What are the best Thames river cruises in London? Comparison table, prices, times

In Paris, a river cruise is a thing you do. In London, it’s first and foremost a way of getting around.

That changes everything. On the Seine, you board a sightseeing boat, do a loop and get off where you started. On the Thames, the boat is actually going somewhere. It drops you at Greenwich, at the Tower of London, at Kew Gardens. There’s even a river bus line that Londoners take to get to work, tapping in with a contactless card.

So the question “which cruise should I do in London” doesn’t have the same answer as in other cities. It isn’t about choosing between three near-identical boats. It’s about knowing whether you want commentary, a journey, a meal, a burst of adrenaline at 30 knots, or simply the loveliest way to get to Greenwich without taking the Tube.

There are a good dozen quite distinct families of cruises on the Thames, and I’ve reviewed every one of them. With 2026 prices, ratings, the exact piers, and above all the thing everyone discovers on the quayside: the onboard commentary is in English. Always. French comes via an app, when it exists at all.

Right, let’s get down to the specifics.

• If you just want the summary, these four cover 90% of what people need: a commentated cruise, a cheap pass, a shot of adrenaline, and a drink at sunset. All free to cancel. I go through everything else just below.

Why take a cruise on the Thames (and when it isn’t worth it)

From the bank, you see one monument at a time, wedged between two buildings. From the water, you see them lined up one after another: Big Ben, the London Eye, Tate Modern, St Paul’s, HMS Belfast, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, in that order, in half an hour.

Add to that the fact that London is exhausting to get around. The distances are huge, the Tube is expensive and packed. Thirty minutes sitting in the open air is a serious rest.

So when isn’t it worth it? Three cases.

• In high winds and driving rain. You’ll be inside, behind windows streaming with water. Best to postpone.
• If you don’t speak English and you were counting on the commentary. The captain talks fast, with British humour, through a so-so mic. Bring the audio guide (see below).
• If you’re after fine dining. On the dining cruises, what you’re paying for first is the setting. It’s a cruise with a meal on it, not a floating restaurant (all right, maybe I’m being a touch harsh)

There you go, you know it all, you’re bound to find THE cruise that matches what you want to see 🙂

The route and the landmarks you see

The Thames is 346 km long, but everything you care about fits into three stretches. Knowing which one you want to do is already 80% of the decision.

Westminster → Tower Bridge: the postcard stretch

30 to 40 minutes, and by far the densest for landmarks. In order: Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster, County Hall and the London Eye, Hungerford, Waterloo, Blackfriars and Millennium bridges, Cleopatra’s Needle, Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe, the dome of St Paul’s, HMS Belfast, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.

If you only do one stretch, it’s this one. No question.

My recommendation: the Westminster → Tower Bridge cruise at €16, 4.5/5 from 6,649 reviews, 30 min to 1 hr. Stops at Embankment, Festival Pier and Bankside if you want to get off along the way.

Tower Bridge → Greenwich: the docks and Canary Wharf

Another 30 minutes, and a complete change of register. Wapping and its converted Victorian warehouses, Rotherhithe, the Isle of Dogs, then Canary Wharf that suddenly looms up. On arrival: the Cutty Sark, the Old Royal Naval College, the maritime museum and the observatory with the meridian.

It’s less spectacular than the first — you go from Big Ben to warehouses. But it tells you something: the port, the money, the empire.

My recommendation: nobody sells this stretch on its own. Take the Westminster → Greenwich cruise at €20, 4.5/5 from 25,122 reviews, which runs the two stretches back to back. Or the City Cruises unlimited pass at €9 if you’re flexible on timing.

Upstream: Kew, Richmond, Hampton Court

The stretch almost nobody does, which is a shame. Heading upstream from Westminster, you leave the city behind: Battersea Power Station, Chelsea, Putney, Hammersmith, Chiswick. The river narrows, the banks turn green, you pass rowing clubs and locks.

Reckon on 1 hr 30 for Kew, 2 hr 30 for Richmond, 3 hr 30 for Hampton Court.

