By Nora Lindqvist · Updated · Affiliate links, explained in my disclosure
If you want the best views in London, there are four decks worth your time and a handful of free hills that rival them. The Shard is the highest at 244.8 m, the London Eye is the most reviewed at 4.6 from 40,657 reviews with tickets from $38.65, and Sky Garden is free with a booking. The cheapest paid platform is the ArcelorMittal Orbit at $13.33. My pick is The Shard, about an hour before sunset.
| Tour | From | Rating | Length | Free cancellation | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The View from The Shard | $35.54 | ★ 4.5 (10,257) | 24-hour ticket | Yes | Check availability |
| The London Eye Entry Ticket | $38.65 | ★ 4.6 (40,657) | 30 minutes | Yes | Check availability |
| Sky Garden Early Access with Pastry and Hot Drink | $17.99 | ★ 4.0 (1,094) | 2 hours | – | Check availability |
| ArcelorMittal Orbit viewing platform (Olympic Park) | $13.33 | ★ 3.4 (6) | 24-hour ticket | Yes | Check availability |
The best views in London depend on what you want in the frame, because the city has no single skyscraper district. The wheel sits beside Parliament, The Shard and Sky Garden look at each other across the Thames near London Bridge, and the Orbit looks over the Olympic Park to the east. The table has every deck, with the height I could cite, whether you are outside, the cheapest ticket on GetYourGuide and the rating of its top listing.
| Deck | Height | Open-air? | Price from | Top ticket rating | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Shard | 244.8 m deck, 306 m tower | Yes, the 72nd floor | $35.54 | 4.49 from 10,257 | Tickets |
| London Eye | 135 m wheel | No, a glass capsule | $38.65 | 4.6 from 40,657 | Tickets |
| Sky Garden | 160 m building, top three floors | A terrace, not on every slot | Free on the official site; $17.99 for early access | 4.03 from 1,094 | Tickets |
| ArcelorMittal Orbit | 114.5 m | No, indoor platforms | $13.33 | 3.36 from 6 | Tickets |
Heights come from Wikidata for the wheel and Wikipedia for The Shard’s deck, with the building heights for Sky Garden and the Orbit taken from Wikipedia as well. Prices are US dollars from the listings I checked in October 2026. One thing the table hides is how different the four are: a 30-minute ride, a high tower, a garden and a sculpture. I’d pick by that experience first and by price second.
The Shard is the one I’d book first among the best views in London, because nothing else in the city puts you this high with the river laid out below. According to Wikipedia, the tower was designed by Renzo Piano and opened in 2013, and The View from The Shard spans floors 68 to 72 with an open-air deck on the top level. At 244.8 m the horizon is about 55.9 km away on a clear day, per the horizon formula in my data, which is enough to see well past the edge of the city.
The View from The Shard
My pick: The plain ticket I'd start from: $35.54, the most reviewed Shard option by far and the cheapest way to the highest deck in London.
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$35.54
The champagne version adds a glass at the top for about $14 more. It is rated 4.52, but from 234 reviews, so the plain ticket is the safer measure of what you get. I’d buy it for an anniversary, not for the view itself, which is identical. Everything about queues, the entrance on Joiner Street and the other Shard options is on my Shard tickets page.
The View from The Shard
My pick: The same deck as the plain ticket with a glass of champagne added; I'd book it for an occasion, not for a better view.
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$49.41
The London Eye gives the best views of London’s landmarks themselves, because it sits across the river from Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and turns slowly enough for a photograph from every side. Wikipedia calls it the world’s tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and Wikidata gives its height as 135 m. The ride is one rotation of about 30 minutes in a shared capsule, per the ticket listing, so you never need to queue for a lift or wait for a table.
The London Eye - MEG
My pick: The plain entry ticket at $38.65: 4.6 stars from 40,657 reviews, and the one I'd book for a first visit to the wheel.
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$38.65
The champagne experience is the premium version, at $65.31 and rated 4.85 from 917 reviews, and it is the best-rated wheel ticket in my data. If you are going with a partner and want the ride to feel like an occasion, it is the one I’d pick. The detail on combos with Madame Tussauds and SEA LIFE is on my London Eye tickets page.
The London Eye - MEG
My pick: A champagne ride at $65.31, the best-rated London Eye product at 4.85, for a couple who want an occasion.
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$65.31
Sky Garden is the free view that beats most paid ones, and that is why the best views in London do not all come with a price. It is the garden at the top of 20 Fenchurch Street, the building Londoners call the Walkie-Talkie, and Wikipedia says it spans the top three floors of the 160 m tower. Entry is free if you book a timed slot on the official Sky Garden site, and Google Maps rates it 4.6 from 78,632 reviews.
