The Best London Literary Tours: A Guide for Traveling Bookworms

London is a mecca for book lovers and fans of all types of literature.

There are enough bookish attractions to fill up months worth of exploring. I should know — I lived there during my undergraduate for a semester and still go back several times a year to visit everything I’ve missed.

One of the easiest, most stress-free ways to get a taste for London’s literary side is to join an organized tour. In this post, I’ve done the hard work for you to research and compile the information on all of the best London literary tours for every kind of reader.

I’ve attended many of these tours personally and will share my personal experience for those. For other tours on the list, I’ve researched what each tour involves and dug into other visitor reviews to understand what people think of each one.

This post is a good one-stop shop to let you see your options for London literary tours at a glance, to ease your research burden and help you build your dream London itinerary. I’ll include some general times and costs, but as always, verify with the original company, as they may change.

Don’t forget to pin this post for future reference, and sign up for my newsletter to get exclusive Read Around the World book recommendations, hear about upcoming literary events in North America and Europe, and stay up-to-date on all things literary travel.

Whenever possible, I recommend buying books at local bookshops or through Bookshop.org, because shopping there puts the profits right into the hands of indie bookstores all over the country.

---

London Literary Pub Crawl

The London Literary Pub Crawl is a unique literary tour in London that happens at night — Saturdays at 5 pm, to be exact. It combines learning about London’s literary history in a relaxed setting, walking between and spending time in many of London’s historic pubs.

This is a highly social experience that is a great option for solo travelers who might not feel bold or confident enough to enjoy pub culture on their own. Be warned, though, this is a proper night out! It’s advertised as only 2.5-3 hours, but my tour went well beyond. I finally headed back to my lodgings at 10 pm, and many on the tour were still going strong!

My experience is that this literary tour in London can be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys socializing with other travelers and has a curiosity about London’s history, both literary and otherwise. You don’t have to have a lot of literary trivia on hand to enjoy it.

Check out my more detailed review of the London Literary Pub Crawl, or go ahead and book your spot now!

• Tour days/times: Saturdays @ 5 pm
• Duration: 3+ hours
• Approximate cost: £45 (does not include drinks) 

---

London Shakespeare Walking Tours

Of course, we can’t talk about literary London without talk of Shakespeare! If you’re a fan of the Bard visiting London, it’s not hard to find things to do. Of course, visiting the Globe Theatre (and hopefully catching a production!) is at the top of the list, but you can also take a walking tour of Shakespeare’s London.

You have several options for Shakespeare tours. I’ll highlight a few of the most popular here.

Shakespeare in the City Walk (North of the Thames)

This literary London tour takes you on a tour of Shakespeare’s life North of the Thames. In approximately 2 hours, you’ll see a variety of memorials and landmarks associated with Shakespeare’s life in London. Throughout the tour, a professional actor will entertain you with monologues and quotes from Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets.

What people say: I haven’t taken this tour personally yet, but it has a solid 5-star rating on TripAdvisor after about 100 reviews. Impressively, it has a 100% recommendation rate from reviewers. People say it manages to be both informative and engaging, and that the two hours seems to fly by. People love the monologue delivery and the variety of characters portrayed.

• Tour days/times: Fridays @ 11 am
• Duration: 2 hours
• Approximate cost: £20

Shakespeare Walks by Culture Seekers

If you’re more interested in Shakespeare’s life South of the Thames, consider this walking tour by Culture Seekers. It’s one of their newest tours and includes seeing such sights at Southwark Cathedral (where you’ll see a fun Shakespeare statue and some themed stained glass), the Globe (exterior only), and other notable sights.

You’ll also get a chance to cross the Thames and see a few sights on the North side as well. Don’t be surprised if your tour guide shows up wearing full Tudor costume and loudly recites a sonnet for your entertainment.

What people say: As this is a new tour, there aren’t many reviews at the time of writing, but they trend positive. People love that the guide commits to the theme by dressing in Tudor costume.

• Tour days/times: 7 days a week @
• Duration: ~ 2 hours 15 min
• Approximate cost: £20

Tip: While you’re on the South Bank, why not plan for my favorite afternoon tea in London  — afternoon tea at the library at County Hall. I have done a lot of London afternoon teas, and this is still my favorite and perfect for book lovers. 

Other Shakespeare tours to consider

• The Globe Theatre offers their own guided Shakespeare walks that last 90 minutes and cost £18. Tours include access to the Globe Theatre’s exhibition space as well as a look inside the theatre. 
• Tour London with classically trained actors who have a passion for Shakespeare. This company offers guided walking tours of 2-2.5 hours every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday at 10:30 am and 2:30 pm. Tours cost £24 per person.
• Several companies offer paid, self-guided Shakespeare tours of London if the guided tours aren’t your thing or don’t fit your schedule.

