Is the Sky Garden in London worth a visit?

If you're looking for a great bird's eye view of London, the Sky Garden is an awesome place to visit! London's Sky Garden has panoramic views of the city from a pretty great location that's both downtown and near the Thames. Its neighborhood is known as "the City," which tells you all you need to know. This is the financial district, as well as the historic center of the now massive and sprawling city.

The Sky Garden is the top three floors of this massive building, floors 35, 36, and 37. Floor 35 puts you just over 500 feet above the street below. This means that you can enjoy awesome views of the Thames, the nearby Tower of London and Tower Bridge, and a number of other popular tourist attractions and major London sights.

If you're considering visiting the Shard for the views, you should know that the Sky Garden is right across the Thames, so the views are basically the same, and while the Shard tickets start at £32, the Sky Garden is free to visit!

How much does it cost to visit the Sky Garden?

£0! That's right - it's free! The Sky Garden is a public garden - London's highest, in fact - which means the tickets are £0.

Do you need a ticket to visit the Sky Garden?

Even though it's free, I do recommend getting a ticket. There was a very long line when we arrived, and we waited more than half an hour to get in. (It was totally worth it!) You can get a ticket to reserve your entry time and wait in a much shorter line. The Sky Garden also has a few different bars and restaurants, and you can reserve a table in lieu of a standard ticket if you'd like to enjoy the view with a drink in hand.

There are a few other tables and seating areas available to visitors, but you may find the Sky Garden having standing room only, so if you need to sit, reserving a spot at the City Garden bar might be the best option for you.

When is the Sky Garden open?

One other reason you might want to reserve a table at the bar is that the ticketed entries to the Sky Garden are only available 9 am - 6 pm Monday through Thursday or 9 am - 9 pm Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The bar, on the other hand, is open until midnight most nights and 1 am on Friday and Saturday nights. If you're looking for a great nighttime view of the city skyline, a night at the Sky Garden bar might be the perfect spot.

Can you go outside at the Sky Garden?

Yes! The Sky Garden does have an outdoor balcony area. Because the weather was less than ideal on our visit, I declined to step outside. But you can check out the covered balcony from the bottom level of the Sky Garden. You will want to note that there is a high glass wall the length of the balcony (you can see the super blue glass in the photo below - that's the balcony area), so it is probably not possible to get a nice photo unless you are very tall.

Is the Sky Garden actually a garden?

The Sky Garden offers some pretty great views of London, but that's only half of it! I saved the best for last, which is the plants! The Sky Garden is indeed a garden, and a pretty cool one at that.

Being at the top of the building, the garden is underneath a completely glass roof. That allows some gorgeous tropical trees and plants to flourish that you might not expect to see in downtown London.

There were so many great plants to see that it almost distracted from the views. Make sure to walk around the whole area, not just for the views but also to make sure you don't miss any of the plant walls. In order to fully see both, I would recommend about an hour inside the Sky Garden. An hour felt like the minimum for us after waiting in line for so long, but it is a pretty small area, so there's not too much to do unless you want to sit around and relax, in which case, the Sky Garden is a great place to do it.

In Conclusion

The Sky Garden is a wonderful stop on a tourist's trek through London. It's one of the top twenty London destinations, and it's easy to see why. There are amazing views and gorgeous plants - all at the unbeatable price of free!

I definitely recommend stopping into the Sky Garden (especially if you reserve a ticketed entry time!), as it was an all-around great experience.