British Airways London Eye
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Editor Pick
Another View of a Beautiful City
- July 21, 2009
- Rated 5 of 5 by
eilidhcatriona from London, United Kingdom
The London Eye is one attraction in London that’s hard to miss. It dominates the skyline, and on a clear day there are even points in Acton from which it can be seen. When you’re near it you can’t help but find your eyes drawn to it – although you have to watch very closely to see it moving, as it goes so slowly.
I first saw the London Eye 10 years ago, when it was under construction. It was laid out across the river, and it really was quite a sight. However, the first time I saw it after I moved to London in 2006, it was at night and it was all lit up. It was stunning. It really does look fantastic at night.
I’ve now been on the Eye twice, and I loved both times. A standard "flight" as they call it costs £17 for adults and £8.50 for children, but if you book on the website in advance you can save 10%. By doing this you can also select which time you want to go on the Eye. For both my visits the tickets were pre-booked, and you simply collect them from the ticket office half an hour before the time you are due to board.
When boarding, the wheel continues moving but it is going so slowly that you barely notice. For wheelchair users they do stop the wheel. The capsules each hold around 10 people, so at busy times you do have to share with others – unless you’re there in a large group. But quiet times you may be lucky enough to get a capsule to yourselves, or with only a couple of others. There are special tickets available where you can book a private capsule or a champagne flight for a special occasion.
Once we had boarded, before I knew it we had moved out over the river, and already we were starting to get wonderful views. I’m not scared of heights, or of rides of any sort – I love rollercoasters and all sorts, so I had no worries about the Eye. However I was a little disconcerted during the first quarter of the flight, and I think this is because we were moving upwards and further out over the river, with nothing between us and the river. Once you are a little further up, the machinery and structure of the Eye are below you, and so it gives you some sense of security I think. This is of course just me – no one else I’ve been on it with had this feeling, and then of course there are those who will have a much worse reaction. In this situation there is an emergency button and you can talk to a member of staff. If you’re not too far round the wheel they will reverse it, but if you’re halfway round there’s no point so you just have to finish the flight. I have been on it while it has reversed, so it does happen.
As soon as you’re a quarter of the way up, the views become rather special. Before long you can see any number of landmark buildings, including Buckingham Palace, St Pauls, Canary Wharf, the BT Tower, the Gherkin…the list goes on. If it’s a sunny day the views are incredible, but even if it’s cloudy you can still see far and wide. I’ve never been on it in the rain, so I don’t know how the views are affected in rain. Personally, my favourites are Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. The Palace looks wonderful from above, set in amongst so much greenery. And although the Houses of Parliament are in fact the closest landmark to the Eye, it is such an incredible building that to see it from above is wonderful.
The flight around the Eye takes about half an hour. When you approach the end, watch out for cameras which will take your picture – you can buy it as a souvenir if you want, but sometimes the capsule itself makes the photo come out badly. I bought one from one of my visits, but it’s not brilliant. There is a souvenir shop with the usual keyrings and stationery, and more interesting gifts such as models of the Eye and books on the construction. I’ve never bought any of these, but if you are interested there is a reasonable selection.
I thoroughly enjoyed both my visits to the Eye, and I see no reason why I won’t go again some day – it’s an experience you can keep going back to. Whether you’re a visitor or a resident I would recommend you take a flight on the Eye, it gives you a completely different perspective on London.
From journal My Favourite Area of London
Editor Pick
British Airways London Eye
- June 1, 2008
- Rated 4 of 5 by
callen60 from Ozarks, Missouri
Pricey, pricey, pricey—but it might be worth it.
It’s getting hard to imagine the London skyline without this recent addition. And much like Paris thought it would only have the Eiffel Tower for a year, the Eye is clearly here to stay long after the Millennium has passed, fundamentally changing the views of London from nearly every direction.
It’s easy to see why. At £15 a ride, and over 3 million rides a year, taking it down would be throwing money away. And unlike a lot of other attractions, there’s precious few ways to discount the cost of a ride. No 2-for-1 coupons, no family tickets—just half off for those 15 or under, and 10% off if you buy your ‘flight’ in advance on line. (There are plenty of ways to spend more: champagne flights, private capsules, Eye/Thames cruise combos, ….)
Of course, at £67.50 for our family of five, 10% would have amounted to over $13, enough to outfit each of us with a decent amount of Cadbury chocolate. We passed up this savings in order to ensure that the weather—which had been variable all week—was going to cooperate.
In the end, it did. Following our pilgrimage to Abbey Road, we took the Jubilee line from St John’s Wood directly to Westminster, arriving just after 9:30. The Eye starts spinning at 10am, and there was no line yet, so we handed over our credit card, added on the £5 guidebook, and got in the very short and very fast moving line.
The skies were gray, but the view wasn’t hampered much. The Eye continually rotates, so you and 24 companions enter the clear capsules (Eye Pods?) as they swing through the bottom of their arc. The full 360-degree ride takes 30 minutes, so the capsule’s motion isn’t very noticeable once you’re aboard. The surroundings inside aren’t too crowded, either, although you may have to wait a few moments to get a view out a particular window. There’s a wooden bench in the middle, where about 10 passengers can sit if they choose to, and that also reduces any possible crush at the windows.
Even for a modest acrophobic like me, the ride was pretty comfortable. I was much more uneasy on the Golden Gallery atop St Paul’s, exposed to the elements on a crowded, narrow walkway. The Eye actually provides a quite similar view to that atop St Paul’s: the Golden Gallery sits 85 m above the cathedral floor, but after you factor in the height of Ludgate Hill, it’s not all that different from the 135 m apex of the Eye.
