There is no single underground London. There is a reinforced government basement under Whitehall, a set of disused Tube stations you cannot enter without a guide, a deep shelter for 8,000 people under Clapham, the entrance shaft of the first tunnel ever driven under a navigable river, and a Roman temple seven metres below the City. This page puts the Churchill War Rooms at the centre and sorts the rest around them – with checked 2026 prices in pounds and US dollars, step counts, age limits, and an honest answer to the real question: which of these can you actually get a ticket for.
- TicketsChurchill War Rooms: every ticket carries a timed slot.
- Price£34.00 (about $45.37) – Churchill War Rooms, adult, standard price without the donation
- OpenChurchill War Rooms: daily 9:30–18:00, last entry 17:00, closed only 24–26 December.
- Best timeChurchill War Rooms: afternoon.
- ClaustrophobiaThe War Rooms are a basement with low ceilings and long narrow corridors, but well lit and easy to leave at any point.
Ten places under London, compared
Churchill War Rooms
The British government's war basement under what is now the Treasury on Horse Guards Road: Cabinet Room, Map Room, Churchill's bedroom and office, and the Transatlantic Telephone Room disguised as a lavatory, plus the attached Churchill Museum over 850 m². The rooms have stood largely as the staff left them on the evening of 16 August 1945.
Multimedia guide included, fully wheelchair accessible, and the café sits in the old telephone switchboard room. This is not a bunker cut into rock: it is 15 steps or one lift down from the pavement.
£34 adults (about $45.37), £17 children 5–15, £30.60 concessions, under-5s free (09/2026)
Hidden London: Aldwych – the end of the line
Opened as Strand in 1907 and closed in 1994, the terminus of the Piccadilly line spur from Holborn: ticket hall, two platforms, original 1907 lifts, advertising posters that have hung there for decades. A shelter and an art store for London's museums in wartime, and now one of the most filmed locations in the city.
130 steps down a spiral staircase and 130 back up – roughly eight storeys – plus about 20 steps between the platforms. Age 10 and over, photo ID required. There is a separate family version with puzzles.
£46.50 adults (about $62.05), £43.50 concessions and children, plus a £1.50 booking fee per order (09/2026)
Hidden London: Clapham South Deep-Level Shelter
One of eight deep shelters dug under London Underground stations from 1940: two parallel tubes on two decks each, built for around 8,000 people, with a canteen, medical posts and bunks. In 1948 it housed 200 of the first Caribbean migrants off the Empire Windrush; in 1951 it traded as the Festival Hotel.
180 steps, which the museum puts at eleven storeys below the street; no step-free access, age 10 and over. Two guides, one of them in character as a 1940 shelter warden, and you are handed a reprinted night ticket.
£39 adults (about $52.04), £36 concessions and children (09/2026)
Hidden London: Down Street
The Mayfair station that opened on 15 March 1907 and closed in 1932 for want of passengers. In the Second World War it was rebuilt as the bomb-proof headquarters of the Railway Executive Committee; Churchill slept here at the height of the Blitz, before the War Rooms were fully built out.
122 steps, no lift, narrow passages, age 10 and over. The platforms lie 22.2 m below Piccadilly. Unlike the other tours, the ticket includes full entry to the London Transport Museum.
£90 adults (about $120.10), £87 concessions (09/2026)
Hidden London: Euston and Moorgate
Two more stations where parts of the operation were closed down while the station above carried on. At Euston you walk two pedestrian passageways untouched since 1962 and 1967, with a view from a ventilation shaft down onto the Victoria line platforms. At Moorgate you follow the catacombs under the Barbican along disused City Widened Line tracks, past glazed tiling from 1900.
Neither is step-free, both are age 10 and over. Euston is the last chance to see the original 1907 Leslie Green frontage before the HS2 rebuild takes it.
£46.50 adults each (about $62.05), £43.50 concessions and children (09/2026)
Brunel Museum and the Thames Tunnel shaft, Rotherhithe
The entrance shaft with which Marc Brunel began the first tunnel under a navigable river in 1825: a 15 m cylinder that was sunk into the ground under its own weight. The tunnel itself took 18 years and opened on 25 March 1843; it runs 400 m and sits 23 m below the water at high tide. Since 2016 a staircase has led back down into the shaft, its walls still black with soot from the steam trains.
The viewing platform over the shaft is step-free; 35 steps lead to the lower level and there is no lift. The Overground runs through Brunel's tube beneath your feet – you can hear the trains.
£10 adults (about $13.34, price includes the Gift Aid donation), £7 concessions, under-16s free, SE16/SE8 residents £2.50 (09/2026)
London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE
The Roman temple of Mithras from the bank of the Walbrook, built around AD 240, found in 1954 during excavation for an office block, rebuilt inaccurately a hundred metres away at street level in 1962 – and in 2017 returned to its own site in the basement of Bloomberg's European headquarters, seven metres below today's pavement. Alongside it, a wall of finds from a dig that produced more than 14,000 objects, among them the earliest written reference to London.
