Join one of the tours led by a beefeater, and you'll be in for a campy and morbid, but informative history lesson. After the tour, which recites the history of some of the tower's most famous inmates, you will have the freedom to wander on your own through some of the chambers that display instruments of torture and prison cells.

This is a must-see simply because of its history. Children would love this activity, as it's outside and has characters that dress up as Brits from long ago. The highlight of the visit for me included seeing the Crown Jewels inside the museum. It is a small walk from the Tube stop, so be prepared, but it's well worth it.

Before we left Australia, we applied to FREE tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys (was told these were unattainable from England, had to book 3 months in advance and they did security checks on you). Entailed going back to the Tower at night after closing to watch the ceremony of the keymaster and guard locking up the inner wall - there is no access to the various buildings, no tea vans to gather a warming cup while waiting at the dark side entrance for admission. The ceremony is held in the cold and dark of the lane between the two walls near the Traitor's Gate with the sound of the Thames lapping at the gates behind you. The bustling, alive Tower that you see during the day becomes quite an eerie place in the middle of the night. We were a little disappointed as we had been told there was quite a pageantry surrounding the Keeper of the Keys, and the kids found it quite dreary watching the Beefeater just calling out to various sentry points to challenge their presence, but given that it was our first night in England following a 20 hour flight and we had done the bustling, colourful Tower during the day, we may have all been just a little jaded to appreciate it. If you are interested in these free tickets, go to the Tower of London website to find where you send for tickets to the "Ceremony of the Keys."

Although I can't imagine a first trip to London to be complete without visiting the Tower of London, I was actually slightly disappointed in my visit here. First of all, the Tower is fairly pricey to visit (on the order of $17-18). Secondly, unless you take one of the tours, it's difficult to understand exactly what you're seeing, but the tour (at least with our tour guide) seemed to drag on forever. We finally wandered away from the tour having gathered the basic information on the Tower. The highlight of visiting the Tower of London is obviously the crown jewels. While absolutely magnificent, it's a bit disappointing that this is the only location within the Tower grounds where cameras are forbidden.

After seeing the crown jewels, take the time to go through some of the other displays at the Tower. The White Tower contains a nice collection of armor and weapons that I found particularly interesting.

Don't forget to track down a raven or two (one of the icons that the Tower is known for) while you're here as well. They're not hard to find and they can't fly away since their wings have been clipped.

You can also wonder through a gate on the Tower grounds down to the Thames for a nice view point of Tower Bridge and of the surrounding London riverfront.

We had great day visiting the Tower we arrived early after a short tube ride and enjoyed a lengthy visit, this is a well-preserved historic location and is very well presented. Walking around the Tower is pleasant and offers some great views of the Tower as well as London Bridge.