Unlike climbing a steeple, however, the view slowly changes. It was fun to watch St. Paul’s and the more distant sites come into view. I thought the guidebook was fairly priced, especially in comparison to those available at other London attractions, and it was a plus to have it with us as we looked for places we’d visited during the previous four days. Riding the Eye on the last day of our visit was a nice way to survey our jaunts all over central London; it might also be nice at the opening of a visit to see the whole city laid out around you before your explorations begin. We’d thought about that, but the cold, hard rain that greeted us on Sunday morning ruled that out.
When I return to London, I’ll probably ride the Eye again, not withstanding the hour-long stoppage that took place just a few days after our ride (that did give me a little pause). Given that you can’t take a whirl at sunrise, I’ll probably try to time it just as the sun is setting. And maybe I won’t have to buy five tickets.
From journal London: All That We Could Afford
British Airways London Eye
- January 17, 2007
- Rated 5 of 5 by
Aureus from Kolding, Denmark
We thought "London Eye" was totally overrated, but we decided to go anyway, and we didn't regret it.
At first the massive queue almost changed our minds, but it's really impressive how they get so many people through at such short time. We thought it would take forever, but really, it took like half an hour with the queuing facilities halfways filled up.
It scared us a bit that they have the police dogs search the carriages every time they hit the ground, this was even before the underground bombings, but I guess it's all necessary.
The view from above was spectacular, and to our pleasant surprise, they only fill the carriages with an appropriate amount of people, so you really enjoy the view all way around, and not just if you're lucky enough to hog a spot near the windows. The trip took like 20-30 minutes, and it's a pleasant break of serenity in the middle of a big busy city. I'd definitely go again, at night, if I got the chance.
From journal A Long Couples Weekend in London
Editor Pick
British Airways London Eye
- September 1, 2006
- Rated 5 of 5 by
Red Mezz from Inverness, Scotland
As I mentioned in the overview for this journal, my first trip to London was rather an incidental stop over than a destination, and so almost all of the extraordinary amount of sight seeing I did in the three days I was there wasn't planned. Things I had never heard of, or considered doing that I suddenly found myself standing before with a group of friends, all of us thinking; 'Well we have to do this one...'
And so it was with the London Eye, one of the best and most unexpected moments I have catalogued in my mental travel log. After a very long day walking the streets of London (including running flat out across Hyde Park with a fellow photographer friend of mine to catch the changing of the guard) and some frantic underground rides I was about ready to find a nice place to eat and head back to Notting Hill we made our way towards Parliament and Big Ben to watch the deepening hues of night take over the city. I had spotted the London Eye from time to time over the day (it's quite hard not to) but as I had a lot of Europe left to see and not much cash to see it with I had almost immediately dismissed the idea of taking an actual ride in it. It looked quite cool, but my attention was pretty instantly diverted to a closer attraction.
Lights were beginning to twinkle all over the city in a truly Dickens like style and suddenly the group I was with decided that a trip up in the Eye was something that had to do. I shuffled through my pocket and found I had just enough for a nice Indian take away and told them I'd pass this time and sauntered over to look at some local artist who were packing up for the day.
It was just then that an English man came frantically up to us handing me and several more of my group tickets for the eye saying 'do you want these?' We'd been fending off leaflet handlers and people begging all day and so were very reluctant to accept them until he explained they had bought them but had no time to use them before catching the train. We shrugged, thanked the man and then dubiously took them up to the entrance expecting them to be rejected. They weren't...and therefore I spent an amazing evening watching London come to life at night from atop the amazing 135meter high London Eye. It's not cheap, but if you have an extra £13 in your budget I highly recommend it. The views were stunning and so much more chilled and enjoyable then say Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower. The 'pods' are nice and spacious and hold 25 people, so there was plenty of room for the ten of us. It's a wonderful half an hour ride and you see London as it should be seen.
From journal Beyond the Bridge...the Experience that is London.
Editor Pick
Is the British Airways London Eye Over-Rated?
- May 17, 2006
- Rated 2 of 5 by
Shady Ady from Hinckley, United Kingdom
There is no doubting that the British Airways London Eye is one of the biggest tourist attractions in London. On a good day you can see for 25 miles across the sprawling city of London, viewing other top tourist attractions such as Buckingham Palace, Covent Garden, Big Ben, and St. Pauls Cathedral, to name but a few.
Even though a ride on the London Eye is an unparalled experience, and the only way of seeing London from the air, for some reason the experience didn't live up to my expectations, and by the end I was left feeling a little disappointed.
A ride on the London Eye isn't that expensive (about £12.50 for adults) but I feel the time spent queueing to buy your tickets, then queueing to actually get on the London Eye, and then 30 minutes you spend on the London Eye could be time better used.
I think part of my let down was due to the 60+ minutes spent buying the tickets and queueing to ride the London Eye, so by the time I actually got on I was expecting something more than what was on offer. By the time you get to the highest point you have already viewed all of the sites and views that can be seen, so the ride back down was a little on the boring side.
If you are a tourist then you will have probably visited most of the attractions that can be seen from the air.
Don't get me wrong, the views you see are quite breathtaking (although I am sure these are lost slightly if the weather isn't very good) but if I was able to use the time again, I would much rather spend the 2 hours or so spent queueing and riding the London Eye on walking along the Thames, or through Soho and soaking up the culture and atmosphere that is on offer. This seems to be slightly lost when riding the London Eye.
If you are looking on getting good photo opportunities then the London Eye is for you, but if you are like me and expect a little more atmosphere and culture then I would think twice before riding it.
More information can be found at: http://www.londoneye.com/
From journal An Insiders Guide to London