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Ninety seconds on Big Ben
Yes, on the official guided Elizabeth Tower tour, which climbs to the Belfry where the Great Bell hangs. Tours run Monday to Saturday, with some days dropped across the month for scheduled maintenance.
Through the official Parliament ticket site only. Sales open on the second Wednesday of every month at 10am for tours three months out, and dates shown greyed out are not available.
The tour climbs 334 steps from the foot of the tower to the Belfry. A further 65 lead up to the Ayrton Light, which is not part of the visit, and no tour uses the lift.
The visit lasts 1 hour 45 minutes. That covers the 90-minute climb plus time at the start and end to lock away and retrieve belongings; the security check at Cromwell Green comes before it.
Children must be aged 11 or over. Every visitor must also be comfortable climbing all 334 steps and hearing the loud clock mechanism and bells up close, and ear defenders are provided.
Strictly, Big Ben is the Great Bell that hangs in the Belfry. The clock is the Great Clock, and the tower around both was the Clock Tower until 2012, when it was renamed the Elizabeth Tower.
The one tour that enters Parliament's clock tower finishes in the Belfry, where you stand beside Big Ben itself as it strikes the hour.
The Great Bell weighs 13.7 tonnes, and its hammer alone is 200 kilograms. It hangs in the Belfry of the Elizabeth Tower, which rises 96 metres over 11 floors, with four other bells around it. Above the Belfry, the Ayrton Light shines whenever the Houses of Parliament are sitting.
On the way up you pass exhibition spaces and the clock mechanism room, where the inner workings of the Great Clock are in view. Near the top you step behind the four clock dials.
The bell you stand beside is the second Big Ben, cast in 1858 after the first cracked during testing. A conservation project, the largest in the tower's history, finished in 2022, and the guide explains the work as you climb.
Thirty minutes before your tour time, at the latest, you need to be at the Cromwell Green entrance for airport-style security. That queue forms outside the building, so dress for the weather.
Bags, phones and cameras go into a secure locker, then the guide leads the group up the spiral stairwell, with planned pauses to rest. You come back down the same stairs.
After the tour you can explore medieval Westminster Hall and get a drink at the café inside the Palace.
Pair it with Houses of Parliament, whose tours also start from Westminster Hall, or with Westminster Abbey.
The tour is fully guided, with no self-guided or audio version, so the guide sets the pace and the stops. It runs 90 minutes and departs from Westminster Hall. Start times show on the Parliament ticket site when each month's dates are released.
Wear closed shoes with a back. Sandals, flip-flops, backless shoes and heels are not allowed in the tower, and the Belfry can be windy, so bring a windproof or warm layer.
Use the toilets before the tour sets off, because there are none inside the tower. Eating, drinking and photography are not allowed on the climb.
One order covers up to eight tickets.
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