Churchill War Rooms: Westminster Underground Bunkers Private Tour
Step into the world of Wartime London in the late 1930s and 1940s, where you will hear the stories of larger-than-life Winston Churchill, explore the underground bunkers that British wartime officers used during that time known as the Churchill War Rooms and learn about the resilience of Londoners during that time.
On your private Churchill War Rooms tour, you will:
- Enjoy the personalised attention of a knowledgeable private guide throughout your tour;
- See the Winston Churchill memorial and the partially bombed buildings from the blitz;
- Stop at some of the most iconic buildings in London: Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Downing Street, The Cenotaph, the Old War Office, MI6 headquarters and the Gurkha Soldier memorial;
- Visit the Churchill War Rooms and travel back in time to the times of the Second World War while your tour guide gives you a private tour of these underground bunkers;
- Explore the Cabinet Room, hidden under the streets of Westminster and hear the stories about those who worked and lived here;
- Discover the Transatlantic Telephone Room, which connected Churchill directly to the US president and find out how they disguised this tiny room;
- See the BBC Broadcast Room, where all speeches were televised from;
- Visit the Map Room, used around the clock to collate information for King George VI, Churchill, and the armed forces;
- Walk the Churchill War Rooms' top-secret winding corridors and get a glimpse of what life would have been from 1939 to 1945.
Begin exploring the heart of London’s parliamentary district. This was the brain and nerve centre for British and Allied forces in Europe and abroad. See the Winston Churchill memorial, and learn about his adolescence, personal life and fascinating rise to government.
Your guide will take you to see the partially destroyed buildings from the blitz and visit The Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the Prime Minister's residence. Next visit The iconic Cenotaph war memorial, special service headquarters and Ghurka memorial.
After your walking tour, dive into the Churchill War Rooms, an underground network of bunkers that functioned as British wartime offices, planning and map rooms. It was here that much of Allied intelligence and strategy was discussed and planned in WWII, as well as serving as a place of refuge and shelter for the government during the blitz.
As you explore the massive layer of concrete known as “The Slab”, you discover that the Churchill War Rooms actually consists of two separate museums.
The Cabinet War Rooms, whose centrepiece is the fascinating Map Room, detail the strategic and tactical exploits of the war room as a whole. This is where Churchill held no less than 115 cabinet meetings, hammering out the details of Allied offensives across Europe.
The Churchill Museum unpicks the life and works of the great man himself, from his early childhood to his state funeral. Particularly interesting is the large collection of passionately devoted letters he wrote to his wife Clementine, exposing the softer side of this famously tough statesman.
Your tour finishes in the War Rooms, and you are free to continue exploring at your own leisure or ask your guide for recommendations for food, including Churchill’s local pub.
