Sherlock Holmes tickets and tours in London

The Sherlock Holmes Museum is at 221b Baker Street (London NW1 6XE), a minute's walk from Baker Street station. It's spread over several floors of a Grade II listed house. Official details, checked October 26, 2026:

• Hours: daily 9:30am to 6pm, with last entry at 5:30pm. Closed on Christmas Day; hours may vary in summer and over Christmas.
• Prices: adult £19; students, seniors and disabled visitors £17; children under 16 £14; under-6s free.
• How to buy: online, for a set date and time, or in the museum shop on the day, subject to availability.
• Time needed: the museum says an average visit takes 30 to 45 minutes.

Queues are the main issue. Only 15 visitors are allowed in the house at a time, and pre-booked visitors get priority, so walk-ups can face long waits. Book online and arrive at least 10 minutes before your slot, as the museum requires; late arrivals lose their ticket. If you're buying on the day, the museum advises arriving as soon after 9:30am as you can.

Know before you go: tickets are non-refundable, though the museum will try to change your date if you ask at least 48 hours ahead. It can't offer wheelchair access, because its floors are connected only by narrow stairs. There's no luggage storage, no café, and no food or drink inside. Book on the official museum website. The museum says it doesn't authorise third-party sellers and may cancel resold tickets.

The three best-reviewed Sherlock tours on Viator suit different kinds of fan. None includes museum entry.

Films and literary London: Brit Movie Tours runs a 2 hours walk at 10:30am, from Piccadilly to the Strand, rated 4.80 from 251 reviews. It covers locations from Guy Ritchie's 2009 Sherlock Holmes and the 1979 film Murder by Decree, plus Somerset House and the fictional Diogenes Club. It's the cheapest option, from $27, but it isn't a BBC Sherlock tour.

Conan Doyle's original stories: Richards Tours's very small-group walk, rated 4.95 from 42 reviews, lasts 3–4 hours. It starts at Embankment and takes in places Conan Doyle lived and wrote, where Holmes and Watson first met, and the Langham Hotel, before finishing at 221b Baker Street. You'll need an Oyster or contactless card for the Tube between stops.

BBC Sherlock locations, privately: Ye Olde England Tours runs a private 3 hours tour that includes filming locations from the BBC series as well as Conan Doyle and film sites. It starts at Westminster station (or your central London hotel) and ends at 221B Baker Street, using a few short Tube rides. It's rated 4.96 from 26 reviews, from $252.

You can see the main locations from the BBC series for free, on your own:

• St Bartholomew's Hospital (Barts), Smithfield: Queen Mary University of London's Barts Pathology Museum says the hospital roof stood in for the Reichenbach Falls in the episode where Sherlock "takes the plunge", and that the phone box outside the Henry VIII Gate is full of messages to Sherlock. The building is now a private hospital, so view it from the street.
• North Gower Street and Speedy's Café: tour operators show North Gower Street, near Euston, as the stand-in for 221B's front door in the series, with Speedy's Café beside it. We couldn't confirm the café's current opening hours (its website wasn't loading when we checked), so treat it as a photo stop.

For context and stories, the private tour above covers the BBC locations with a guide.

• The Sherlock Holmes statue: a bronze figure about 3 meters (9 feet) tall by the sculptor John Doubleday, unveiled in 1999 outside Baker Street station on Marylebone Road. It's free and always accessible.
• The Sherlock Holmes pub: at 10 Northumberland Street, between Charing Cross and Embankment stations. Upstairs is a recreation of Holmes's Baker Street sitting room. It's within walking distance of the Strand, where the films walk ends.
• Baker Street station: served by the Bakerloo, Circle, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee and Metropolitan lines.

For more fictional London, see our guide to books set in London.

Baker Street makes an easy half day. Madame Tussauds is a two-minute walk from the station, so you can book the Holmes museum early and a later Madame Tussauds slot (see our Madame Tussauds tickets guide). Regent's Park is at the top of Baker Street for a walk between the two.

Beatles fans can carry on to Abbey Road. London Beatles Walks's walk starts in Marylebone, rated 4.67; compare it with others in our Beatles tours guide. If you're spending the rest of the day in central London, our Westminster tours guide covers Big Ben and the Abbey.