My recommendation: Westminster → Richmond at €26, 4.7/5 — the best rating in the family. For the UNESCO-listed botanical gardens, Westminster → Kew at €23.30. For Henry VIII’s palace and its maze, Westminster → Hampton Court at €31.

1. The classic commentated cruise: the option I recommend by default

If you’re reading this in “just tell me which one to take” mode, this is the family. A boat, a journey, some commentary, between 30 minutes and 1 hr 30. It’s simple, it’s cheap, it works. Mind you, my wife would tell you “the cruise with the meal and the champagne” instead — fair enough, but that’s not the same budget (we’ll come to that).

The principle is always the same: you board at Westminster or the London Eye, a captain gives commentary over the mic in English, an app offers the French audio guide, and you head downstream to the east. All these cruises pass the same landmarks, in the same order. The only real question is how far you go. The rest are variations on the same outing.

So I’m not going to walk you through four near-identical products. One dominates, and there are three specific cases where you’d take something else.

Westminster → Greenwich: the Thames’s flagship product

€20 · 4.5/5 · 25,122 reviews · 1 hr to 2 hr · Westminster Pier

This is by far the most booked cruise in London, across all types. 25,000 reviews, happy customers. It’s the benchmark.

Watch out for one thing everyone gets confused about: it isn’t City Cruises, it’s Thames River Sightseeing, an independent family-run company based at Westminster Pier. It serves Embankment, Festival Pier, Bankside and Butler’s Wharf, whereas City Cruises stops at London Eye Pier and Tower Pier. On the quayside the two fleets look alike, and several travellers report joining the wrong queue. Check the name on the hull.

You get both interesting stretches back to back: the postcard one up to Tower Bridge, then the docks and Canary Wharf on to Greenwich. Live commentary in English, an audio guide downloadable to your smartphone in 6 languages including French, skip-the-line access at the pier, wheelchair access.

Strengths

• The best duration-to-landmarks ratio on the whole river
• The French audio guide genuinely exists (6 languages)
• You arrive at Greenwich, which is worth half a day on its own
• Free cancellation up to 24 hrs before

The downside: at €20, it isn’t the cheapest. And if you’re not planning to visit Greenwich, you’ll have done 30 minutes of docks for nothing. In that case, take the short version below.

The three cases where I’d take something else

Otherwise, there are three variants, and each one only makes sense in a specific situation.

• Westminster → Tower Bridge — €16, 4.5/5, 6,649 reviews, 30 min to 1 hr. If you’re not planning to go to Greenwich. It’s exactly the same cruise, minus the 30 minutes of docks. You lose no major landmark and you save €4. Stops at Embankment, Festival Pier and Bankside, handy for carrying on to Tate Modern or the Globe.
• The London Eye cruise — €18, 4.5/5, 4,357 reviews, 45 min to 1 hr 30. Only if you’re already doing the big wheel and you take the combined ticket. It’s a loop that takes you past the same spot twice, with no multilingual audio guide advertised. On its own, it has no appeal against the previous two.
• The official Tower of London tour by boat — €22, 4.8/5, 112 reviews, 40 min. If you want a real guide and a guaranteed seat. It’s the only format with a qualified guide rather than a captain on the mic, and the best rating in the category. Two caveats: the sample is small, and €22 for 40 minutes is the highest per-quarter-hour rate on the river.

In short: Greenwich by default, Tower Bridge if you’re short on time, and the other two only if you’re in exactly the case described.

2. The multi-stop passes: when the boat replaces the Tube

City Cruises runs its boats in a loop between four piers: Westminster, London Eye, Tower and Greenwich. With a pass, you hop on and off as much as you like.

And here there’s an odd thing worth knowing. But I can confirm it’s not a scam at all!

The €9 one-day unlimited pass: the anomaly of the Thames

€9 · 4.4/5 · 330 reviews · 10am-6pm · 4 piers

Yes, €9. For the whole day, unlimited. Captain’s commentary in English, an app in 14 languages, heated lounges and open decks, free cancellation up to 24 hrs before.