A short light, haze and sound piece runs in the temple, after which you can stay as long as you like. No flash, no video. Fully step-free by lift, and there is no guide – you go in on your own.
free; a timed ticket is recommended but not required (09/2026)
Crypts: St Paul's Cathedral and St Bride's
The crypt of St Paul's is the largest in Western Europe and runs under the whole footprint of the cathedral, holding the tombs of Nelson, Wellington and Christopher Wren. It comes with the ordinary sightseeing ticket and cannot be booked on its own. Free and far quieter is the crypt of St Bride's on Fleet Street: Roman mosaic pavement of about AD 180 behind the altar, a medieval chapel, and an iron coffin from the days of the body snatchers.
Twenty steps lead down to the crypt at St Bride's and there is no step-free way in. St Paul's is open on Sundays for worship only – if the crypt is all you want, Sunday is not your day.
St Paul's £27 adults (about $36.03), £10.50 children; St Bride's free (09/2026)
Chislehurst Caves
Thirty-five kilometres of hand-cut chalk and flint tunnels in the south-east, open to visitors since 1900. An ammunition store for the Woolwich Arsenal in the First World War, a mushroom farm in the 1920s, from September 1940 the largest deep air-raid shelter in the region with up to 15,000 people a night, later a concert hall. Tours are lit by oil lamp and nothing else.
The floor is as uneven as cobbles – pushchairs and wheelchairs are allowed but hard work, and somebody has to carry the lamp. Free car park, Chislehurst station within walking distance, about 30 minutes from London Bridge.
£10 adults 16–63 (about $13.34), £8 for 64+ and children 3–15, under-3s free (09/2026)
Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker
Behind an unremarkable bungalow in Essex, a 91 m tunnel leads into a three-storey bunker 38 m underground, built in 1952/53 as an RAF radar control centre, later a regional seat of government for the worst case, decommissioned in 1992. Inside: operations room, sick bay, broadcasting studio and dormitories for up to 600 people.
The route is self-guided with a handset, included in the price, and there is a separate children's trail. Bring cash: underground the card terminal often has no signal. The site now forms part of the Nuclear Essex activity park, with obstacle courses and a high-ropes course.
£15 adults (about $20.02), £13 children 5–16, family £38 (09/2026)
Tickets and prices
Churchill War Rooms: every ticket carries a timed slot. IWM is explicit that the time on the ticket is the time you should arrive, and that entry is guaranteed within half an hour of it – not before. Hidden London: dates are released in blocks covering roughly half a year at a time. Anyone signed up to the Hidden London e-newsletter gets a 24-hour priority booking window at every release, and on the tours people actually want that head start is the whole game.
Official prices
- Churchill War Rooms, adult, standard price without the donation£34.00 (about $45.37)
- Churchill War Rooms, adult with the voluntary 10 per cent Gift Aid donationabout £37.40 (about $49.91)
- Churchill War Rooms, child aged 5–15 (must be with an adult)£17.00 (about $22.68)
- Churchill War Rooms, children under 5free
- Churchill War Rooms, concession (65+, students, disabled visitors)£30.60 (about $40.83)
- Churchill War Rooms, carer accompanying a disabled visitorfree
- Hidden London: Aldwych, Euston, Moorgate – adults£46.50 (about $62.05)
- Hidden London: Aldwych, Euston, Moorgate – concessions and children£43.50 (about $58.05)
- Hidden London: Clapham South – adults / concessions£39.00 / £36.00 (about $52.04 / $48.04)
- Hidden London: Down Street – adults / concessions£90.00 / £87.00 (about $120.10 / $116.09)
- Hidden London: booking fee per order (shown on the Aldwych booking page)£1.50 (about $2.00)
- Brunel Museum, adult (the published price already includes the Gift Aid donation)£10.00 (about $13.34)
- Brunel Museum, concession (students, 65+, disabled visitors)£7.00 (about $9.34)
- Brunel Museum, under 16s / residents of SE16 and SE8free / £2.50 (about $3.34)
- London Mithraeum, all visitorsfree (a timed ticket is recommended)
- St Paul's Cathedral including the crypt, adults / children£27.00 / £10.50 (about $36.03 / $14.01)
- St Bride's Church with its cryptfree
- Chislehurst Caves, adults 16–63 / 64+ / children 3–15£10.00 / £8.00 / £8.00 (about $13.34 / $10.68 / $10.68)
- Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker, adults / children 5–16 / family£15.00 / £13.00 / £38.00 (about $20.02 / $17.35 / $50.71)
- Exchange rate behind every dollar figure on this page£1 = about $1.3344, derived from the ECB reference rates of 18 September 2026 (€1 = $1.1460 and €1 = £0.85880)
As of 09/2026 · source and direct booking: iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms
When everything is sold out
Hidden London is the bottleneck: small groups, few dates, and on 20 September 2026 the most sought-after tour of the lot – Down Street – had no bookable dates in the programme at all. Where a booking button should be there was only an invitation to hear when tickets go on sale. Aldwych, Euston, Moorgate and Clapham South were bookable, Clapham South only from December 2026. For the War Rooms it is not the ticket that runs out at weekends and in school holidays, it is the time slot you wanted.
