city university of london tours

Take a journey through our university

UCL campus tours

• Plan your visit

Campus Tours

When do guided tours take place.

We offer guided tours in July and August on:

• Monday - Friday: 12:00 and 14:00
• Saturday: 11:00 and 13:00

Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday tours are fully booked for July and August. Extra tours scheduled on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays can be booked 2 weeks in advance. Tours are in high demand, so we recommend booking as soon as possible.

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Currently, external visitors cannot visit the Bloomsbury campus without an invitation or booking. We will update our website when self-guided tours resume.

Please note there will be no tours in September due to welcome activities on campus. Tours resume in October, with booking information to be published here in September. 

Book a campus tour

What is covered on a guided tour.

Our guided tours will give you an opportunity to ask general questions relating to:

• the application process
• how to apply
• look for accommodation
• see what it's like to be a student in London and at UCL.

These tours are lead by an experienced Student Ambassador or a member of staff. 

These are general tours of our Bloomsbury campus. We are unable to include access to any UCL Halls of Residence during a guided tour.

• Contact [email protected] for more information.

Disabled access

The majority of the UCL campus and the entirety of the campus tour is fully accessible, but if you have any special requirements, please get in touch before you visit on [email protected]  and we will be happy to help.

We're in the process of arranging guided tours at our UCL East campus and will update this page with further details once they are available to book. In the meantime, if you wish to visit UCL East, please contact us at [email protected] and we can arrange this for you.

Looking for a specific department?

Some departments may offer their own tours. You can find contact details for individual departments on the relevant departmental website.  

UCL Open Days

You can also discover individual departments and their programmes on a UCL Open Day. 

• Discover UCL Open days

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Planning a visit to UCL? 

UCL's main campus is located in the Bloomsbury district at the very heart of London and is well-served by transport links.

• Learn more about visiting our campus  

Self-guided tours

Want to explore the UCL Bloomsbury campus in your own time?

Read about the self-guided tour of the campus

Connect with a UCL student on Unibuddy

You can chat to a current student at UCL today.

Match with an Undergraduate or Postgraduate student ambassador, with students online from different countries studying a wide selection of subjects. 

• Chat now via Unibuddy

The influences behind JD Vance's politics and Lebanon's hospitals prepare for war: Morning Rundown

JD Vance and his aunt shed light on how his upbringing shaped his sharp opinions. Lebanon’s already crisis-hit hospitals are making preparations in case of war with Israel. And the last European shows of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” come with heightened security measures.

Here’s what to know today.

How JD Vance’s family shaped his sharp-edged rhetoric

In his first month as former President Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance has turned heads with his past comments about “childless cat ladies,” as well as his views about marriage, children and families. Democrats have made his sometimes aggressive support of more conventional family dynamics the basis of their case against him as a national candidate.

But those close to Vance, a first-term Ohio senator, say his relationships with the women who raised him are key to understanding his worldview on the thorny cultural issues for which he has become known. Vance also acknowledged in a recent interview that his upbringing shaped his sharp opinions.

In his book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance portrays his grandmother as a profane but loving matriarch herding a family often in crisis. His mother battled drug addiction and, according to his book, once “beat the s---” out of him.

This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your day. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

“My sister had five husbands, and that’s not to mention the men that were in and out of their lives that she didn’t marry before she got her crap together,” Lori Miebers, Vance’s aunt and one of the women who took him in when his mother could not, said in an interview with NBC News. “He’s seen that side of life and living.”

In his book, Vance also celebrated his older sister’s marriage to “someone who treated her well and had a decent job,” breaking the cycle of abandonment and dysfunction that defined their childhood.  

In interviews, Vance and Miebers gave new details of his upbringing and discussed how it forged his opinions.

Read the exclusive story here.

