ notice. On the lunch cruise the dress code is smart casual, tables seat four and some sit close to other diners. Take a layer for the open deck in any season, because the wind on the river is colder than the street.