Big Ben, the Clock Tower of Parliament
Ninety-six metres, 334 steps, four dials of opal glass and a bell that has been striking the hour since July 1859. Strictly the name belongs to the bell; nobody has used it that way in a century.
Big Ben, the Elizabeth Tower, or the Great Clock?
Three names for three different things, and they get used interchangeably everywhere. Big Ben is the Great Bell hanging in the belfry. The tower around it was called the Clock Tower until 2012, when it was renamed the Elizabeth Tower for the Diamond Jubilee. The Great Clock is the mechanism that drives the four dials. Every operator sells the view under the shortest name, which is why this page does too.
What the clock actually is
When it started on 31 May 1859 it was the largest and most accurate clock in the world, and it remains the biggest striking and chiming turret clock in the United Kingdom. The Great Bell was first heard on 11 July of the same year. Augustus Pugin designed the dial frames, which he drew while working on the interiors of the new Palace; each dial is built from six pieces bolted together and glazed with 324 separate panes of opal glass.
Can you go up the tower?
Yes, on a ticket sold by Parliament itself and by nobody else. The climb is 334 steps with no lift, and it ends in the belfry beside the bell. Tickets are released in batches, sell out quickly, and are non-refundable once bought. You book them through Parliament's own ticketing site or in person at the ticket office at Portcullis House on Victoria Embankment.
| Detail | Elizabeth Tower tour |
|---|---|
| Adult ticket | £55 for tours from 1 August 2026 |
| Child ticket | £35, ages 11–17 |
| Minimum age | 11 — there is no exception |
| Steps | 334, no lift, with planned pauses to rest |
| Length | up to 90 minutes |
| Maximum per booking | 8 tickets |
| Refunds | None — tower tickets are non-refundable |
| Where to buy | Parliament's own ticketing site, or Portcullis House ticket office |
Prices and rules published by UK Parliament and checked in August 2026. Ear defenders are handed out at the top, because the mechanism and the bells are loud at close range.
Why no tour you book from abroad includes the climb
Because Parliament does not wholesale it. The tower tour is sold direct, in its own release windows, with an age limit and a hard cap of eight per booking, and none of that fits an operator's model. Every walking tour of Westminster therefore sells you the view rather than the climb, and the honest ones say so. If the tower is the thing you want, book it yourself first and build the rest of the day around the slot you get.
Where to stand for the photograph
The classic frame is from the eastern end of Westminster Bridge, where the tower rises clear of the roofline. Parliament Square gives you the tower through the railings with the pinnacles behind. The best light is early morning from the South Bank, when the east face catches the sun and the river is still. All three are free and none of them requires a ticket.
The 2017 to 2022 conservation
The tower spent five years inside scaffolding for the largest and most complex conservation project in its history, from the gilt cross and orb at the tip to the foot of the staircase. The clock mechanism was removed and rebuilt, the ironwork repaired, the dials re-glazed and the original colour scheme restored. What you see now is closer to Pugin's intention than anything visitors saw for the previous century.
What you hear, and when
The Great Bell strikes the hour. The four quarter bells play the Westminster Quarters, the sixteen-note phrase written for Cambridge in 1793 and borrowed here. If you are standing on Parliament Square at the hour you will hear the quarters first and then the strike, and it is worth timing your arrival for it.
Seeing the tower on a guided walk
Every Westminster walking tour includes it, all of them from the pavement. What differs is how long you stand there and what your guide does with the time. A Blue Badge guide will place you for the light and the sound; a private cab will give you ten minutes and move on. Both are legitimate, and all Houses of Parliament tours sets out which is which.
Inside the Palace itself, the route runs from Westminster Hall through to the two chambers, and what you actually see walks through it in order. For the practical detail before you travel, visitor information covers the entrance and the security queue, and when Parliament sits has the dates the building opens on a weekday. The tower's own story sits inside the history of the Palace, and London Parliament building tour compares every way in.
Walking tours that take in the tower
Three Westminster walks that put you under the Elizabeth Tower with a guide who can tell you what you are looking at.