Tickets and tours for underground London
Booking direct is almost always cheaper: the War Rooms are £34 (about $45.37) from IWM, and the Hidden London station tours are sold by the London Transport Museum and nobody else. A reseller earns its keep when the official time slots for your day have gone, or when you were booking a guided Westminster walk anyway and admission is folded into it. Two things to check in the description: whether entry is actually included, and whether a tour advertised as hidden or secret London goes below ground at all – several of them only look at closed stations from the street.
London: Westminster WW2 Tour & Churchill’s War Rooms Ticket
London: London in WW2 and Churchill War Rooms Entrance
London: Churchill War Rooms Entry & Political Audio Tour
London: Westminster Tour and Churchill War Rooms Visit
Show all 10 offers
London: Big Ben, Churchill War Rooms & Buck'ham Palace Tour
London: Hidden Baker Street Tube Station Tour
London: Guided Tour of Hidden Tube Station at Charing Cross
Hidden Tube Tour - Piccadilly Circus: The Heart of London
London: Hidden Tube Tour of Holborn's Secret Platforms
Small Group Churchill War Rooms Entry & Westminster Tour
Booked through GetYourGuide (affiliate link, advertising). Most offers can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours ahead. Prices as of 20 September 2026.
Opening hours and best time
Churchill War Rooms: daily 9:30–18:00, last entry 17:00, closed only 24–26 December. London Mithraeum: Tuesday to Saturday 10:00–18:00, Sunday 12:00–17:00, Wednesdays in term time from 12:30, first Thursday of the month until 20:00, closed Mondays. Brunel Museum: Friday to Monday 10:30–15:30, last entry 15:00. St Paul's Cathedral: sightseeing Monday to Saturday from 8:30, last entry usually 16:00; no sightseeing on Sundays. St Bride's: Monday to Friday 8:00–17:00, Saturday 10:00–15:30, Sunday 10:00–18:30. Chislehurst Caves: Wednesday to Sunday, plus daily during local school holidays; the caves are open 10:00–16:00 with tours leaving on the hour and the last one at 16:00. Kelvedon Hatch: 1 March to 31 October daily 10:00–16:00 (weekends and bank holidays until 17:00), 1 November to the end of February Thursday to Sunday 10:00–16:00, last entry an hour before closing in each case. Hidden London tours have no opening hours at all – they run on fixed dates released in blocks.
When it is quietest
Churchill War Rooms: afternoon. IWM names after 15:00 as its own quietest window; mornings belong to coach groups. If you want an early visit anyway, take the first slot at 9:30. Hidden London: weekday dates are easier to get than weekends, and the late afternoon slots stay free longest. The real trick is buying in the first few hours after a new block of dates opens. The Mithraeum fills with City office workers at lunchtime – early morning or the long first Thursday of the month is more comfortable. In winter every central site is noticeably emptier, and underground the weather is beside the point.
Who it suits
With children
The War Rooms start to work from about age eight; children aged 5 to 15 pay half. Hidden London sets a hard floor of 10, and 10- to 16-year-olds must be with an adult – age is checked against ID at the meeting point. Aldwych has a family version with puzzles, also from 10. Kelvedon Hatch and Chislehurst Caves are the most child-friendly sites on the list.
Minimum age
Hidden London: 10, no exceptions, ID required. Chislehurst Caves: no minimum, but under-3s often find the darkness frightening and unaccompanied children are not admitted. The War Rooms, the Mithraeum and the Brunel Museum have no minimum age.
Wheelchair
Two different worlds. IWM describes the War Rooms as fully wheelchair accessible, with a lift between street and basement and loan wheelchairs bookable in advance. The Mithraeum is step-free by lift; the Brunel Museum has a step-free viewing platform over the shaft. Not one Hidden London tour is step-free, and wheelchair users cannot take part in any of them. The crypt at St Bride's is down 20 steps with no alternative route.
Pushchair
The War Rooms have no cloakroom and nowhere to park a pushchair, and the corridors are narrow. Hidden London excludes pushchairs because of the stairs. The Mithraeum has limited buggy space.
Dogs
Assistance dogs only. The Mithraeum explicitly welcomes assistance animals; Chislehurst Caves admits guide dogs.
Claustrophobia
The War Rooms are a basement with low ceilings and long narrow corridors, but well lit and easy to leave at any point. For Hidden London the museum warns you itself: cramped, dusty, dimly lit spaces with no daylight, and at Aldwych the lights go out for video projections. If confined spaces are a problem, skip the tunnel tours and go to the Mithraeum or the Brunel shaft instead – both are tall, open rooms.
