London Guide
The South Bank
London Eye
Opening time: June & Sept 10am–9pm; July & Aug 10am–9.30pm; Oct– May 10am–8pm
Price: £17
Telephone: 0870/500 0600
Website: www.ba-londoneye.com
Despite being little more than ten years' old, the London Eye is already one of the city's most famous landmarks. Standing an impressive 443ft high, it's the largest Ferris wheel in Europe, weighing over 2000 tonnes, yet as simple and delicate as a bicycle wheel. It's constantly in slow motion, which means a full-circle "flight" in one of its 32 pods (one for each of the city's boroughs) should take around thirty minutes – that may seem a long time, though in fact it passes incredibly quickly. Not surprisingly, you can see right out to the very edge of the city – bring some binoculars if you can – where the suburbs slip into the countryside making the wheel one of the few places (apart from a plane window) from which London looks a manageable size. Book in advance (and online to save money), as on arrival, you'll still have to queue to be loaded on.