Cruise with the Thames Clippers

Kids love this Bus-Boat Combo in London!

The Thames Clippers water-bus service provides transportation to commuters as well as tourists.

Their fleet of catamarans stop at the major piers along the Thames every 20 minutes.

Among their routes there is the Canary Wharf Pier to Hilton Docklands Nelson Dock Pier route straight across the river in small boats every 10 minutes.

The Tate Boat Service (Tate to Tate) takes tourists from the Tate Modern Museum on the south bank of the Thames at the Bankside Pier across the river to the Tate Britain in Millbank at the St. George Wharf Pier.

The O2 Express is a convenient way of traveling between the London Eye, London Bridge Pier and the North Greenwich Pier to events at The 02.  This route only operates on select dates when there are events at The O2.

There are 19 stops along the Thames Clippers routes including: Woolwich, North Greenwich, The O2, Greenwich, Masthouse, Greenland, Canary Wharf, Tower, London Bridge, Bankside, Blackfriers, Embankment, London Eye Millbank and finally St. George Wharf, Vauxhall.

Bankside Pier

If you are planning to visit Bankside for the Riverwalk, Globe Theatre, Tate Modern or other local attractions then you can take a boat ride to Bankside Pier.

This is a really fun and exciting way to get around London and see the city from a different angle. The Bankside Pier is just a 10-minute walk from the Globe Theatre.

The last boat leaves Bankside Pier at 23:22 each evening.

What's on board?

Onboard you'll find free WiFi hot zones. There are a range of snacks on sale including tea, coffee, buns, fruit and even alcohol. For the morning commuters the boats have made an effort to provide some healthy breakfast options.

All passengers have a seat and the boats are spacious, clean and air conditioned/heated. The vessels have toilets (including disabled facilities) and in the larger boats (seating 220 passengers) there are also baby changing facilities.

Tickets: The Daily River Roamer Ticket gives you hop-on-hop-off use of the boats for the day from 9am until end of service. Tickets can be booked online and your tickets printed up at home. The family ticket is valid for 2 adults and up to 3 kids.

An Adult River Roamer costs £14; Child River Roamer £7 and a family River Roamer  costs £32.5. Single tickets cost approximately £6.8 (return £12) for adults and £3.40 (return £6) for kids depending on your route. Under 5s travel free and the boats are wheelchair, bicycle and pushchair accessible.

There are a number of combination tickets which include entry to the Cutty Sark or other attractions. You can pay for Thames Clippers rides using an Oyster PAYG card and get a 10% discount (with some restrictions on certain routes) but there is no auto top-up or tap-in-tap-out system on the boats. TfL Travel Card holders get a third off fares except on the River Bus Express and the Family River Roamer ticket.

Operating Times: Daily from approximately 06:00-midnight every 20 minutes. On weekends the service begins at 08:30.

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