What to wear
Hidden London has one rule it enforces without discussion: flat, sturdy, closed shoes. Turn up in sandals, open shoes or heels and you will be turned away. Large bags are not allowed and there are no cloakrooms anywhere. The War Rooms refuse suitcases and wheeled luggage outright and ask you to wear rucksacks on your front. It is cool below ground rather than cold – a light jacket is enough.
Photography
Photography is fine at the War Rooms and the Brunel Museum. The Mithraeum bans flash and video in the temple chamber. Hidden London allows photography, filming and sound recording for private use but pins it down: no tripods, no professional equipment, individual clips no longer than 30 seconds, no more than three minutes of footage in total, and no other visitors or staff identifiable in your shots.
Getting there
By public transport
From Heathrow the Piccadilly line runs to central London in about 50 minutes for £5.90 (about $7.87) with Oyster or a contactless card, the same fare at any time of day; the Elizabeth line runs from all terminals to Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street. From Gatwick the Gatwick Express reaches Victoria non-stop in 30 minutes, £15.10 (about $20.15) for an adult single, with Thameslink the slower and cheaper alternative into London Bridge, Blackfriars and St Pancras. In town, tap in and out with a contactless bank card or phone – Oyster and contactless cost the same, and the daily cap from Heathrow into zone 1 is £16.30 (about $21.75). Churchill War Rooms: Westminster or St James's Park on the Tube, Charing Cross or Victoria for mainline trains, buses 3, 11, 12, 24, 87, 88, 159 and 453; the entrance is at the Clive Steps on Horse Guards Road, not on King Charles Street itself. Clapham South: Northern line to Clapham South, meeting point two minutes' walk away outside the Marks & Spencer on Balham Hill. Aldwych: Temple on the Tube, meeting point at the Surrey Street entrance, not the better-known frontage on the Strand. Down Street: the Athenaeum Hotel, 116 Piccadilly. Euston: outside the Sainsbury's Local at the station. Rotherhithe for the Brunel Museum: London Overground, museum entrance on Railway Avenue. Mithraeum: Bank is two minutes away, Cannon Street one.
By car
A hire car buys you nothing in central London: congestion charge, ULEZ and almost no parking. The War Rooms have no car park of their own; the nearest blue-badge bays are on Matthew Parker Street (215 m), Old Queen Street (220 m) and Queen Anne's Gate (290 m). The London Transport Museum tells visitors to use public transport for every Hidden London meeting point. Parking is free at Chislehurst Caves and at Kelvedon Hatch.
From the nearest city
Everything in zone 1 is one walk or one Tube ride apart: about 25 minutes from the War Rooms to the Mithraeum, about 30 to Rotherhithe. Clapham South is roughly 20 minutes from the City on the Northern line. Chislehurst Caves take about 30 minutes on Southeastern from London Bridge plus a short walk. Kelvedon Hatch is in Essex, about 40 km north-east of the centre, and realistically needs a car or a taxi from Brentwood.
Tips for your visit
- Sign up to the London Transport Museum's Hidden London newsletter. Subscribers can book 24 hours before everyone else at each release of dates, and for Down Street that is in practice the only way in.
- Take original photo ID to every tunnel tour, children included. Without a passport, national ID card or driving licence in the original you will be turned away, and a photo on your phone does not count.
- Wear flat, sturdy shoes. Arrive at a Hidden London tour in sandals or heels and you will not be allowed down, for safety reasons; it is in the conditions and it is enforced.
- Read the War Rooms time slot correctly: it is your arrival time, not your entry time. Entry is guaranteed up to half an hour after it, not before it.
- Travel light. Neither the War Rooms nor the Hidden London tours nor the Mithraeum have lockers or cloakrooms, and suitcases are not allowed into the War Rooms at all.
- Book the Mithraeum even though it is free. The temple chamber opens only every 20 minutes, and the free timed ticket guarantees your place.
- At the War Rooms, take the standard ticket rather than the Gift Aid one unless you pay UK tax. The 10 per cent donation only lets the museum reclaim tax from HMRC on a British taxpayer's gift; for overseas visitors it is simply £3.40 more.
- Keep your Hidden London ticket for a month: it gets you half-price entry to the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, full entry with Down Street, and under-18s go free there anyway.
- Coming from Heathrow or Gatwick, tap in with the contactless card or phone you already carry. Oyster and contactless cost the same, the daily cap does the arithmetic for you, and you can ride Westminster, Clapham South and Rotherhithe on the same card all day.
- Take cash to Kelvedon Hatch. You pay at the end of the route, and underground the card machine regularly has no signal.
What the internet gets wrong
The War Rooms are a reinforced basement, not a deep shelter. IWM's own access page says 15 steps or one lift between the pavement and the basement floor, and the Association of Professional Tourist Guides puts it at about eleven feet – a little over three metres. IWM publishes no room count at all; what is documented is that the complex grew to three times its original size by spring 1941. And the price is £34 (about $45.37) for an adult, not €25.