More 2024 election coverage: 

• Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will appear together in Maryland. Tim Walz swings through the Northeast, and Vance goes to Pennsylvania.  Follow our live blog.
• At a rally in Asheville, North Carolina, Trump  went on numerous tangents  about Biden, Harris and Walz while laying out some economic policy proposals.
• Walz  accepted an invitation  to debate Vance on Oct. 1.
• Republicans are angry that a leading pro-cryptocurrency group  backed Democrats in two high-profile Senate races .
• Pro-Palestinian protest groups say  tens of thousands of people will descend on Chicago  to demonstrate outside the Democratic National Convention next week.

Lebanon’s hospitals ready themselves for a full-scale war

Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group have been engaged in a low-level war for 10 months, but after the twin assassinations last month of senior Hezbollah and Hamas figures, many in the region, including hospitals, are preparing themselves for the possibility of a full-scale war.

At Rafiq Hariri University Hospital, the largest public hospital in Beirut, there’s a new triage system that can whisk critical patients to high-level care “in seconds,” Dr. Jihad Saadeh said. A just-finished facility can wash away weaponized poisons, and specialized areas can be transformed into trauma surgeries in no time. But Saadeh estimates the hospital can only withstand about 10 days of war before it would need outside supplies. 

While doctors learned from the country’s last war with Israel in 2006, Lebanon’s myriad crises loom over the health care sector, causing concern about how it could weather a new conflict.  

European finale of Eras Tour features heightened security

It’s the end of an Eras! Five performances in London, starting tonight, mark the end of the European leg of Taylor Swift’s record-breaking “Eras Tour.” 

With the shows coming a week after a foiled terror plot that had targeted her appearance in Vienna, Austria, Swift’s team worked with organizers in the United Kingdom to ensure heightened security at Wembley Stadium in London. Among the measures: Fans who were unable to score tickets won’t be able to stand outside the stadium and listen from afar, as was allowed at previous shows, and no “tay-gating” will be allowed. 

Fans, some traveling from the U.S. to attend Swift’s shows, said they are comforted by the security measures and are determined to have a night to remember. Read the full story here.

Politics in Brief 

Immigration: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently doubled down on his commitment to send buses full of migrants to blue cities. One problem: There aren’t enough migrants.

Want more politics news? Sign up for From the Politics Desk to get exclusive reporting and analysis delivered to your inbox every weekday evening.  Subscribe here.  

Staff Pick: LA28 preps for a different Los Angeles than in 1984 and 1932

With the successful Paris Olympics now wrapped up, looking at how preparations are going for the next host city was a no-brainer. Los Angeles last hosted the global sports event in 1984 when it was a much different city: Less people, less traffic, less heat and less homelessness. We examine the hurdles Los Angeles 2028 will face as it prepares to capture the world's gaze in four years. —  Amanda Covarrubias , news editor

In Case You Missed It

• Columbia University President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik announced her resignation after months of criticism over Israel-Hamas war campus protests.
• A Russian court has sentenced a U.S.-Russian ballerina to 12 years in a penal colony for "high treason" after she allegedly transferred funds to a Ukrainian charity.
• The Biden administration said it has reached an agreement with drugmakers to lower prices on the 10 costliest prescription drugs under Medicare.
• Why is everyone on TikTok suddenly obsessed with being “very demure?” Here’s a very mindful explainer of the trend.
• Disney is trying to have a widower’s $50,000 wrongful death lawsuit dismissed and sent to arbitration because the man had signed up for a Disney+ account several years ago.

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified 

The  18 best tools every gardener should have  include many tried-and-true basics and other products to keep your plants looking pristine. For those who are new to gardening,  a raised bed  is especially great because it’s like “gardening with training wheels.”

Sign up to The Selection  newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.

Thanks for reading today’s Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If you’re a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign up here .

Elizabeth Robinson is a newsletter editor for NBC News, based in Los Angeles.

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• DESTINATION GUIDE

11 best things to do in London

Immerse yourself in the vibrant culture of England's capital—from a coveted cabaret bar to one of the city's best curry restaurants.

