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See history come to life on our St Pauls, Southbank & City Tour
This is our most extensive walk in London taking in the icons of the old city of London including St Pauls, the Bank of England and the Tower of London, but also seeing the sights on the south bank of the river, including Borough Market and Shakespeares Globe Theatre. This walk is definitely not to be missed.
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Miles Covered
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Benefits
FREE App with A FREE WALK in Every City
Each walk delivers a unique and fascinating user experience. Through Tourist Walks’ self guided tour application you can explore the hidden gems created by local experts. For people wanting to explore the neighbourhood and experience the local culture, we provide a unique experience of exploring the city using GPS guided audio tours. We provide a free walk to our new users.
Full Audio Visual Commentary
Tourist Walks is an application that can give you the freedom to explore the famous walks at your own discretion. We have created a full audio-visual self-guided experience that gives you the confidence to explore and discover the stories of various cities on your own.
Visit the Best Tourist Sites & Explore Them
Get a list of all the tourist sites you can visit. The Tourist Walks application will guide you to your next destination because every journey starts with a single step.
GPS and Multilingual Audio and Text Guidance
Even if you don’t understand the local language of the city you are visiting, Don’t worry. Audio guided walks have multilingual text assistance that will guide you in your native language.
Start/Stop/Rewind
/Restart Go at Your Own Pace
Tourist Walks’ audios are narrated by professionals who will keep you entertained while you are walking your way to the next destination. We help you discover the city around you in a more impressive way.
Download the Walk App & Use Offline. No Mobile Data Required.
It is always frustrating when you wish to travel somewhere but your mobile phone service is out-of-order. Don’t worry! Tourist Walks comes with an offline version of built-in maps you might need, even without internet access.
FREE App & Walk Summaries
Each walk delivers a unique and fascinating user experience. Through Tourist Walks’ self guided tour application you can explore the hidden gems created by local experts. For people wanting to explore the neighbourhood and experience the local culture, we provide a unique experience of exploring the city using GPS guided audio tours. The App is FREE, and all the walk summaries are FREE, each walk is individually priced and you can buy all the walks for a city at a discounted price.
Full Audio Visual Commentary
Tourist Walks is an application that can give you the freedom to explore the famous walks at your own discretion. We have created a full audio-visual self-guided experience that gives you the confidence to explore and discover the stories of various cities on your own.
Visit the Best Tourist Sites & Explore Them
Get a list of all the tourist sites you can visit. The Tourist Walks application will guide you to your next destination because every journey starts with a single step.
GPS and Multilingual Audio and Text Guidance
Even if you don’t understand the local language of the city you are visiting, Don’t worry. Audio guided walks have multilingual text assistance that will guide you in your native language.
Start/Stop/Rewind
/Restart Go at Your Own Pace
Tourist Walks’ audios are narrated by professionals who will keep you entertained while you are walking your way to the next destination. We help you discover the city around you in a more impressive way.
Download the Walk App & Use Offline. No Mobile Data Required.
It is always frustrating when you wish to travel somewhere but your mobile phone service is out-of-order. Don’t worry! Tourist Walks comes with an offline version of built-in maps you might need, even without internet access.
Get on This Fantastic Tour of the Southbank and the City of London
- Tour Name - St Pauls, Southbank & City
- Tour Location - London
- No. of Attractions - #24
- Tour Starting Point - St Pauls Cathedral
- Tour Ending Point - Festival Gardens
- Attraction Points -
- St Pauls Cathedral
- Firemens Memorial
- Millenium Bridge
- Tate Gallery
- Shakespeares Globe
- The Anchor Pub
- The Clink
- The Golden Hind
- Southwark Cathedral
- Borough Market
- London Bridge
- HMS Belfast
- Jayco Monument
- Tower Bridge
- The Tower of London
- Roman Walls
- Sundial
- Tower Hill
- All Hallows Church
- Pudding Lane
- Monument
- Bank of England
- Mansion House
- Festival Gardens
The Southbank and the City of London are filled with history. On this walk we eneavour to take you to those places that changed a nation. Places such as the Globe Theatre and the Tower of London. See where criminals met their death on Tower Hill and the place where the Great Fire of London started in 1666. A fire that nearly destroyed everything. Then there is St Pauls Cathedral, the creation of the genius architect Sir Christopher Wren, an icon of the London skyline. This walk shows you the London you have always wanted to see. Happy sightseeing.
Indulge in History on this Southbank & City Walking Tour
St Pauls Cathedral
For more than 1400 years there has been a Cathedral on this spot at the highest point in the City. The Baroque style Cathedral you see is the masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren, perhaps Britains most famous architect. It was built between 1675 and 1710 after the great fire of London destroyed its predecessor. It was also the first Cathedral to be built after the Reformation when Henry VIII to control of the church from Rome. The dome, inspired by the dome of the Vatican is over 110 meters high and was the tallest point on the City until 1963, it has been called the finest dome in Europe and one of the most perfect in the world. Going downwards it also has the largest crypt in Europe because it was needed to help strengthen the structure in the relatively weak clay soil of London.
