The Emirates Air Line and the Thames Clippers (London)

Are you afraid of heights? If you are, please don’t read any further. On the other hand if you like cable cars and London then do continue reading. 🙂
There’s always something new to try out in London, whether it’s a new restaurant or a new play or a new tourist attraction/public transport. That’s one of the reasons that I love London so much. During my last visit to London in 2013 (yes, it’s been 2 years, the longest ever!) my best friend M. and I decided to go for a ride on the Emirates Air Line. It’s a cable car over the river Thames that connects the North Greenwich (the O2 arena for concerts and stuff) with Canary Wharf (sort of). Firstly, we had to get to the Emirates Royal Docks which included taking the tube from Central London and then a DLR from Canary Wharf to Royal Victoria station. And then we just crossed the road and we were in front of the cable car station.

Aug 2013
Aug 2013

As we’ve got brains and not just looks ( 🙂 ) we showed our day travel card (tube) and got discount for the cable car ride. There wasn’t a long queue and we soon boarded our cable car with a small family. We enjoyed the ride very much. My best friend repeated this ride again with her husband two years later and they didn’t have as much fun as we did because it was terribly windy and the whole thing apparently shook a lot! As for the views, well, you’ve got a lot to see but the view itself isn’t as spectacular like the view from the London Eye for example (I still haven’t done the Shard!). It’s great to see the Thames Barrier, and the O2 and the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf but that’s pretty much it! We soon crossed over the Thames.

with my best friend, on the cable car
with my best friend, on the cable car


We didn’t get the return ticket because we had planned to return to Central London by boat. And not by just any boat, but by a commuters’ Thames Clippers. I’ve done the boat ride before (from the London eye to Greenwich when I visited the Prime Meridian site) and I liked it very much so I suggested to my best friend that we take this boat ride back to the center. Again we got discount because of our day tube ticket. It’s a fast ride and it’s not a tourist sightseeing of London because there are no commentaries but that’s exactly why I chose it! After so many years of visiting London I don’t really feel like a tourist there. There’s also a Costa Coffee bar at the boat. The best part is when the boat goes under the Tower Bridge. We got off near the Westminster bridge (Big Ben!). It was such a great cable car and boat ride.

inside the Thames Clippers boat
inside the Thames Clippers boat
Greenwich from the boat
Greenwich from the boat

Canary Wharf from the boat

Canary Wharf from the boat

yep, we went under the Tower Bridge
passing by the Tower of London too

St.Paul's

St.Paul’s

end of the boat ride-Big Ben
end of the boat ride-Big Ben

Date of the trip : August 2013

You can check the prices here http://www.emiratesairline.co.uk/tickets-information/ and here https://booking.thamesclippers.com/thames-clippers-tickets.html

Ps. If you want to know what we did after this read my post about the Afternoon tea

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28 thoughts on “The Emirates Air Line and the Thames Clippers (London)”

  6. […] After seeing the exhibits in the Engine Rooms (Tower Bridge) I wandered around More London Place:a square with the City Hall and all those other modern glass buildings just across the Tower of London. The views of the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and of the City of London from the riverside here are one of the best (free) views of London. There were school children doing sketches for their art class and I sat for a short while to admire one of my two favourite views of London.Then, I took some photos around More London and walked in the direction of London bridge underground station. I don’t know about you but I just love the convenience and the speed of London underground system. It can get too crowded during peak hours but it’s still the best way to travel around London. I used to buy day travel cards but the prices went up and now the best option is to buy an Oyster card which you can use on buses too and which also gives you discount for certain river journeys and for the Emirates Air line cable car. […]

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  8. This looks like such a cool thing to do! I was staying in that area of London in March when I stayed the week there and I didn’t even knew this was there! Not going to lie though – cable cars freak me out a bit haha I’m not afraid of heights as much as I’m afraid of having nothing under my feet and that freaks me out! Still looks awesome though! I did the Shard though when I was there and it was incredible – super worth it! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  9. hahaha I am afraid of heights but I kept reading!! I really liked the idea of going there, though I hope if I go it won’t be windy! In any case, the boat ride suggestion is great. I will be in London next week and will try to do it 😀

    Thank you so much for joining #MondayEscapes

    Liked by 1 person

  15. I’m a Londoner and I still haven’t gone the cable car or Thames clipper! It looks like fun – always good to see London from different perspectives. #mondayescapes

    Liked by 1 person

  17. I don’t know how I’ve still managed to escape going on the Emirates Air Line but I must do it! Every time I plan to go the weather is rubbish! It looks great!

    Liked by 1 person

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