Is a Black Cab Tour Worth It?
Is a London black cab tour worth the money? What reviewers praise and criticise, the price per person for a full cab, and when a bus pass or a walking tour is the better buy (October 2026).
A black cab tour is worth it for a group of three to six, a short first visit, children or anyone who finds walking London hard: you get the landmarks in an afternoon, door to door, with a guide of your own. For one or two people on a budget it is not, because the price is for the whole cab. The most reviewed tour, London Sightseeing Taxi Tours’ Sightseeing Black Cab Tour, is rated 5.0 from 320 reviews and costs US$426 for up to 6: US$71 each when the cab is full, US$213 each for a couple.
What reviewers praise
The guides, almost always by name. On the sightseeing tour every one of the eight most recent reviews names the driver-guide, and the same things come up: the stories, the knowledge of history, the photos taken of the whole group at each stop, and the routing. One guest wrote that their guide “knew all the back routes so we didn’t waste time”; another that he “tailored our tour to our liking”. A guest on the night tour wrote that the guide made sure their father, who has mobility issues, was comfortable from start to finish.
The ratings are unusually high across the category. Of the roughly 240 reviews shown on the GetYourGuide pages of the cab tours this site lists (checked October 2026), only five are below five stars, and none of those five says what went wrong.
What a cab tour does not give you
- Time inside the sights. The stops are for photos and a walk around; entry tickets are not included, and four hours do not leave room for the Tower or the Abbey as well as the loop.
- The view from above. You see London at street level through the cab windows, except on cabs with a glass roof, such as the electric cab on the Iconic London Taxi Tour.
- A low price for one person. A solo traveller pays for the whole cab.
- A traffic-free run. Central London traffic is slow at peak times, and from 26 October 2026 Oxford Street between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street is closed to traffic, taxis included. A good driver works round it; the clock still runs.
Who it suits, and who it does not
Pick by your group:
Sightseeing Black Cab Tour
The landmarks in 3 to 4 hours with hotel pickup, about US$71 each in a full cab.
Check dates →Black Cab Night Tour
Two to three hours of the landmarks lit up, with a guide and hotel pickup.
See the night tour →Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off
A day of open-top buses round the same landmarks, with recorded commentary.
See the bus ticket →Prices and review counts as listed on GetYourGuide in October 2026, not a quote.
The verdict
For a group that would otherwise spend a day on the Tube and on foot, a cab tour buys back the day: half a day for the landmarks, the rest for one sight properly. Choose a theme if you have one, such as the Harry Potter or Beatles tours, because the guide’s stories are the part reviewers remember. The prices guide has the cost for your group size, and black cab or bus compares the two directly.
The calendar below is for the Sightseeing Black Cab Tour:
London From a Black Cab of Your Own
London Sightseeing Taxi Tours' private black cab tour collects you anywhere in central London and spends 3 to 4 hours on the landmarks, with photo stops at each and a route you can change. Rated 5.0 from 320 reviews, from US$426 for a cab of up to six as of October 2026, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Check Cab Tour Dates