The Best Views of London, From the Sky Garden to St Paul's Dome

West from the Sky Garden, the dome of St Paul's sits low among the office blocks. Behind it, far off on the skyline, the BT Tower sticks up like a pencil. It is the first photo in this collection of the best views of London I have taken myself.

Since then I have collected a lot more. Glass boxes on the 50th floor, a terrace above an opera house, the dome of a cathedral, a clock tower, and a police rooftop I only got onto by ballot. The photos are all mine, and each place links to its full story on the blog.

Some of these views are free and open most days. Some cost a ticket. A few open only for Open House London, one weekend a year. And one of them, the roof of the old City Hall, is closed. I have marked which is which.

Where Are the Best Views of London for Free?

The City of London is where the free high-level views are. Two of them are a short walk apart, and both need a free booking. I have noted what each one does best.

The Sky Garden sits at the top of 20 Fenchurch Street, the tower Londoners call the Walkie-Talkie. It was designed by Rafael Viñoly, and the garden opened in January 2015. Before it was finished, in summer 2013, its curved glass focused sunlight onto the street below. The beam was hot enough to damage a parked car.

Inside there are three levels of planting under a glass roof, from level 35 upwards. Free tickets are released every Monday morning, three weeks ahead, for the whole week. Each slot gives you an hour. In September 2026, public hours were 10am to 6pm on weekdays and 11am to 9pm at weekends.

A few minutes north is The Lookout at 8 Bishopsgate, a free viewing gallery on the 50th floor. It opened in August 2023 and is higher than the Sky Garden, so you look down on the Walkie-Talkie instead of up at it. The tower was designed by WilkinsonEyre.

My photo from the Lookout follows the Thames as it bends east, past the Shard and on to Tower Bridge. Booking is free and required, although walk-ins are sometimes possible. It stays open until 9pm on Mondays and Fridays, which makes those the evenings for sunset.

Between the two towers is Leadenhall Market, under its painted Victorian roof. It is a good place to pass the time if your slot is later in the day.

Which Rooftop Terraces Have the Best Views?

Not every good view needs to be 50 floors up. A terrace a few storeys high lets you see what people are doing on the ground.

The terrace of the Royal Opera House is on the fifth floor, above Covent Garden Piazza. Anyone can walk in from midday without a performance ticket. You go up through the glass Paul Hamlyn Hall by escalator or stairs. There is a lift from the Bow Street entrance for step-free access.

I went up on a wet Saturday in February and stood out there for about twenty minutes. Straight ahead is the piazza, with the stone colonnade on the far side and buskers working the square. The terrace belongs to Bar Cicoria, but getting up there costs nothing. You only pay if you sit down at a table.

Turn a little to the left and you look across the long glass roofs of the market building. The market hall itself dates from 1830, designed by Charles Fowler. Beyond the rooftops, the top of the London Eye shows above the West End. It is not a high view, and I think it is better for that.

What Can You See From the Top of St Paul's?

St Paul's is both a place to look from and the thing everyone else is looking at. I have photographed it from its own dome, from a tower to the east and from a pool on the ground.

I climbed the dome on a Saturday morning in early March. By twenty past eleven I was out on the galleries. The official counts are 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery, 376 to the Stone Gallery at 52 metres and 528 to the Golden Gallery at 85 metres. There is no lift.

Looking south, the Millennium Bridge runs straight across the Thames to the chimney of Tate Modern. The bridge opened in June 2000, closed after two days because it swayed, and reopened in February 2002. Admission to the cathedral and all three galleries was £27 for an adult in September 2026.

Turn west and the river runs away towards Westminster, with the bridges lined up one behind the other. The dome's outer shell is a timber frame covered in lead. Part of the climb runs through the gap between it and the inner dome, which is why the stairs get narrower near the top.

For the view of St Paul's rather than from it, go back to 8 Bishopsgate. My sunset photo from the Lookout shows the dome lit up among dark office towers. From 50 floors up, Wren's cathedral looks small, and still stands out.

The other view is at street level. Across the road from the cathedral, the Reflection Garden at 25 Cannon Street has a dark oval pool that mirrors the dome. It was designed by Tom Stuart-Smith and opened in July 2022. There is no gate and no ticket. A still morning gives the cleanest reflection.

The same building has a roof garden higher up, but that opens only one day a year, for London Open Gardens. In 2026 that day was Saturday 6 June, on a paid festival ticket.

Where Is the Best View of Tower Bridge?

Tower Bridge is the view most visitors want, and there are two ways to get it. You can stand on the bank and look at it, or you can climb up and look through it.