Three errors in two lines. The rooms were never bomb-proof – IWM's own history records that the original cover could not have stopped a 500 lb bomb with a delayed fuse, which is why the concrete slab was poured from late 1940. The adult price for 2 September 2026 to 31 March 2027 is £34 (about $45.37). And children are not free under 16: 5- to 15-year-olds pay £17 (about $22.68) and only under-5s go free.
These are the prices that ran until spring 2026 and they are now out of date. IWM's published table for 2 September 2026 to 31 March 2027 gives £34 for adults, £17 for children aged 5 to 15 and £30.60 for concessions, with under-5s and carers free. A separate figure of about £37.40 circulates because IWM sells every ticket twice: once at the standard price and once with a voluntary 10 per cent Gift Aid donation on top. The donation is optional, and the tax it unlocks can only be reclaimed on a UK taxpayer's gift.
The London Transport Museum's limit is 10, not 14, on every station tour, and 10- to 16-year-olds must be accompanied by an adult. Age is checked at the meeting point: adults need a passport, national identity card or driving licence in the original, and for under-18s the museum also accepts a Zip Oyster photocard, a birth certificate or a letter from a school or health service.
this is a street-level walk around Fleet Street and Temple that looks at a closed station from outside. Nobody but the London Transport Museum can take you inside disused Tube infrastructure, and its own tours start at £39 (about $52.04) and run to £90 (about $120.10). Before booking anything marketed as a Hidden London tour, check whether the description actually promises access below ground.
None of that holds. The museum charges £10 for adults (about $13.34, the published price already including the Gift Aid donation), £7 for concessions and nothing for under-16s; it lists no family ticket, but residents of SE16 and SE8 pay £2.50. It opens Friday to Monday only, 10:30 to 15:30 with last entry at 15:00 – Tuesday to Thursday it is shut. Thirty-five steps lead to the lower level of the shaft, not 52, and there is no lift down there: the step-free part of the site is the viewing platform above. One thing both pages get right, and many English guides do not: you cannot walk through the Thames Tunnel. Brunel's 1843 tube carries the London Overground, and the way through it is one stop from Rotherhithe to Wapping on an ordinary fare.
no primary source supports any of these. The London Transport Museum, which runs the site, gives two figures and only two: eleven storeys below the street and 180 steps. Numbers between 30 and 36.5 metres circulate in the literature without an operator behind them, so this page repeats the step count rather than a depth.
Admission is not generally free, it is free, for groups as well, and there are no guided tours to book. You go down on your own; the only restriction is that the temple chamber opens every 20 minutes – on the hour, at 20 past and at 20 to – which is why the operator suggests reserving a free timed slot.
History in brief
- June 1938: the Office of Works picks the basement of the New Public Offices on Horse Guards Road as the government's emergency quarters, for its steel frame and its proximity to Parliament. The building is the Treasury today.
- On 27 August 1939, a week before Britain declares war, the Cabinet War Rooms go into operation. Because they sit below the level of the Thames, flood doors and pumps are fitted.
- On 22 October 1940 the decision is taken to pour a massive concrete slab over the rooms. By the spring of 1941 that extra protection allows the complex to be expanded to three times its original size. It would still not have helped against anything larger than a 500 lb bomb – the real defence was secrecy.
- Churchill's war cabinet meets here 115 times, for the last time on 28 March 1945. On 16 August 1945, the day after Japan's surrender, the lights in the Map Room go out for the first time in six years.
- In 1940 work begins on eight deep-level shelters under London Underground stations. They are not finished until 1942, after the Blitz; five open to the public in 1944, Clapham South among them.
- In 1948 the Colonial Office houses around 200 of the Caribbean migrants who arrived on the Empire Windrush at Clapham South until they can find lodgings of their own. In 1951 the shelter is let to visitors to the Festival of Britain as the Festival Hotel.
- Marc Brunel starts the Thames Tunnel with the Rotherhithe shaft in 1825 and it opens in 1843. Trains begin running through it in 1869; since 2010 the tube has belonged to the London Overground, which makes it older than any other railway under London.
- In 1954 workmen digging the foundations for an office block on the Walbrook find the temple of Mithras. In 1962 it is rebuilt a hundred metres away, above ground and inaccurately; only in 2017 does it return to its original position under the new Bloomberg building, seven metres below the street.
Frequent questions
How much are Churchill War Rooms tickets in 2026, and is the audio guide included?
Adults pay £34, about $45.37 at the ECB rate of 18 September 2026. Children aged 5 to 15 pay £17, concessions – over-65s, students and disabled visitors – £30.60, and under-5s and carers go free. The multimedia guide is included in the admission price and there is no surcharge for it. IWM's table gives these prices for 2 September 2026 to 31 March 2027. Prices of £33 or £29.50 still quoted on English guide sites are older fares.
What is the Gift Aid price, and do I have to pay it?
No. IWM is a charity and offers every ticket at two prices: the standard price, and the same ticket with a voluntary 10 per cent donation on top, which is why about £37.40 turns up as an adult price. Only the donation version lets the museum reclaim tax from HMRC, and only on a UK taxpayer's gift. Visitors from outside the UK gain nothing by paying it. The Brunel Museum works the other way round: its published £10 already includes the donation.