Firemens Memorial
This is the National Firefighters memorial statue dedicated to the brave fireman that fought, and where many died, in the fires caused by the German bombers in the Blitz.
Millenium Bridge
A steel suspension bridge for pedestrians that connects Bankside on the south side of the river to the City of London. When it first opened it was known as the Wobbly Bridge as it had a strange swaying motion and the bridge was closed for two years to fix that problem re-opening in 2002. It is also a movie star and is shown being destroyed in the Harry Potter movies. Have a look up and down the river and take in the sites along the south bank in front of you.
The Tate Modern
The Tate Modern is the national gallery of international modern art and it’s in the former Bankside Power Station. It’s one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world. There’s no admission charge for the majority of the collections but some temporary ones may have a small charge. In a normal year it has around 6 million visitors a year.
Book Your Kensington Tour Today!
Shakespeares Globe
The Globe Theatre Bankside is a 20th Century reconstruction of the 16th Century “Elizabethan” theatre built nearby where “Shakespeare” wrote and first performed his plays. It is a faithful as possible to the original right down to the type of timber used to build it. This version however has modern safety features such as a fire retardant thatch and sprinklers on the roof. It regularly has tours to see around it and presents the plays of Shakespeare and more. There is a visitor centre where you can see what’s on and book tickets.
The Anchor Pub
The Anchor Pub has been described as Banksides oldest surviving Tavern. It was from here that Samuel Pepys watched the Great Fire of London on the other side of the river in 1666. The Anchor Tavern became a favourite place for river pirates and smugglers. During a restoration in the 19th Century a massive oak beam was removed revealing several hiding places for stolen goods or contraband.
The Clink
The “Clink” tourist attraction is on the site of the notorious “Clink” prison which operated from the 12th Century until 1780. The prison actually belonged to the Bishop of Winchester, not the King and there were two prisons here one for men and one for women. This building is on the site of the mens prison and the remains of the Bishop of Winchesters Palace including the “Rose Window” of the Great Hall can be seen just a little further down the street. The attraction shows the history of the Clink and what life would have been like here. It became so well known that to be “thrown in the Clink” is even used today in the UK for someone being imprisoned.
The Golden Hind
This ship is a replica of the Golden Hind, a galleon captained by Francis Drake to circumnavigate the globe between 1577 and 1580. During his journey he captured the Spanish treasure ship Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion together with the largest treasure ever captured up to that point. The value of it was equivalent of around £500 million today. The treasure was so large it took six days to move it across to the Golden Hind and included 26 tons of silver, half a ton of gold together with porcelain and jewels. Queen Elizabeth 1 took half of it and it was more than enough to pay off her entire government debt. Not surprisingly Francis became Sir Francis as a result.
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Southwark Cathedral
The Anglican Southwark Cathedral has been a place of worship for over 1000 years, but only a Cathedral since 1905. Before that it was an Augustinian Priory. Most of the Gothic building date from the 13th to the 15th Centuries but the nave is 19th Century. It’s worth a visit if its open to visitors.
Borough Market
Borough Market is one of the oldest and most famous food markets in London. It dates back to at least the 12th Century and used to be situated on the south end of London Bridge. In the 2017 London Bridge attack three attackers ran into the area with knives stabbing and killing people before they were shot dead by police. Today it mainly sells speciality foods to the general public. It’s worth taking a little time to wander round to see, and possibly sample, the foods on offer.
London Bridge
There has been a bridge in this area since Roman times and it was the reason for the development of London being a place where peoples of north and south of the Thames could meet and trade. London rapidly became, even in Roman times, the administrative and trading capital of the region. The roman and medieval bridges we actually about 15 metres over to the right of where you are standing. The bridge was moved to fit in with a new road plan. The medieval bridge became the place where the spiked heads of traitors such as William Wallace were displayed as a warning to all. For 550 years the Bridge actually had buildings built on it. In Tudor times there were around 200 with some of them up to seven storeys high.
HMS Belfast
This is HMS Belfast. She is a Town-class light cruiser. She was commissioned in 1939 just before the outbreak of the Second World War and took part in the naval blockade of Germany. In November 1939 she hit a mine and had to spend two years being repaired. From 1942 she saw action escorting Baltic convoys to Russia and helped to destroy the German Battleship Scharnhorst. She also took part in the D Day landings in 1944. In 1971 to avoid being scrapped she was made into a museum ship and has been here ever since. You can go aboard and tour her but there is an admission charge.
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Jayco Monument
This unusual monument reminds me of a similar one in “Chicago” that is much bigger. In fact we can’t find any information on it to describe why it is here, but its worth getting a picture next to it all the same.