For context: City Cruises sells this same pass for £24 to £26 on its own website, and its official child fare is £16. Here, you’re paying the equivalent of £8. It’s neither a child fare nor a flash sale — the listing states “adult, 16 to 99”, with no crossed-out price, on every date I tested through to December.

Honestly, this is the most useful piece of info in this article. It has only 330 reviews against 25,000 for the classic cruise: nobody talks about it (and I don’t really know why).

Four downsides all the same:

• the 10am-6pm window, so no sunset from May to September
• The queues in high season: skip-the-line only covers the ticket desk, not the pier, and departures are spaced about 40 minutes apart.
• From a certain time onwards, the boats no longer go all the way to Greenwich — if that’s your goal, set off in the morning.
• And this price is abnormally low for a product sold at €29 elsewhere: nothing guarantees it’ll last.

The other two City Cruises passes, and why I wouldn’t take them

City Cruises sells two other options on exactly the same network. I mention them because they come up first in searches, but in both cases the €9 pass does better.

• The 24-hr pass — €29, 4.4/5, 3,279 reviews. The long-standing product. Validity is a rolling 24 hours, so you can sail in the late afternoon and get back on board the next morning. Watch out for the confusion: it’s still limited to the 10am-6pm window, the 24 hours don’t open up the evening for you. Its real downside: cancellation is only free up to 1 hour before, the strictest policy of any cruise in this article. Only take it if spreading it over two days is essential to you.
• The flexible single-journey ticket — €17, 4.4/5, 1,063 reviews. A single one-way journey with no fixed date. Hard to justify at €17 when the unlimited pass is €9, unless you really don’t yet know which day you’ll be sailing.

3. Uber Boat by Thames Clippers: the Londoners’ river bus

Now this one is something else. It isn’t a cruise, it’s a public transport line. Fast catamarans serving around twenty piers from Battersea Power Station to Barking Riverside, every 20 to 30 minutes, with a bar on board and Londoners tapping away on their laptops.

It’s the “hack” that all the English-language guides cite, and it’s true: it costs two to three times less than a tourist cruise.

The single ticket

€11 · 4.0/5 · 1,020 reviews · up to 18 piers

One journey, whenever you like. Fast, frequent, comfortable.

Strengths

• The price: about half that of a commentated cruise
• The frequency: you plan nothing, you just hop on
• You see exactly the same banks

The downside, and it’s structural: no commentary, no audio guide, no guide. You see the scenery, you understand nothing of what you’re seeing. The outdoor deck is tiny, at the back, and often full. That’s where the 4.0 rating comes from: people who buy it thinking they’re getting a cruise end up disappointed.

The two variants of the Uber Boat network

• The River Roamer — €32, 4.0/5, 269 reviews, 24 hrs, Putney → Barking Riverside. The pass version covering the whole network, far more extensive than City Cruises’ 4 piers: Putney, Canary Wharf, North Greenwich, Woolwich. But at €32 it’s more expensive than the City Cruises 24-hr pass, with no commentary at all. It only makes sense if you’re staying far from the centre or you want to explore east London.
• The boat + cable car combo — €25, 4.2/5, 888 reviews. An Uber Boat journey plus the London Cable Car (the former Emirates Air Line, renamed in March 2026), which crosses the river between Royal Docks and the Greenwich peninsula. Two radically different viewpoints in the same outing, and the cable car is spectacular and under-visited. The downside: North Greenwich is the middle of nowhere for tourists, reckon on half a day.

4. Eating on board during the day: afternoon tea and lunch cruise

The principle is the same as everywhere: you pay for the setting first, the plate second. It isn’t fine dining, it’s a decent meal in an exceptional setting. If you go in with that in mind, you’ll have a lovely time.

The two products below both leave from Tower Pier, and both have a 3-day cancellation policy.

The afternoon tea cruise: the most English of formats

€47 · 4.4/5 · 3,802 reviews · 1 hr 30 · Tower Pier

Afternoon tea, but on the water. Sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, a selection of cakes, unlimited tea and coffee. Live or recorded commentary depending on the departure, paid bar for the rest.