---

---

Sherlock Holmes London Walking Tours

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most popular literary figures associated with London, so there’s lots to do for fans of the books and series. You can of course visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street, enjoy a Sherlock-themed afternoon tea, check out the Sherlock Holmes Pub, and you can join a Sherlock Holmes walking tour!

There are a couple of companies that are dominating these tours in London, so let’s take a look at them more closely.

Sherlock Holmes Tour of London

These popular walking tours feature Sherlock-related sights from the books as well as the TV series and movie adaptations. You’ll visit the place where canonically, Holmes and Watson first met, and lots of locations that are featured in the books. You’ll also get to check out film locations from several different Sherlock adaptations.

What people say: This popular London literary tour is a fan favorite, with 4.7 stars overall after 700+ reviews on GetYourGuide. Reviewers appreciate that the tour guides have a good blend of quirkiness and knowledge, along with plenty of classic British humor.

• Tour days/times:
• Duration: 2 hours
• Approximate cost: £17

Tip: This walking tour does NOT include admission to the Sherlock Holmes Museum, so bear that in mind when booking and planning!

In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes

This Sherlock Holmes tour run by London Walks also includes stops throughout London that are featured in the Sherlock stories or used as filming locations.

You’ll get to see Sherlock’s favorite restaurant from “The Dying Detective,” a police cell featured in “The Man with the Twisted Lip,” and Dr. Mortimer’s hospital from The Hound of the Baskervilles, among other fun sights.

What people say: This tour has an average 5-star rating from the 20 visitors that have rated it on their website. Reviewers agree that the walk is incredibly educational. One reviewer comments that she is a London native and was surprised by how much she learned about her own city.

• Tour days/times: Sundays @ 2:30 pm, or book a private tour
• Duration: 2 hours
• Approximate cost: £20

Related: If you’re a diehard Sherlock fan, you might also enjoy the Edinburgh Writers’ Museum, a free museum that includes an entire section dedicated to author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. You can take a high speed train and spend a weekend enjoying lots of bookish things to do in Edinburgh.

---

Charles Dickens Walking Tours

Charles Dickens is another of London’s most well-known writers, and the city inspired many of his most famous novels, from Oliver Twist! to David Copperfield to A Christmas Carol. He lived in multiple residences around London and drew inspiration directly from the city.

In addition to visiting the Charles Dickens Museum, where he once lived and wrote, you can join one of a few different Charles Dickens walking tours of London. Here are your main options:

Dickens London Walking Tour by Brit Icon Tours

This Charles Dickens themed tour of London is a brand new offering from popular tour company Brit Icon Tours. They just started hosting this guided walk in Spring, 2025.

This is the perfect tour if you’re looking for something a little bit shorter and sweeter than your typical London literary walks — it’s only 1.5 hours, compared to the standard 2-3 hours. They’ll take you to various hidden corners of London Dickens would’ve traipsed, and your guide will recite relevant quotes from Dickens’s work.

It’s a great way to learn more facts about Dickens and see the city from another vantage point.

What people say: This tour is brand new, so there’s not much by way of reviews yet. But notably, one reviewer has commented, “I’ve lived in South London for the last 15 years and the tour opened my eyes to the streetscape I’ve walked blindly through, and connected me to the last two hundred years of its history.”

• Approximate cost: £18
• Tour days/times: Most Saturdays @ 2:00 pm
• Duration: 1.5 hours

Charles Dickens’s Old London: A Private Tour

If you don’t want to join a larger group tour and have the funds for it, you can book yourself a private guide through Charles Dickens’s London. The visit it tailored to your interests, plus it includes your admission to the famous Charles Dickens Museum, where your tour ends.

You’ll get to see places both South and North of the Thames that were significant in Dickens’s lives.

What people say: There’s not a lot of reviews on this option, but the ones I’ve found have been positive. Visitors appreciate the guide’s vivid storytelling and encyclopedic knowledge of the beloved author’s life.

• Approximate cost: £170
• Tour days/times: Select dates
• Duration: 3-4 hours

Related: Did you know that the world’s largest Dickens festival is actually not in the UK but this small town in the Netherlands?

---

Agatha Christie Walking Tour of London

If you can catch it on the right day and you’re a fan of murder mysteries, you might opt for the Agatha Christie London walking tours. These don’t happen very often — only 1 or 2 Sundays a month, though more frequently during the summer. To choose this tour, you’ll have to either plan in advance or get really lucky.