Beyond the London Eye, Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace, London has a long list of bygone treasures certain to pique the interest of every type of traveler. Deciding the best things to do and see can be a daunting task, but we’re making it a little easier for you. Here’s are the top things to do in London, specifically not-to-be-missed experiences that make the city so enticing

Explore history and drama at the Sir John Soane’s Museum

Before the streaming TV series “Bridgerton”, there was   Sir John Soane’s Museum , a Regency townhouse preserved much how the namesake architect left it in 1837. A classics nut and passionate collector, Soane furnished every square inch with art,   antiquités   and his own remarkable drawings. Visitors shouldn’t leave without seeing the portrait of   Nora Brickenden   hanging in his dressing room. “Soane, always susceptible to flattery and attention from women, was superficially ensnared by the impressionable vicar's daughter from Hereford,” says Gillian Darley, historian and author of the biography, “John Soane: An Accidental Romantic”. The famous architect and Brickenden were spotted together in 1813, while Soane’s wife Eliza was away in the country. To learn how it panned out, take the   Highlights tour , offered daily at noon.  

Find your tribe in Hampstead Heath

Few wanderers would consider jumping in a beech-shaded pond in a wild, secluded corner of   Hampstead Heath . And yet for a century, artists, poets, musicians and LGBTQ+ Londoners have bonded in the chilly depths of the   Kenwood Ladies’   Bathing Pond   –   Europe’s only natural swimming pond for women.   “Swimming here through the year provides an extraordinary connection with the changing seasons,” says Nicky Mayhew, a longtime wild swimmer from Hampstead.   “For many of us, it’s a form of meditation.” Its purity and body-positivity have even inspired some regulars to wax lyrical for the essay collection   At the Pond .  

Embark on a sailing adventure to Little Venice

A willow-shaded sanctuary for waterfowl and hobby fishermen, the Regent’s Canal was a major thoroughfare when it opened 200 years ago as a shortcut to the Thames. And the leafy pedestrian towpath was trod by ponies hauling merchant narrowboats.   “You can still spot evidence of a 1874 explosion under Macclesfield Bridge, caused by a boat carrying gunpowder and leaking petrol fumes,” says Martin Sach, chair of the   London Canal Museum . His bucolic narrowboat cruises depart Fridays from the museum’s charming location in a former icehouse and sail to the residential enclave of Little Venice, passing the bridge en route.    

Flex your cycling skills on this Olympic track

To Londoners, it’s known as “The Pringle” because of its potato-chip shape. However, the   Lee Valley VeloPark , built for the 2012 Olympic Games, is a serious landmark, designed with input from   gold-medal Olympian Chris Hoy   to be efficient and lightweight, like a racing bike. Since then, welcoming cyclists of all levels has been part of the neighborhood mandate, building on what’s become a major cultural quarter. Newcomers can learn BMX or mountain bike skills, or race on the undulating course with high-end rental bikes. Entry fees are subsidized, so you may be able to stretch your budget to include a swim at the   Aquatics Centre .  

Satiate your hunger for authentic curry

In London, some curry houses serve only English-invented dishes such as tikka masala. Others are suitable only after the pub, and a few greats have earned lifelong fans. “I’ve been going to   Rasa   since I was a kid – and, more importantly, when I used to be vegetarian,” says Leonie Cooper, food and drink editor of “Time Out London”. The hot pink-painted shoebox on Stoke Newington Church Street serves dishes from India’s Kerala region –   creamy, meatless, and refreshingly light, according to Cooper. “For the   b agar   baingan , aubergines are made into a paste before being mixed with yogurt and a cashew sauce. Deeply savory.” Those who try it will never eat tikka again.  

