About us

Who we are

City Guides are the Official Guides to the City of London. The full title of our association is the City of London Guide Lecturers Association, which reflects the fact that our members give walks in the City and lecture on City related topics. The Association was founded in 1983 to promote and maintain a high standard of guiding in, and lecturing about, the City of London. As well as giving walks and tours, many of our members offer lecture titles connected to the City.

The City Guides offer regular walks and tours which run almost every day of the year. You'll need to book a slot on our Eventbrite page. Our daily walks generally cost just £12 for an adult and we offer concessions. Tours of Guildhall, Billingsgate Roman Bath House, the Central Criminal Court ('Old Bailey') or Leadenhall and Smithfield Markets also need to be pre-booked because numbers are limited. Go to the Regular Walks and Tours section for details.

If you require a walk or lecture for a group of people, contact one of our members through our Find a Guide section, which can be searched by topics, guide name or languages offered by our guides. There are walks, tours and lectures covering just about every aspect of the City. If you're a City company, an arts group, a member of the U3A or have a school group keen to learn more about the City then do get in contact with us.

What we do

Our training course, presently run by the City of London Corporation, involves both theoretical and practical training and includes disability awareness. The examinations are set by the Institute of Tourist Guiding which is the standard-setting body for tour guide training and which accredits the training. On qualification, each guide is presented with their badge by the Lord Mayor of London which they wear when they are guiding.

Our members keep up to date, and increase their knowledge through lectures, courses and visits which are part of our programme of Continuous Professional Development.

What to expect on a walk or tour

A professional Guide will lead the walk and will wear a City Guides badge. We try to make our walks as inclusive and accessible as possible. None of our routes are extremely strenuous, but if walking please wear sensible shoes and be prepared for the British weather!