3,802 reviews at 4.4 makes it the most tried-and-tested dining product on the river.

Strengths

• You tick off afternoon tea AND the cruise in one go — a real time-saver in London
• Unlimited tea and coffee, which is rare
• 1 hr 30 is the right length: neither rushed nor endless

The downside: €47 for sandwiches and scones is the price of a decent afternoon tea in a London hotel, where the food will be better. You’re paying for the view. And it runs in the afternoon, so no late-day light in summer.

• Check availability

The lunch cruise

from €42 · 4.5/5 · 2,205 reviews · 1 hr 45 · Tower Pier

A two-course menu — as I write this, roast chicken supreme in a mushroom sauce with dauphinois potatoes, then lemon meringue tart — with tea or coffee. Live or recorded commentary, paid bar.

Strengths

• 4.5/5 from 2,205 reviews: the best rating among the daytime dining cruises
• 1 hr 45 in the middle of the day, with the best light for photos
• Seated, relaxed format, ideal in so-so weather

The downside: the price moves a lot depending on the date and the option, between €42 and €51 in the same week. Check before confirming. And alcoholic drinks aren’t included.

5. The evening aperitif cruise: bubbles and canapés

£41 · 4.4/5 · 2,768 reviews · 2 hrs · Tower Millennium Pier

This is my value-for-money favourite of the evening, and by a long way.

Two hours at dusk, a glass of sparkling wine (or a soft drink) on arrival, canapés, live music, and the choice between the main lounge and the open panoramic deck. You head down towards Tower Bridge, the London Eye and Canary Wharf as everything lights up.

It is exactly the dinner-cruise time slot, in exactly the same setting, for £60 less.

Strong points

• The best moment of the day, guaranteed by the departure time
• A drink genuinely included, which isn’t always the case elsewhere
• Live music and access to the open deck
• 2,768 reviews at 4.4: it’s tried and tested

The drawback: canapés are not a dinner. Plan to eat afterwards, which in London at 9.30pm takes a bit of organising. And it’s not open to under-13s, so it’s not a family option. Cancellation up to 3 days before.

6. The dinner cruise: don’t get the point of it wrong

A dinner cruise on the Thames is not a guided cruise with a meal added on. There is no commentary. You have dinner, there’s a show, and the scenery drifts past behind the window. If you wanted to pay attention to what you’re looking at, this isn’t the one.

That said, to mark the occasion — a birthday, a marriage proposal, a last night — the setting is superb. London lit up from the water really is something.

One interesting seasonal point: in winter, it’s rather good. A 7.30pm departure in December means pitch darkness and every monument lit up. In June at the same time it’s still broad daylight, so you get the monuments, but they’ll only be illuminated on the way back.

London Showboat: the benchmark dinner cruise

£102 · 4.3/5 · 2,436 reviews · 3 hrs · Westminster Pier

A glass of sparkling wine on arrival, a three-course British dinner, tea and coffee, a live singer, a dance floor. The boat heads down to the Thames Barrier and back — Tower Bridge, the O2, Canary Wharf by night.

Strong points

• The most polished, most popular format
• Three hours, so you really do have time compared with other dinners rushed through in 1 hr 30
• Vegetarian and gluten-free menus on request, to be flagged 24 hrs in advance

The drawback: only 4.3/5, and the criticism almost always concerns the food. Not open to under-13s, cancellation up to 3 days before. And at £102, compared with the aperitif cruise at £41, you really have to want the meal. So the cruise is good, the meal is fine but nothing special.

The three themed formats, if the Showboat doesn’t appeal

Same boat, same duration, same principle: it’s the entertainment that changes. None of them dethrones the Showboat in my view, but if the theme is your reason for coming, they exist.