Tower Bridge
This 19th Century Bridge is one of London’s iconic landmarks. It took eight years to build, opening in 1894, and was built with a center section that can be raised to allow tall ships to pass through. The bridge is 240 meters in length and the towers are 65 meters high. In one of the towers you will find the entrance to the Tower Bridge Exhibition. This is a tourist attraction with an admission charge where you are able to take guided tours of the Bridge, walk on the walkways above your head, including one with a glass floor, and see the Victorian engines that powered the drawbridge.
The Tower of London
The Tower of London is probably the greatest tourist attraction in London. The tall tower in the centre is the White Tower which was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 as a fortress and palace. It is still officially a Royal Palace though its most famous role is as a prison for traitors to the Crown. Most of those prisoners used to enter the castle from the river through Traitors Gate which is why it has that name. The Tower has had other roles too as a treasury, a public record office, the home of the Royal Mint, and even as a private zoo. There is an admission charge to enter and the ticket offices are nearby. Guided tours are also available. It is really a must do for tourists to London. Where else can you can visit the Crown Jewels, the Royal Armouries’ and see Tower Green, where executions took place including that of Ann Boleyn second wife of Henry VIII.
Roman Walls
These walls formed part of Roman Londinium the capital of Roman Britain and the largest city in the land. They were part of the outer walls and were in the bottom right-hand corner of the city layout we show you. If you look at a current map of London you can still see the outline of the roman city defined by the road network.
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Sundial
The interesting thing about the sundial apart from its size is that it has images from the history of London around its edges so it’s worth having a wander around it and having a look.
Tower Hill - Execution Site
Tower Hill was the scene of over 100 executions many of them dating from Tudor times. It was mostly members of the nobility that were executed here, usually after being imprisoned in the Tower. These included Sir Thomas More the ex Lord Chancellor, William Laud the Archbishop of Canterbury and George Boleyn the brother of Anne Boleyn. The most common form of execution was beheading. Most commoners were hanged at Tyburn which we visit in our Hyde Park walk.
All Hallows by the Tower
This church is All Hallows by the Tower and is reputed to be the oldest church in the City of London founed around 675AD. It survived the Great Fire of London and Samuel Pepys climbed the Church’s spire to watch the progress of the fire. It was gutted by German bombers in World War II and needed rebuilding only being opened in 1957. The outer walls survived and they date from the 15th Century. The church has a museum in its crypt that has, amongst other things, saxon artefacts and portions of a roman pavement.
Pudding Lane
Pudding Lane was the start of one of the greatest disasters to befall London. The Great Fire of London in 1666 started in a bakery owned by Thomas Farriner on the left-hand side of the street as you look down it. The fire in the bakery started shortly after midnight. The fire gutted the medieval city that lay inside the old city wall. It is estimated that the fire destroyed over 13000 houses, 87 churches and St Pauls Cathedral leaving around 70,000 people without a home, though the death toll was thought to be small. The fire lasted from Sunday 2nd September to Thursday 6th September. A melted piece of pottery that was found by archaelogists in Pudding Lane is on display in the Museum of London. It shows the temperatures reached up to 1250 degrees centigrade.
Other Recommended Walks in the City
London Pub Walks Video Gallery
SELF GUIDED WALKS
Do you wish to explore all the beautiful tourist spots? Download our application and discover the hidden beauty and mystery of your destination. Explore today!
Frequently Asked Questions
No. After the walks have been downloaded, for which you need an internet connection, no mobile data is required to do the walks.
No you can pause and resume at any point within the walk. Whether you need a coffee or a comfort break the walks are entirely flexible.
Yes you will receive both verbal guidance and a GPS enabled map to take you around each of the points of interest on the walks.
No the walks are circular so you will receive multiple options of where to start each walk.
Yes there are providing you buy them as a bundle, not one at a time. You can even buy all the walks in one package at a very generous price.
For each point of interest you will get information both verbally and in text and sometimes video form together with helpful images to get the most from each one.
You can pay by all manner of credit and debit cards as well as Paypal.
In the walk summary we point out if the walk is suitable for wheelchairs and pets, and there is also an indication of the distance of the walk, and how long it will take.
Yes we would love to hear from you through our website: www.touristwalks.co.uk
Happy Tourists
I absolutely enjoyed using the Tourist Walk app! The guided walking tours are very informative and interesting. I was able to find the tour I wanted quickly and easily, and the app was very easy to navigate. The walking tour itself was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about the city. Overall, I would highly recommend this.
Carla Mathew
Tourist Walk is an excellent walking guide app. It is extremely user-friendly and provides great information on the various tours available. I would highly recommend this app to anyone visiting a new city!
Shaun Miles
Tourist Walk is an amazing app that provides guided tours of various cities. The app is extremely user-friendly and easy to navigate. I was able to find the tour I was looking for quickly and easily. The tour itself was very informative and interesting. I would highly recommend this app to anyone visiting a new city!