How does the time slot work at the Churchill War Rooms?
The time on your ticket is your arrival time, not your entry time. IWM guarantees entry within 30 minutes of it and does not guarantee letting you in earlier. Turn up later and staff will try to fit you in, but you may have to queue. Tickets bought online are neither refundable nor transferable.
How long does the Churchill War Rooms visit take?
The museum recommends at least two hours and that is realistic. The historic rooms – Cabinet Room, Map Room, the bedrooms – take a good hour; the Churchill Museum attached to them covers 850 square metres and takes about as long again. If you only want the war rooms themselves, budget an hour.
Can you visit London's abandoned tube stations without a tour?
No, and there is no exception. Every disused station that can be entered is entered on a London Transport Museum Hidden London tour, on a fixed date, with original photo ID, and only from age 10. Walking tours sold under similar names look at station frontages from the street. The scarcity is real: on 20 September 2026 the Down Street page had no booking button, only an option to be told when tickets go on sale.
Why are Hidden London tours so hard to get?
Three things at once. The stations are live or mothballed railway infrastructure, so groups are small. Dates are not released continuously but in blocks covering about half a year. And newsletter subscribers can book 24 hours before anyone else, which means the popular tours can be gone before they appear publicly at all. Sign up to the e-newsletter and buy in the first hours of a release.
How many steps are there, and is any of it step-free?
The tunnel tours are not step-free at all: Aldwych is 130 steps down a spiral staircase and the same 130 back up, plus about 20 between the platforms; Clapham South is 180 steps, which the museum describes as eleven storeys; Down Street is 122. Wheelchair users cannot join any of them, and there is almost nowhere to sit on the way. Step-free options are the Churchill War Rooms (lift, described by IWM as fully wheelchair accessible), the Mithraeum (lift to every level) and the viewing platform at the Brunel Museum.
How deep are the Churchill War Rooms?
Not deep. IWM's access page gives 15 steps, or one lift, between the pavement and the basement; the Association of Professional Tourist Guides puts the floor about eleven feet below street level. What sits overhead is the concrete slab poured from late 1940, which IWM describes as up to three metres thick. Figures of 40 feet, or descriptions of a deep bunker under Downing Street, are simply wrong: this is the reinforced basement of the former New Public Offices on Horse Guards Road, and Number 10 is a short walk further north.
Is the London Mithraeum free, and do I need to book?
It is free for everyone, including groups. Booking is not compulsory but it is sensible, because the temple chamber opens only every 20 minutes – on the hour, at 20 past and at 20 to – and a free timed ticket holds your place. There is no guided tour: you walk in, watch a short light and sound piece, and stay as long as you like.
Can you walk through the Thames Tunnel?
No. Brunel's tunnel of 1843 carries London Overground trains and cannot be entered on foot. What you can walk into is the Rotherhithe entrance shaft, 15 m across, reopened by staircase in 2016, with 35 steps down to the lower level and a step-free viewing platform above it. To travel through the tunnel itself, ride one stop from Rotherhithe to Wapping on a normal fare.
What age do children have to be for the tunnel tours?
Ten, with no exceptions, and 10- to 16-year-olds must be with an adult. Age is checked at the meeting point, and for under-18s the museum accepts a Zip Oyster photocard, a birth certificate or a letter from a school or health service alongside a passport. Aldwych has its own family version with puzzles and things to handle, also from 10.
Can you take photos underground?
At the War Rooms and the Brunel Museum, yes. At the Mithraeum, flash and video are banned in the temple chamber. On Hidden London tours photography, filming and sound recording are allowed for private use but within firm limits: no tripods, no professional equipment, individual clips of no more than 30 seconds, no more than three minutes in total, and no other visitors or staff identifiable in what you record.
What should I wear, and how cold is it down there?
Cool rather than cold – a light jacket is enough. The shoes matter more: flat, sturdy, closed shoes are compulsory on every Hidden London tour, and open shoes, sandals or heels will get you turned away, because the floors are uneven. Leave large bags behind; there are no cloakrooms on the tours or at the War Rooms.
Churchill War Rooms or a tunnel tour – which is worth it?
If you are in London once and can only choose one, take the War Rooms: no advance planning, guide included, step-free, open daily, and historically the most important room on the list. A Hidden London tour is worth adding rather than substituting – it costs £39 to £90 (about $52.04 to $120.10), needs planning and decent knees, and shows you spaces nobody else walks into. To do both in a day, take the tour in the morning and the War Rooms late in the afternoon, when IWM says it is quietest.
How do I get to the sites from Heathrow or Gatwick?
From Heathrow the Piccadilly line reaches central London in about 50 minutes for £5.90 with Oyster or contactless, the same price at any hour; the Elizabeth line runs to Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street. From Gatwick, the Gatwick Express is 30 minutes non-stop to Victoria at £15.10 for an adult single, with Thameslink slower and cheaper into London Bridge and St Pancras. In town, tap in and out with a contactless card or phone: Westminster or St James's Park for the War Rooms, Clapham South on the Northern line, Rotherhithe on the Overground, Bank or Cannon Street for the Mithraeum.