On this literary tour of London, you’ll start in Bloomsbury and get to check out multiple locations specifically mentioned in Agatha Christie’s extensive works as well as places that may have inspired her as a writer when she was living in London.

Fun fact: The Mousetrap, a play based on an Agatha Christie novel of the same name, is the longest running play. You can see it at St. Martin’s Theatre while in London.

What people say: This is a lesser known and infrequently running tour, so there’s not a lot of reviews to go off of. Still, the 14 who have reviewed it thus far on GetYourGuide seem to have enjoyed themselves.

• Tour days/times: Select Sundays @ 10:30 am
• Duration: 2 hours
• Approximate cost: £17

---

Related: If you’re a book lover in London, don’t miss one of London’s underrated gems for bookworms — Dr. Johnson’s House, where he compiled and wrote the first comprehensive English dictionary.

---

London Literary Tours

London Literary Tours is a company owned and operated by Cinda Lawford and Mike Carter. They formed the London Literary Tours company as a way to express their passion for English literature and London’s rich literary heritage. 

This company offers several themed literary tours of London on different days of the week, including one in St. James featuring the lives and works of Virginia Woolf and Ian Fleming, among others; a Bloomsbury walk featuring the Bloomsbury Group writers; and their latest, an Oscar Wilde-themed tour of London. 

Each tour is approximately three hours, but it’s not a straight three hours of lecture. As owner Mike told me, their tours are “part street theatre.”

In our email exchange, he expounded:

“Our delivery includes performances of poems, extracts from novels and plays, and I think the impact that has can surprise guests. It surprises us, sometimes, when we see how moved someone is, or when someone joins in with lines that mean a lot to them.”

I haven’t had a chance to go on one of these walks (Sadly, my dates haven’t lined up with their tours yet), but I have really enjoyed communicating with Mike, who’s clearly passionate about these walking tours, and look forward to making it work on a future London visit. 

A few things to know about these tours:

• Who will enjoy these tours? Mike says, people who are curious: “Some people have read work by many of the writers we cover, some have read nothing, but they all share that curiosity and desire.”

• There’s no need to prepare with any “reading homework” before a tour! On the contrary, Mike says, “Some people have had educational experiences that made them ‘uptight’ about literature and they might lack confidence in themselves. Cindy and I have a serious approach to what we do — to research, for example — but we tell stories and have a laugh. There’s depth but it’s not stuffy.”

As a bonus, Mike let me know one of his favorite novels set in London is Mrs. Dalloway, which also happens to be one of my favorites.

What people say: “guest say things about how their imaginations were stimulated, that they ‘went back in time’ and felt like they were ‘in the presence of the writers’, somehow.””

• Tour days/times: varies; check their website
• Duration: 3+ hours
• Approximate cost: £25

---

Harry Potter Walking Tours

Harry Potter fans will find lots of Harry Potter things to do in London, including several options on Harry Potter-themed tours. 

There are two primary types of Potter-inspired tours that don’t involve traveling outside of London to see other Harry Potter sights:

• Harry Potter London walking tours; and
• The Harry Potter Studio tour in Watford, London

I’ve had the opportunity to do both of these on multiple occasions, so let’s take a quick look at your options here.

London Harry Potter Walking Tours

The many companies that offer walking tours of London for Harry Potter fans give you the opportunity to visit many real life locations featured in the fantasy series as well as actual filming locations from the films.

These tours tend to feature fun anecdotes and behind-the-scenes details of what it was like for the filmmakers to film in busy London. Several tour options include a trivia element, and some include a boat ride of the Thames.

I’ve broken down all the major options for Harry Potter tours in London including my personal review of one company, so make sure to check that out if this is on your London itinerary.

Harry Potter Studio Tours

The Harry Potter Studio tour in Watford, London, is a must-visit destination for Harry Potter fans. This is at least a half-day activity (perhaps more!) and can be done a number of ways:

• Buying tickets directly from the studio and making your own way there by driving or using public transportation
• Booking a guided tour of the Harry Potter studios
• Booking a ticket to the Harry Potter studios that includes transportation and sometimes a secondary stop, like in Oxford.

Whatever you choose, you’ll want to book this literary London tour as soon as possible, as tickets sell out months in advance. Check out my honest review of the Harry Potter Studio Tour and all my tips for visiting and choosing your best tour option, as I’ve done it multiple different ways.

Related: You can also opt to stay overnight in Watford. These are my picks for the best hotels and themed rentals near the Harry Potter Studios.

---

---

I hope this information has helped you decide on the best literary tour of London for your time there. Make sure you pin this post for future reference and sign up for my newsletter so you never miss out on any of my bookish travel tips and Read the World book recommendations.