• The jazz dinner cruise — £127, 4.0/5, 241 reviews, 3 hrs, Westminster. A live jazz band instead of the singer. It’s the lowest rating of all the dining cruises for the highest price: £25 more than the Showboat for something less good. One for committed enthusiasts only.
• The Elvis tribute dinner — £106, 4.7/5, 48 reviews, 3 hrs. The best rating of the dinners, but on just 48 reviews: impossible to guarantee consistency.
• The Murder Mystery cruise — £127, 4.1/5, 19 reviews, 3 hrs. A whodunnit acted out by performers during the three-course dinner. It’s played in English with fast-paced dialogue: to be avoided if your level is only average.

7. Speedboats and RIBs: for a shot of adrenaline

A complete change of mood. Here we’re talking 12-seater rigid inflatable boats, life jackets, waterproofs, music blasting and 30 knots on the river.

And it’s the category with the highest ratings on the whole river. 4.7 to 4.9. People love it.

Thames Rockets: the 50-minute London adventure

£70 · 4.9/5 · 980 reviews · 50 min · Waterloo Millennium Pier, gate 1

4.9/5 on 980 reviews. It’s the best rating in the whole article once you look at products with a genuine volume of reviews. And by a long way.

The format: a first, gentle guided stretch through the centre, with a host who tells the story of London with plenty of humour, then you pass Tower Bridge and the skipper opens the throttle. An 880-horsepower engine, a sound system on board, life jackets provided.

Strong points

• The best rating on the river, on a genuine volume of reviews
• The mixed sightseeing + thrills format: you learn things AND you laugh
• Open to babies from 6 months with a parent — so doable as a family
• Departure under the London Eye, ultra central
• Free cancellation up to 24 hrs before

The drawback: the commentary is in English and relies heavily on the jokes. If you don’t follow fast-spoken English humour, you miss half the product. And you get wet. Really wet.

The four other formats, roughly on the same principle

All these boats do the same thing: commentary through the centre, then full throttle after Tower Bridge. What changes is the duration, the price and the departure point. Thames Rockets stays ahead on all three. The others make sense in one specific case.

• Thames RIB Experience, 45 min — £68, 4.8/5, 558 reviews, departs from Embankment or Westminster. The other operator, more geared towards pure thrills, with a loop out to the Docklands. At £2 less than Thames Rockets for 5 minutes less, the price gap comes down to almost nothing: what separates them is the rating and the review volume, and there Thames Rockets keeps the edge. A genuine alternative if its slots are full.
• The short version, 20 min — £44, 4.7/5, 181 reviews, Tower Millennium Pier. The lightning format, and the only one in the family under £50. The per-minute rate is still the highest on the river, but now that Thames Rockets has gone up to £70, it’s become the sensible entry point if you just want to try the thrills.
• Down to the Thames Barrier, 70 min — £88, 4.8/5, 348 reviews. The long format, which heads down to the Thames Barrier, the enormous movable barrier that protects London from storm tides. A place almost no tourist ever sees, and frankly impressive. But 70 minutes of fast boat is a long time for your back and neck.
• The Thames Rockets variants — “Break the Barrier” at £76 for 45 min (4.8/5, 33 reviews) and the sunset version with a drink at £76 (4.6/5, 27 reviews). Fewer than 35 reviews each: interesting, but without enough of a track record for me to recommend them.

• Check availability

8. The cruise + attraction combos

In London, the cruise is often sold as a package. Sometimes it’s a real saving, sometimes it’s just filler.

• Hop-on hop-off bus + cruise — from £37, 4.1/5, 4,899 reviews. The classic Big Bus. Watch out: the cruise here is an option, not always an inclusion. Check the format you’ve chosen.
• London Eye + cruise + bus — £64, 4.4/5, 6,467 reviews. The “first trip” package. It’s the best-selling combo, and the maths genuinely stacks up if you were going to do the wheel anyway.
• Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studios + cruise — £86, 4.8/5, 926 reviews. 4.8/5 is excellent. But let’s be honest: you buy it for the studios, the cruise is the bonus.
• Tower of London, Crown Jewels and VIP cruise — £125, 4.6/5, 212 reviews, 3 hrs. With the Tower’s opening ceremony, which is a real plus.