Vox City Walks
My pick: Early access with a pastry and a hot drink for $17.99: the quiet morning slot, and the most reviewed paid Sky Garden listing.
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$17.99
The paid options are about the extras, not the view. A music night with a glass of fizz is $29.32 and is rated 3.75 from 108 reviews, so I would only pay it for the atmosphere. If you simply want a high London view for nothing, book the free slot as far ahead as the official site lets you, and treat every paid listing as an optional add-on. My Sky Garden tickets page explains which add-on is worth the money.
Night tourVox City Walks
My pick: An evening slot with live music and a glass of fizz at $29.32; pay for the mood, because the free ticket gives the same skyline.
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$29.32
The ArcelorMittal Orbit is the outsider on this list, and the view it gives is of east London and the Olympic Park rather than the postcard centre. Wikipedia describes it as a 114.5-metre sculpture and observation tower in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, with two indoor viewing platforms. The viewing platform ticket is $13.33, the cheapest paid deck in London, but it is rated 3.36 from only 6 reviews, so I would not plan a day around it.
Zip World
My pick: The cheapest paid platform in London at $13.33; only 6 reviews and a 3.36 rating, so go for the Olympic Park, not for the view alone.
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$13.33
The Orbit is not among the best views in London for a short visit, but I’d go if you are already in Stratford for the stadium or the park, or if you like seeing the other side of London that the centre never shows. For anyone with one afternoon in the middle of the city, it is too far east to be worth the journey. Details are on the ArcelorMittal Orbit tickets page.
The best views of London for no money at all are on hills and open ground, and this is the section I’d read before spending anything. London is a city of low rises and high parks, so a free hill gives wider views of London than a paid platform, and it often keeps the protected sightlines to St Paul’s Cathedral that a tower cannot. Google Maps lists these places in my data, each public and free to approach.
Parliament Hill Viewpoint, on Hampstead Heath, is the best known: 4.7 from 5,210 reviews, and about 6.7 km from the London Eye in a straight line. Primrose Hill is rated 4.8 and sits about 4.8 km from the wheel, with the skyline a little more distant and tidy. Richmond Hill, at 4.9 from 872 reviews, is 13.4 km from the wheel and is the view to take if you want the river and the green countryside west of the city. Stave Hill in Rotherhithe is 4.9 from 40 reviews and 3.2 km from The Shard, a small and quiet mound with the Docklands towers in the frame.
Scenic spot
4.7 · 5,210 Google reviews
Heath Lodge, London NW5 1QR, United Kingdom
Scenic spot
4.8 · 324 Google reviews
GRQQ+RP, London NW8 7ED, United Kingdom
Scenic spot
4.9 · 872 Google reviews
Richmond Hill, Richmond TW10, United Kingdom
Open in Google MapsScenic spot
4.9 · 40 Google reviews
London SE16 6SA, United Kingdom
Scenic spot
4.8 · 79 Google reviews
56 Upper Ground, London SE1 9PP, United Kingdom
Observation deck
4.4 · 658 Google reviews
Hopton St, London SE1 9TG, United Kingdom
Observation deck
4.6 · 463 Google reviews
One New Change, London EC4M 9AF, United Kingdom
In the centre, three options are within a short walk of the decks. The Observation Point on the South Bank (4.8 from 79 reviews) is about 1.0 km from the London Eye, so you can see the view of the wheel and Parliament without a ticket. The Tate Modern Viewing Level (4.4 from 658 reviews) is about 1.0 km from The Shard, and the Roof Terrace at One New Change (4.6 from 463 reviews) looks at St Paul’s and is 0.9 km from Sky Garden. I have no prices for the last two in my data, so check their own sites for the entry terms of the day.
Bridges are the other free option for views of London. London Bridge, rated 4.6 from 67,155 reviews, is a short walk from The Shard and gives the Tower Bridge and Shard frame at dusk. I would pair a free hill at sunrise or sunset with one paid deck in the middle of a visit, not try to replace the deck, since no hill gets you to the height of The Shard.
A cluster of high bars around Bishopsgate and the City gives a view for the price of a drink, and in my data the highest rated are Horizon 22 (4.8 from 6,757 reviews) and The Lookout at Level 50 of 8 Bishopsgate (4.8 from 1,631 reviews). I have no entry terms or prices for either, so I will not quote any. What I can say is that both sit within about 1 km of Sky Garden, so a free Sky Garden slot and a second view in the same area is a realistic evening.