Are Chislehurst Caves or Kelvedon Hatch worth the trip?
Only if you have the time. Chislehurst Caves are about 30 minutes by train from London Bridge plus a short walk, and £10 buys roughly 45 to 50 minutes by oil lamp through a 35-kilometre system – the most family-friendly site here. Kelvedon Hatch is about 40 km north-east in Essex and awkward without a car, but it is the only real nuclear bunker in reach: 38 m down, self-guided, £15. On a two- or three-day trip to London, neither makes the cut.
Sources
Show 46 sources – every figure on this page is sourced
- www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms – Churchill War Rooms: admission from £34, open 9:30–18:00, last entry 17:00, closed 24–26 December, address at the Clive Steps
- www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms/booking – Price table for 2 September 2026 to 31 March 2027: adults £34, children 5–15 £17, concessions £30.60, members, under-5s and carers free
- www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms/access – 15 steps between street and basement, one lift, quietest after 15:00, no cloakroom and no luggage, loan wheelchairs, blue-badge bays
- www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms/whats-here – Multimedia guide included in admission, recommendation of at least two hours, café in the former switchboard room, wheelchair access, rucksack rule
- www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms/getting-here – Getting there: St James's Park and Westminster Underground, Charing Cross and Victoria stations, bus routes
- www.iwm.org.uk/history/iwm/cwr/short-history – Basement chosen in 1938, operational from 27 August 1939, concrete slab up to 3 m from December 1940, the 500 lb bomb limit, 115 cabinet meetings, closure 16 August 1945, museum opened 1984, Churchill Museum 2005
- www.iwm.org.uk/support-us/gift-aid – Two ticket versions with and without a donation, voluntary 10 per cent uplift, tax reclaimable only on UK taxpayers' gifts
- www.iwm.org.uk/visits/ticket-faqs – The time slot is an arrival time, entry guaranteed within 30 minutes, online tickets non-refundable, proof required for concessions
- www.guidelondon.org.uk/blog/british-military/10-reasons-visit-w… – Cabinet War Rooms only about eleven feet below street level, six-foot concrete slab, never bomb-proof
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_War_Rooms – Position under the Treasury, below Thames level with flood doors, slab up to 1.5 m, threefold expansion by spring 1941, last cabinet meeting 28 March 1945, opened 4 April 1984, Churchill Museum 850 m², over 600,000 visitors in 2019
- www.ticketlens.com/en/p766452/london/churchill-war-rooms – Confirmation of the IWM price periods: 25 June to 1 September 2026 adult £29.75, child £14.90, concession £26.80; from 2 September 2026 to 31 March 2027 adult £34, child £17, concession £30.60
- www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/hidden-london/aldwych – Aldwych: £46.50/£43.50, £1.50 booking fee, 80 minutes, departure times, 130 steps plus about 20 between platforms, age 10 and over, opened 1907, closed 1994, meeting point Surrey Street, Temple the nearest station
- www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/hidden-london/clapham-south – Clapham South: £39/£36, 75 minutes, departure times, 180 steps, eleven storeys, over a mile of passageway, opened 1944, 8,000 people, Windrush, ID requirement, flat sturdy shoes, dates from December 2026
- www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/hidden-london/down-street – Down Street: £90/£87, about 90 minutes, 122 steps, station 1907 to 1932, Railway Executive Committee headquarters, Churchill, meeting point the Athenaeum Hotel, no bookable dates on 20 September 2026, full museum entry included
- www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/hidden-london/euston – Euston: £46.50/£43.50, 75 minutes, departure times, galleries of 1962 and 1967, 1907 Leslie Green frontage, no step-free access, dates from 31 December 2026
- www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/hidden-london/moorgate – Moorgate: £46.50/£43.50, 80 minutes, departure times, the catacombs under the Barbican, 1900 glazed tiling, City Widened Line, dates from 25 November 2026
- www.ltmuseum.co.uk/terms-conditions – Hidden London conditions: photography and filming permitted for private use, no tripods and no professional equipment, clips of no more than 30 seconds and three minutes in total, original photo ID compulsory, tickets non-transferable
- www.ltmuseum.co.uk/hidden-london/enewsletter – Newsletter subscribers get a 24-hour priority booking window at every release of new dates
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_deep-level_shelters – Eight deep-level shelters, two tubes of 5.03 m diameter on two decks each, capacity around 8,000 each, construction from 1940, five opened 1944, Clapham South used for Windrush arrivals in 1948, Festival Hotel 1951
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Street_tube_station – Down Street: opened 15 March 1907, closed 1932, platforms 22.2 m below street level, Leslie Green building, Hidden London tours since 2016
