Skip-the-Line St Paul’s Private Tour review
My verdict: the flexible one. Your own licensed guide, a choice of nine languages, skip-the-line cathedral and dome tickets, and durations from 2 to 5.5 hours depending on the option you pick. It shows 5.0, and 5.0 from three reviews is not a rating. Buy this for the control it gives you.
Three reviews. Say it out loud.
One traveller from the United States wrote a review. John from the United States and a traveller from Qatar left ratings with nothing written. That is the whole evidence base. A perfect score across three bookings tells you three parties were happy and tells you nothing about the fourth. I am not going to dress that up, and if a site tells you this is the highest-rated St Paul’s tour, check what the rating is made of.
What you can judge, because it is written into the listing rather than inferred from stars, is the shape of the product. It is private, so the group is yours. The guide is licensed. The tickets include the dome, which matters because the galleries are the part people most often mistime.
Which option adds what
The basic 2-hour option is the cathedral and the dome with a guide, and nothing else. The 4-hour and 5-hour options add a City of London walking tour around it. The 3.5-hour and 5.5-hour options add private car transfers instead. Pick on the basis of whether your limiting factor is time, legs or interest — those are three genuinely different problems and the options solve different ones. The private tours page lays the durations out side by side.
What works
- Nine guiding languages, which no other listing here comes close to
- Private group, so the pace is set by whoever is slowest in your party
- Skip-the-line tickets covering the cathedral and the dome galleries
- Options from a tight 2 hours up to 5.5, including car transfers
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Worth knowing
- Three reviews, one of them written — the 5.0 proves nothing yet
- The 2-hour option includes no walking tour and no transfers
- The meeting point is not the cathedral’s main west front
- A private guide costs more than walking in on a plain ticket
- Skip-the-line matters less if you have already booked online
Who it suits
Parties who need a language other than English. Anyone travelling with someone who moves slowly, or who wants to stop for twenty minutes in the crypt without a group breathing down their neck. Also anyone with a fixed slot in a busy day, since the shorter options are built to be dropped into an afternoon.
Who it does not suit
Solo travellers and couples watching what they spend, because a private guide is the expensive way to see a building that hands you a multimedia guide with the standard ticket. It also does not suit anyone who wants a rating they can lean on. Nobody has enough data on this product yet, including me.
What reviewers say
“Simply fantastic. I learned so much!”
That is the lot. John from the United States left a rating with no text, and so did a traveller from Qatar. If this listing had four figures behind it I would be picking out themes and telling you what the complaints have in common. Here the only honest thing to report is the count, and then to point you at what you can verify for yourself in the itinerary.
Meet at the National Firefighters Memorial on Carter Lane at Peter’s Hill, which is on the river side of the churchyard, not at the west steps. If you are walking up from Tate Modern over the Millennium Bridge you will pass it. How to get there has the approach.
Compare it with
Most bookedCathedral entry includedSt Paul’s Cathedral Entry Ticket
Guided comboEntry fee includedWestminster Walking Tour & St Paul’s Entry
Multi-attractionSt Paul’s includedThe London Pass® — 100+ Attractions
Frequently asked questions
Is the private St Paul’s tour really rated 5.0?
That is the number GetYourGuide shows, and it comes from three reviews, only one of which is written. It is too small a sample to mean much. The reviews hub explains how I weigh counts against scores.
What languages is the private tour available in?
English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Japanese and Chinese, with a licensed guide. That is the strongest reason to book it, and the private tours page covers the rest.
Does the private tour include the dome climb?
Yes, the skip-the-line tickets cover the cathedral and the dome galleries. It is still 528 stairs with no lift, so read the dome climb page before you commit your knees to it.