I photographed Tower Bridge in summer, on a Tuesday evening in July, and saw the bascules lift for a boat. The bridge opened on 30 June 1894. Its two towers are joined high up by walkways, 42 metres above the Thames.

Those walkways closed in 1910 and reopened in 1982 as part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition. Glass floors were added in November and December 2014, so you can look straight down on the traffic and the river. Adult tickets were £18 in September 2026, with last entry at 5pm.

For years the best free view of the bridge was the roof of the old City Hall, the leaning glass building by Foster + Partners that opened in July 2002. I went up on an Open House weekend, when you could walk in from the Queen's Walk and climb the ramp to the top.

That view is gone for now. The Mayor and the London Assembly have worked from the Royal Docks since January 2022. Southwark Council approved plans to convert the building in December 2024, and works began in August 2025. It is being turned into offices, shops and restaurants, and the roof is not open to visitors.

Which Views of London Only Open for Open House?

Open House London is the architecture festival run by the charity Open City every September. In 2026 it ran from 12 to 20 September. Three of my best rooftop and window views came from it, and my Open House London 2026 guide has the buildings I picked this year.

The first is New Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police on the Victoria Embankment. The building was designed by William Curtis Green in 1935. The Met moved there in November 2016 after a redesign by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, which added a glass pavilion on the roof.

From the top you look along the river to the London Eye, with the water right below. Places were given out by public ballot, and the security checks were thorough. It has only been open to the public during Open House, and it is not in the programme every year.

The second is the St Pancras clock tower, a private flat inside the old Midland Grand Hotel by George Gilbert Scott, opened in 1873. The tower is about 76 metres tall. I went up on an Open House Saturday.

From its windows you look straight across Euston Road at King's Cross station. Lewis Cubitt's station opened in 1852 and has two great arched windows and a plainer clock tower of its own. The flat was listed for Open House 2026 and then withdrew. Open City has also sold separate tours of the chambers and clock tower, for example in March 2023.

The third is the British Academy at 10–11 Carlton House Terrace. The terrace was designed by John Nash in 1831 as a backdrop to St James's Park. William Gladstone lived at No. 11 from 1856, and the Academy has been here since 1998.

From the upper windows you look out over The Mall and the treetops of the park. The Academy took part in Open House 2026 on Sunday 20 September, as a free drop-in with guided and self-guided tours. Step-free access runs across its three floors.

Visiting London's Best Viewpoints: Practical Notes

📍 Where: Sky Garden, 1 Sky Garden Walk, EC3M. The Lookout, 8 Bishopsgate, EC2N. St Paul's Cathedral, 25 Cannon Street, EC4M. Royal Opera House, Bow Street, WC2E. Tower Bridge, SE1.

⏰ Opening: Sky Garden 10 am–6 pm weekdays and 11 am–9 pm weekends. The Lookout: 12–9 pm Monday and Friday, 10.30 am–5.30 pm Tuesday to Thursday, 11 am–6 pm Saturday, 10 am–5 pm Sunday. Royal Opera House: from 12 noon daily. Tower Bridge: 9.30 am–6 pm. Hours change, so check each official site.

📅 Open days: The free City viewpoints open most days, with closures for private events. New Scotland Yard, the St Pancras clock tower and the British Academy's full building tours depend on Open House, held each September.

🎫 Admission: Free: Sky Garden and the Lookout (both booked), the Reflection Garden and the Royal Opera House terrace. Paid in September 2026: St Paul's £27 for an adult, Tower Bridge £18. Open House visits are free, but some need a ballot or booking.

🚇 Getting there: Monument or Bank for the Sky Garden, Liverpool Street or Bank for 8 Bishopsgate. St Paul's for the cathedral and Cannon Street, Covent Garden for the Opera House, Tower Hill for Tower Bridge.

☕ Food: The Sky Garden has its own cafés and bars. Bar Cicoria runs the Royal Opera House terrace. St Paul's has a café in the crypt.

⏳ How long: An hour at the Sky Garden, which is the ticket limit. Allow two hours for St Paul's with the dome climb.

📷 Best time: A clear day for the towers. Monday or Friday evening at 8 Bishopsgate for sunset. A still morning for the pool at 25 Cannon Street.

♿ Access: Lifts serve the Sky Garden, the Lookout and the Royal Opera House terrace (from Bow Street). St Paul's galleries are stairs only.

🗺️ Nearby: Leadenhall Market sits between 8 Bishopsgate and the Sky Garden. Tate Modern is across the Millennium Bridge from St Paul's.

Which London view do you keep going back to, and is it free, ticketed, or only open one weekend a year?

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All photos were taken by Ina/WithinLondon, unless stated otherwise.