The general drawback of combos: they lock you into a schedule. If the weather turns, you can’t push the cruise back without losing the rest. And the maths only wins if you already wanted to do the other attraction.

9. The unusual cruises: GoBoat, canals and private hire

To finish, three things apart.

Piloting yourself: the GoBoats. Small 8-seater electric boats, no licence needed, that you steer yourself, with a table in the middle for a picnic. At Kingston upon Thames (£111 per boat, 5.0/5 on 24 reviews, 1 to 4 hrs) or at Canary Wharf (£111, 4.3/5, 26 reviews). The drawback: it’s not on the central Thames, so forget Big Ben. And at £111 per boat, you need to be 6 or 8 for it to be worthwhile.

The Camden canal. Careful, this is not the Thames — it’s Regent’s Canal, between Little Venice and Camden Lock, on narrow narrowboats. Many French guides file it with the Thames cruises, which is wrong. £27, 4.6/5, 1,240 reviews. It’s charming, very different, and it combines well with a visit to Camden. The drawback: seasonal, essentially from March to November.

The private cruise. There is a luxury private-hire product at £1,736 per boat for 2 hrs, up to 8 people (4.5/5, 9 reviews). That’s £217 per person for eight. The drawback: just 9 reviews, and the price only makes sense for a very particular occasion.

Comparison table of Thames cruises

In short: the river plays out between £9 and £127 for the vast majority of formats. The most-booked cruise (Westminster → Greenwich) is £20, the best-rated with a significant review volume (Thames Rockets, 4.9/5 on 980 reviews) is £70, and the cheapest useful one (City Cruises unlimited pass) is £9.

So, which cruise should you choose for your situation

If you just want THE cruise, no thinking required

Westminster → Greenwich, £20. 25,000 reviews at 4.5/5, a French audio guide is available, you see everything, and you finish at Greenwich, which is worth the visit. It’s the default answer, and a very solid one. What you pay on top of the £9 pass is a reserved time slot rather than a place in the queue.

If you’re after the cheapest possible

The City Cruises unlimited pass at £9. You sail all day between Westminster, London Eye, Tower and Greenwich, on the same boats sold at £29 elsewhere. Constraints: only between 10am and 6pm, and you have to accept queuing in August.

If you want to understand what you’re looking at

Westminster → Greenwich for the audio guide in 6 languages including French, or the official Tower of London tour by boat (£22) to have a real human guide in front of you. Steer clear of the Uber Boat: no commentary at all.

If you want a moment with a drink at sunset

Bubbles and canapés, £41, 2 hours. Live music, open deck, London lighting up. It’s the dinner cruise without the dinner and without the extra £60. Open to ages 13 and over.

If you’re marking the occasion

London Showboat, £102. Three hours, three courses, a live singer, a dance floor, and London lit up. Do it in winter, when it’s genuinely dark at 7.30pm.

If you’re a family with children

Thames Rockets, £70. Accepted from 6 months with a parent, and it’s by far the river activity children prefer. Otherwise the £9 unlimited pass, which offers children’s activities on board.

If it’s your second or third trip to London

Westminster → Richmond (£26) or → Hampton Court (£31). You’ve already seen Big Ben from the water. Here, you discover a much greener, much calmer Thames. Plan to come back by train.

My default choice, with no constraints

The £9 unlimited pass for the day, and the bubbles and canapés cruise at £41 for the evening. Two moods, two moments of the day, £50 in total. It beats any £102 dinner cruise that shows you nothing and explains nothing.

London’s piers: don’t get the wrong one

It’s the most common mistake, so watch out. In the Westminster area alone, there are three different piers within a ten-minute walk of each other, spread across both banks, and they don’t serve the same boats.

A small detail so you’re not caught out: your ticket states a specific pier, not “London”. Westminster Pier has several boarding gates (A, B, C) depending on the company, and the queue can be long in summer. Allow 20 minutes’ leeway, 30 in July-August.

And if you’re planning your trip, my interactive map of London brings together the sights, the neighbourhoods and the accommodation in one place, which saves juggling ten tabs.

