The Monument, London

[Ivo]

Has anyone ever been to the top of London's Monument? I am considering giving it a go at some point over the Summer and wondered if anyone had any experiences of it. I've been on the London Eye (for free ), which gives some excellent views of much of London, but the placement of the Monument in the City gives it a truly unique perspective.

According to the website, it costs £3 for entry, or £9 combined with the Tower Bridge Exhibition, with various concessions for both. This seems like excellent value for money (the combined student concession for instance is £6.20).

If anyone has been to the top, what were your thoughts on doing so? Did you enjoy the view?

 

[W-on-Sea]

Yes, a few times. (Not particularly recently - and not since the recent refurbishment, however).

I would recommend it. OK the viewing platform is somewhat cramped (and I have a feeling now that anti-suicide measures limit options for photography) and you probably won't be up there for very long. And the landscape in pretty much all directions is hemmed in with high-rise office blocks (with at least the Thames providing a break in this, to the south)

The views must have been considerably more amazing before so much of the City skyline became resolutely high-rise (and frankly you get better views, overall, from the higher floors of some office blocks than you do from the top of the monument, now - or from, say, the top of St Paul's) - if you've seen any of Canaletto's paintings of the city...that would have been when the views would have been at their best...., it's still an interesting perspective from up there, but it's not somewhere you should expect to spend a great deal of time.

So, yes. I wouldn't travel to London just to go up the monument, but if you're nearby it's certainly worth it.