The Thames from the Water: A Boat Tour from Westminster to Greenwich

The River Thames has shaped London's identity for over two thousand years, serving as its highway, its sewer, its trading lifeline, and its stage for some of Britain's most dramatic history. On this boat tour, you'll travel from Westminster to Greenwich aboard a commuter river service, passing landmarks that span Roman engineering to Cold War bunkers. You'll also hear how the river's banks swung from imperial trade hub to post-industrial ruin – and back again.

The tour starts at Westminster Pier, where you board the Thames Clippers RB1 line heading east. As the boat pulls away, the London Eye comes into view on the south bank, a five-year temporary structure that never left. You'll pass the Victoria Embankment, narrowed from a much wider, shallower river by Victorian engineer Joseph Bazalgette's ambitious sewer project, and learn how the Great Stink of 1858 finally forced Parliament to act. Ahead, the distinctive shapes of City of London skyscrapers – including the Walkie-Talkie and the Gherkin – reveal how St Paul's Cathedral controls the skyline around it.

Further east, the tour traces the transformation of the old Docklands, from Wapping's smuggler-filled wharves to Canary Wharf's privately owned financial district. You'll hear how the Mayflower departed from Rotherhithe, how Limehouse became London's first Chinatown, and how the world's first tunnel under a navigable river was built beneath your feet in 1843. The tour ends at Greenwich Pier, beside the Cutty Sark tea clipper, with the Old Royal Naval College and the Royal Observatory – home of the Prime Meridian – rising up the hill above you.

On this 45-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• See HMS Belfast, the WWII warship that fired opening shots on D-Day, moored permanently on the Thames
• Learn the dramatic story of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, destroyed by a stage cannon in 1613
• Hear how the Tower of London's Crown Jewels were destroyed by Oliver Cromwell – and what survived
• Find out how mudlarking – searching the riverbed at low tide – has unearthed secret Tudor shoes and centuries-old coins
• Learn how Tower Bridge's stone exterior conceals 11,000 tons of steel beneath it

Grab a window seat, tap your contactless card, and let the river do the rest.

Please note: the boat ticket is not included