The 6 things to check before booking

1. The commentary is in English. Always.

This is the point to keep in mind before booking. On every guided Thames cruise, the live commentary is given by a crew member, in English, over the microphone.

French exists, but as an audio guide, on your phone, via an app to download. The Westminster → Greenwich and the Westminster → Tower Bridge offer 6, the City Cruises passes 14 via the City Experience app.

In practice: download the app before you board, and bring your earphones. The signal in the middle of the river is hit and miss, and no one will tell you that as you board.

2. The departure time

The best moment is the last hour before sunset. The low, raking light, the Portland stone turning golden, and the monuments lighting up one by one. In winter that falls around 4pm, in June around 9pm.

The drawback: it’s also the most sought-after slot. Book several days ahead if you’re specifically aiming for that one.

3. Single, return or pass?

Three different logics, and the maths isn’t intuitive:

• Single (£16-20): you get off where the boat drops you and head back by Tube. From Greenwich, the DLR at Cutty Sark brings you back in 20 minutes.
• Return (around £26): you see the same scenery again the other way round. It only makes sense if you leave at sunset and come back at night. Good to know: you’re not obliged to stay on board, you can get off at Greenwich and pick up any boat later in the day.
• Hop-on hop-off pass: the boat becomes your transport for the day.

I break down the prices section by section, but spoiler: there’s a £9 pass that makes the £20 single trip debatable. I’ll come back to it.

4. The cancellation policy changes by type

It’s rarely mentioned, and yet it matters in London, where the weather decides everything.

• Guided cruises, speedboats, Uber Boat: free cancellation up to 24 hrs before.
• All City Cruises dining cruises (tea, lunch, dinner, aperitif): 3 days before.
• The 24-hr hop-on hop-off pass: 1 hour only.

So if your trip is still uncertain, avoid locking in a dinner cruise too early.

5. The open deck

On the big cruise boats, there’s a heated indoor lounge and an open upper deck. The upper deck is where all the difference lies — 360° views, reflection-free photos, and the passage under Tower Bridge that is something else entirely seen from below.

The tip is worth what it’s worth: arrive early, head straight up. The deck spots go first.

The flip side: on the Uber Boat, the outdoor space is tiny and at the back. It’s not a boat for contemplation, it’s a bus.

6. The minimum age

Several evening cruises are not open to under-13s: the London Showboat dinner, the bubbles and canapés cruise. Conversely, the Thames Rockets speedboats accept children from 6 months, with a parent.

Frequently asked questions about Thames cruises

Why pay £20 for a trip when a day pass is £9? Three reasons. They’re not the same companies: the £20 cruise is run by Thames River Sightseeing, the pass by City Cruises, and they don’t serve the same piers.

The pass gives no boarding priority either. In high season, you can watch a full boat leave and wait for the next one, which is around 40 minutes.

And above all, the pass has only 330 reviews against 25,000: most visitors don’t know it exists. If you’re flexible on timing, it’s unbeatable.

Is there a French commentary? Not live, never. The on-board commentary is in English on every company. French exists as an audio guide, via an app to download: 6 languages on the Westminster → Greenwich as on the Westminster → Tower Bridge, 14 via the City Experience app for the City Cruises passes. Download before boarding, and bring earphones.

How long does a Thames cruise last? From 20 minutes (short speedboat) to 3 hrs 30 and more for Hampton Court. The most common formats: 30 min to 1 hr for Westminster → Tower Bridge, 1 hr to 2 hrs for Westminster → Greenwich, 1 hr 30 for an afternoon tea, 1 hr 45 for a lunch, 2 hrs for the aperitif, 3 hrs for a dinner.

Do you need to book in advance? Not essential for guided cruises outside high season. Strongly recommended for anything involving sunset, meals and speedboats, which sell out. Most tickets can be cancelled free of charge 24 hrs before, so booking costs nothing.

What’s the best time of day? The last hour before sunset, without hesitation. Around 4pm in December, around 9pm in June. Second-best slot: the first morning departure, for the light and to avoid the crowds.

