London Eye

About London Eye

Observation wheel in London, England

The London Eye, originally the Millennium Wheel, is a giant cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the Thames, the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom with more than three million visitors a year. The structure is 135 metres tall and the wheel 120 metres in diameter; when it opened to the public in 2000 it was the world's tallest Ferris wheel until the Star of Nanchang in China surpassed it in 2006, and unlike taller wheels it is cantilevered, supported solely by an A-frame on one side. It remained the highest public viewing point in London until 2013, when The View from The Shard overtook it. The wheel adjoins the western end of Jubilee Gardens on the South Bank between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge beside County Hall in the London Borough of Lambeth, and the nearest Underground station is Waterloo. It turns slowly in about half an hour carrying 32 air-conditioned glass capsules of around 25 people each and can take some 15,000 visitors a day; from the top the view stretches over the whole of central London and up to 40 km on a clear day, taking in St Paul's Cathedral, the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace and even Windsor Castle. Since its opening the wheel has become a symbol of modern London, appearing in films and celebrations and forming the centrepiece of the New Year's Eve fireworks.

Where:

London, United Kingdom