London Eye Overview

The London Eye is a 135 metre-tall ferris wheel dominating the heart of London and offering visitors unrivalled panoramas across the city.

Altering the capital's skyline in the most dramatic way, the South Bank-mounted structure is the biggest wheel of its type in Europe – and remains the symbol of millennium spirit.

Unlike its less successful cousin the Millennium Dome, the Y2K inauguration of the wheel signalled the birth of what would become Britain's most visited tourist attraction.

Opening in March 2000, the structure holds some 32 sealed and air-conditioned passenger capsules, each carrying some 25 people who are entitled to walk about or simply to sit and soak up the vista. The wheel rotates gradually at 26 cm per second allowing one revolution to last a patient 30 minutes and rarely stopping as passengers embark and disembark at the bottom.

The towering structure is open from 10am to 8pm during the winter months, but remains open until 9pm in June and September and even until 9.30 in July and August.

London Eye Location

The London Eye is located directly opposite the Houses of Parliament on the South Bank of the River Thames, providing passengers with stellar views of the historic parliamentary buildings and beyond it the royal parkland of St James' Park that leads majestically on to Buckingham Palace.

But the high-rising wheel does not confine passengers to ogling at its near surroundings: all directions afford viewers a panorama stretching for miles across the sprawling city of London and out into the countryside.

To access the foot of the Eye, visitors can walk from Waterloo, just east of the structure, or across the river from Embankment. Those passing on foot from the west end can cross the river via Westminster Bridge or Hungerford Bridge, with the attraction lying between them at Jubilee Gardens.

Why Visit the London Eye

Famous architect Sir Richard Rogers claimed: "The Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look back down on it.

"Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. That's the beauty of it: it is public and accessible, and it is in a great position at the heart of London."

His claims are justified by the millions of visitors who take to the wheel each year. Its popularity forced the local council to alter the structure's original five-year permit and grant the Eye permanent status on London's skyline, granting travellers a chance to scale its heights for years to come.