The weather is the same for every one of the best views in London, so I use the London Eye’s year of data as the city’s reference. Per Open-Meteo, April was the clearest month in 2025 at 44 percent cloud cover, while October was the cloudiest at 76 percent, with November the wettest at 15 rainy days. Sunset runs from 15:51 in December to 21:19 in June, a five-and-a-half-hour swing that changes which slot to book.
| Month | Sunset (London time) | Cloud cover | Sunshine a day | Rainy days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 16:21 | 75% | 3.5 h | 13 |
| Feb | 17:16 | 73% | 4.1 h | 10 |
| Marclearest | 18:05 | 51% | 9.2 h | 3 |
| Aprclearest | 19:57 | 44% | 11.4 h | 4 |
| May | 20:46 | 56% | 11.2 h | 7 |
| Jun | 21:19 | 54% | 12.9 h | 7 |
| Jul | 21:11 | 59% | 11.6 h | 9 |
| Aug | 20:22 | 60% | 10.5 h | 7 |
| Sepclearest | 19:14 | 51% | 9.3 h | 11 |
| Oct | 18:07 | 76% | 5.3 h | 9 |
| Nov | 16:11 | 69% | 4.3 h | 15 |
| Dec | 15:51 | 71% | 3.5 h | 10 |
Sunset planner
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book this entry time (50 min before sunset)
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sunset, London time
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typical cloud cover that week
Sunset and cloud cover for the same dates in 2025 at the deck (Open-Meteo historical weather (ERA5), 2025); sunset moves by about a minute between years.
My rule for the best views in London is to arrive 45 to 60 minutes before sunset. In winter, that means a mid-afternoon slot, and the ticketed Sky Garden hours of 10 AM to 6 PM on weekdays can close before dusk in summer, so on a long June evening I would pick The Shard or the wheel instead. Cloud matters more than the hour, so if you can choose only one thing, choose a clear spring day.
The three central decks are close enough to compare in a day. From coordinates in my data, The Shard and Sky Garden are only 0.8 km (0.5 miles) apart, on opposite sides of the Thames, and the London Eye is 2.5 km (1.6 miles) from The Shard and 2.9 km (1.8 miles) from Sky Garden. You can walk the South Bank from the wheel to The Shard in a little over half an hour, past the Tate Modern, which is the walk I’d recommend.
The Orbit is the outlier, in Stratford, east of the centre, and the trip from the middle of the city is a transit journey, not a walk. Because the three central decks give such similar angles on the Thames, I’d choose two from different corners instead of three from the same one. If you are torn between the two big tickets, my head-to-head on the London Eye vs The Shard goes into height, price and crowds one by one.
I’ve kept this list to one line per visitor, so you can find yourself quickly.
If you can only afford one paid view, I’d book The Shard, the top of my best views in London list. If you can add a free one, pair it with Sky Garden or a hill on a clear evening, so the skyline looks different from the first.
For one view, I'd pick The Shard: its viewing deck is at 244.8 m, the highest in the city, and it has an open-air level on the 72nd floor. For a free view, Sky Garden gives a high skyline from 160 m with a booking, and Parliament Hill (4.7 from 5,210 reviews on Google Maps) gives the whole city for nothing.
Yes. Entry to Sky Garden is free if you book a timed slot on the official site, which is why I treat it as the best-value view in London. What GetYourGuide sells are add-ons: early access with a pastry from $17.99, a breakfast at $33.32, a music night at $29.32 and a dinner at $43.99. Slots go fast, so book early.
Sky Garden with a free booking costs nothing. Among paid tickets, the ArcelorMittal Orbit viewing platform is $13.33 (rated 3.36 from only 6 reviews), The Shard starts at $35.54 and the London Eye at $38.65. Free hills such as Parliament Hill and Primrose Hill cost nothing and need no ticket.
The Shard is higher, at 244.8 m against the wheel's 135 m, and has an open-air level. The London Eye gives a slow 30-minute ride beside Big Ben and Westminster, and it is the more reviewed ticket at 4.6 from 40,657. I'd choose the wheel for the riverside icon and The Shard for the height.
From Google Maps, the highest rated lesser-known viewpoints are Stave Hill in Rotherhithe (4.9), Richmond Hill (4.9 from 872 reviews), Primrose Hill (4.8) and the Observation Point on the South Bank (4.8). All are open spaces. They have far fewer reviews than the big decks, but they are quiet and cost nothing.
Per Open-Meteo data for 2025, April was the clearest month at 44 percent cloud cover and October the cloudiest at 76 percent. Sunset runs from 15:51 in December to 21:19 in June. I'd arrive 45 to 60 minutes before sunset, so the city is lit in daylight, at dusk and after dark.
Sky Garden is the free option, but the ticketed garden closes at 6 PM on weekdays and 9 PM at weekends, per its official site, with the bars and restaurants open later. For a late free view outdoors, the South Bank walk by the Observation Point and the bridges are open public space.