Single or return? Single in most cases. From Greenwich, the DLR brings you back to the centre in 20 minutes from Cutty Sark. The return only really makes sense if you leave at the end of the day and come back at night — that’s when the scenery changes enough to be worth it.

Is the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers the same thing as a cruise? No, and it’s the most widespread confusion. The Uber Boat is a transport service: fast, frequent, cheaper, but with no commentary at all and with a tiny outdoor space. If you just want to get to Greenwich, it’s perfect. If you want a sightseeing trip, take a guided cruise.

Does it work if it rains? Yes. All the big boats have a heated indoor lounge, and the cruises run almost all year round. That said, you lose the open deck, which is the main draw. In strong winds, some departures may be cancelled.

Is it suitable for children and pushchairs? On the big boats, yes: wheelchair access, heated lounges, children’s activities on board on the City Cruises passes. On the speedboats, Thames Rockets accepts children from 6 months with a parent. Careful, though: the bubbles and canapés cruise and the London Showboat dinner are not open to under-13s.

What’s the cancellation policy? It changes by type, and it’s little known. 24 hrs for guided cruises, speedboats and the Uber Boat. 3 days for all City Cruises dining cruises. 1 hour only for the 24-hr hop-on hop-off pass.

Do all the cruises leave from the same place? Definitely not. Westminster Pier, London Eye Pier and Embankment Pier are three separate piers, spread across both banks, within a ten-minute walk of each other. Read the pier stated on your ticket carefully.

Is there a dinner cruise with sightseeing commentary? No. It’s the main misunderstanding about this product: dinner cruises have no guide. You get a meal, a show and a view. If you want both, take a guided cruise in the afternoon and dine ashore in the evening.

Can you cruise from Greenwich to the centre? Yes, all the trips exist in both directions. A good strategy: DLR out to visit Greenwich in the morning, cruise back in the late afternoon with the good light.

In conclusion

Right, if I had to sum it up in three lines.

In London, the river isn’t a box-ticking attraction, it’s the best viewpoint over the city and the most pleasant way to cross it. The guided Westminster → Greenwich cruise at £20 is the answer that works for almost everyone, the £9 unlimited pass is the trick that changes everything if you’re flexible on timing, and the bubbles and canapés cruise at £41 is what I’d choose for a lovely moment without spending £102 on a dinner.

And if there’s only one thing to remember: the commentary is in English. Download the audio-guide app before you board, with your earphones. It completely changes the experience.

Honestly, if you’re still hesitating, take the longest trip your schedule allows and go up on the upper deck. The rest will follow.

More resources for your trip to London

• What to do in London: more than 20 places to see — the complete guide to the city, with the museums, the neighbourhoods and the viewpoints
• My interactive map of London — all the sights, piers and accommodation on a single Google Maps
• Getting from Heathrow to London — a comparison of the options from the airport, with prices
• How to get to London from Paris — Eurostar, plane, bus: what’s really worth it

The other activities to make the most of London

The cruise is half a day. Here’s what I’d book around it, starting with what sells out fastest.

• The Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studios — £104, 4.7/5 on 27,825 reviews, around 7 hrs. Entry to the Leavesden studios and a return coach from Victoria. Book several weeks ahead, it really does sell out fast.
• The London Eye — £30, 4.6/5 on 39,451 reviews, 30 min. The wheel ride at 135 metres, standard or fast-track. It’s the most-booked activity in London.
• The Tower of London and the Crown Jewels — £43.25, 4.6/5 on 32,009 reviews, ticket valid for the day. The Beefeater-led guided tours are included and well worth it.
• Westminster Abbey — £31.67, 4.6/5 on 13,735 reviews, 2 hrs. Multimedia guide handed out on arrival.
• Tower Bridge — £18, 4.7/5 on 18,125 reviews, 1 hr. The two towers, the glass-floored walkways and the engine rooms. The obvious add-on if your cruise stops there.
• The View from The Shard — £27.23, 4.5/5 on 9,980 reviews. The 72nd floor and its open-air platform, to look down on the river you’ve just cruised.