Explore a secret tropical garden

Most people wouldn’t expect to see a Victorian greenhouse in Brutalist landmark like the Barbican Centre. In fact you won’t see it at all unless you bypass the concert hall, theatres, art galleries and Champagne bar for the massive top-floor   Conservatory   with its 1,500 tropical plants. A new mission to “activate” the space for contemporary art has spurred artists to experiment. “Installations across the greenhouse encourage people to spend time, slow down, observe,” says Shanay Jhaveri, Barbican’s head of visual arts. Open Friday evenings and Sundays only, it’s still something of a secret –   and a weather-proof alternative to Kew Gardens.  

Uncover a classic pub’s hidden history  

While lesser pubs close their doors,   Ye Olde Mitre   thrives, serving cozy Elizabethan lore alongside Kent Golding Bitter, a local malt drawn from ancient wood casks. If you’re lucky enough to find its narrow passage marked 1546, you’ll pass the fossilized cherry tree a certain Virgin Queen danced around. “There’s a sense of magic in its concealed location,” says John Warland, a pub maven who gave it star billing in his book “Hidden Pubs of London”. “People love being in on the secret.” The landlady lives above the shop and makes certain all feel welcome… for the price of a pint. But plan well because the Mitre closes on weekends.  

( London hotels for every type of traveler. )

Let them entertain you at Cockatoo cabaret

East End celebs popped in regularly for garlic-caramel roast chicken after the ‘industrial chic’ Bistrotheque opened in 2004. But   the Cockatoo   piano bar downstairs might be its most dazzling legacy, making stars of cabaret queens like   Robyn Herfellow , who insists, “It’s chic, but the place doesn’t forget its roots – the crockery is clean but the cabaret can still get pretty filthy.”

According to new headliner   Don One , “You always get a few people who are new to seeing drag kings, and it feels like a great opportunity to introduce them to something new. As a singer who incorporates comedy into my performance, I move around the space interacting with the crowd, and everyone loves me.”  

Climb the sacred dome of a famous cathedra l

If anything can top the view of St. Paul’s enchanting dome, it’s the so-called BBC view from the third-floor triforium, where the press filmed Charles and Di’s wedding. The   Triforium Tour   leads up a floating spiral staircase into the depths of the dome. “There’s a door you can pop your head out, step out onto the balcony, and look up – and you’re right underneath the mosaics, glittering in the light,” says Sandra Lynes Timbrel, director of visitor engagement. It continues into a library that features the first English-language bible, then to the nave: “That’s the money shot,” says Lynes Timbrel. From this unique vantage point, visitors get a sweeping view of the cathedral high above the people below. Architect Christopher Wren’s original scale model is located here, too. “It’s a bit of a squeeze to walk inside, but it draws an audible gasp when people walk in the room. David Bowie came in the last year of his life just to see it.”

Walk down to Electric Avenue

Brixton commuters get an eyeful of art as soon as they reach the train platform, where bronze statues, created in 1986, immortalize eight   local   residents. “They were the earliest identifiably Black portraits in England,” says   Kelly Foster , a longtime guide and fifth-generation resident of this Afro-Caribbean community. While her walks cover heritage highlights, like oral histories and activist art from the   Black Cultural Archives , she’s also an authority on Jamaican delights. Through Electric Avenue –   yes,   that   Electric Avenue – you’ll find   Etta’s Seafood , “where you can choose what fish Etta cooks for you.” Carry on to   The   Effra   Hall   Tavern   – it has a great jazz session on Thursdays,   a cross between Jamaican and be-bop that originated in 1960s London.  

Catch a free show on the South Bank

From afar, the   Brutalist landmarks   known collectively as the   South Bank   might seem foreboding. Only when you stroll past them on the promenade do you understand what the hype is really all about. Street jazz, performance art, madcap skateboarders, an interactive water feature designed   by artist Jeppe Hein, and   the year-long calendar of free events guarantee no dull moments are had on this bend in the Thames. High points are the toddy-fueled   Winter Festival   and June’s   Meltdown , when a chosen artist (Chaka Khan, Grace Jones, David Byrne) curates a 10-day live music spectacle.

( 5 of north London's most scenic walking routes. )

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