- thebrunelmuseum.com/visit/ – Brunel Museum: adults £10 including the Gift Aid donation, concessions £7, under-16s free, residents £2.50, open Fri–Mon 10:30–15:30, last entry 15:00, step-free viewing platform, 35 steps to the lower level, address Railway Avenue
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Tunnel – Thames Tunnel: 400 m long, 11 m wide, 23 m below the river at high tide, first tunnel under a navigable river, built 1825–1843, opened 25 March 1843, shaft 15 m across, railway from 1869, Overground since 2010, staircase in the shaft since 2016
- www.londonmithraeum.com/visit/ – London Mithraeum: free entry, free timed ticket recommended, temple access every 20 minutes, opening hours, address 12 Walbrook, Bank two minutes away, step-free by lift, no flash and no video in the temple, about an hour for a visit
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Mithraeum – Temple of about AD 240, discovered September 1954, moved 100 m to Temple Court in 1962, returned in 2017 seven metres below street level, over 14,000 finds, the Bloomberg tablet with the earliest mention of London
- www.stpauls.co.uk/visits/visits/plan-your-visit – St Paul's: sightseeing Monday to Saturday from 8:30, last entry usually 16:00, ticket £27 adults and £10.50 children, crypt part of the route
- www.stbrides.com/visit – St Bride's: opening hours, Roman mosaic pavement of about AD 180 in the crypt, medieval chapel, iron coffin against body snatchers, 20 steps to the crypt with no step-free access
- nuclearessex.com/nuclear-bunker/ – Kelvedon Hatch: adults £15, children 5–16 £13, family £38, no online sales, cash advice, summer and winter opening hours, self-guided route with a handset, up to 600 people, Halloween closure 24 October to 4 November
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvedon_Hatch_Secret_Nuclear_Bunker – Kelvedon Hatch: built 1952/53 as ROTOR R4, 38 m deep, 91 m access tunnel under a bungalow, three levels, decommissioned 1992
- chislehurst-caves.co.uk/plan-your-visit/ – Chislehurst Caves: adults 16–63 £10, 64+ £8, children 3–15 £8, under-3s free, open Wednesday to Sunday and daily in local school holidays, caves 10:00–16:00, tours on the hour lasting 45–50 minutes, arrive 10–15 minutes early, uneven floor, guide dogs, free car park
- chislehurst-caves.co.uk/tickets/ – Tickets can be bought online or at the ticket office on arrival, subject to availability
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chislehurst_Caves – 35.4 km of tunnels, hand-cut as a chalk and flint mine, the 1903 druid theory of William Nichols unproven, up to 15,000 people a night in the Second World War
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_Catacombs – The Camden Catacombs are former stables under the market, not burial vaults, and are closed to visitors because of flood risk
- www.heathrow.com/transport-and-directions/by-rail-or-train/lond… – Piccadilly line from Heathrow to central London in about 50 minutes, fare from £5.90 with Oyster or contactless
- www.toptiplondon.com/transport/airports/heathrow-airport/underg… – Single fare to zone 1 £5.90 at peak and off-peak alike, daily cap £16.30 on Oyster or contactless
- www.gatwickexpress.com/journey/gatwick-airport-to-london-victoria – Gatwick Express non-stop to London Victoria in 30 minutes, adult single £15.10, child £7.55, return £26.90
- www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml – ECB reference rates of 18 September 2026: €1 = $1.1460 and €1 = £0.85880, giving £1 = about $1.3344 – the basis of every dollar figure here
- www.headout.com/blog/churchill-war-rooms/ – Source for the claims of a bunker depth of 40 feet, 30 cabinet rooms and a €25 ticket
- opentravelguide.com/united-kingdom/england/london/history/churc… – Source for the claims of a bomb-proof shelter built in 1938 and of £26 adult admission with under-16s free
- whichmuseum.com/museum/churchill-war-rooms-london-4565/tickets-prices – Source for the outdated prices of £33 for adults, £16.50 for children 5–15 and £29.70 for concessions
- www.touristengland.com/tickets/churchill-war-rooms-ticket/ – Source for the outdated prices of £33, £29.70 and £16.50 and for the claim that only under-4s go free
- yondli.com/united-kingdom/london/hidden-london-tours – Source for the claim that most Hidden London underground tours set a minimum age of 14
- yondli.com/attractions/london/brunel-museum – Source for the claim that a lift serves the floor of the Thames Tunnel shaft, and for concession and family prices the museum does not charge
- www.explorelondon.co.uk/attractions/brunel-museum.php – Source for the claims of £9 adult and £6 concession admission, a £14.50 family ticket, daily opening 10:00–17:00 and 52 steps into the shaft
- whereangiewanders.com/how-to-see-the-deep-level-air-raid-shelte… – Source for the claim that Clapham South was dug by hand to a depth of 30 metres
- audiala.com/en/united-kingdom/london/london-mithraeum – Source for the claims that guided tours of the London Mithraeum are available and that admission is only generally free
- feverup.com/m/61297 – Source for the £20, 90-minute street-level Hidden London Walking Tour sold under the Hidden London name