Sky Garden - Viewing Deck & Tropical Plants on 35th Floor

Q: Which is the closest train station?

The nearest station is Monument , which connects with the Circle and District lines. It only takes two minutes to walk to the Sky Garden.

Useful things to know before your visit

Address: Sky Garden, 1 Sky Garden Walk, The City EC3M 8AF. Telephone: 0207 337 2344. Website: skygarden.london

How much do the tickets cost?

Entry is free, but you still need to book a ticket online in advance.

What are the opening hours?

Opening times for the garden are 10am to 6pm (Mon-Fri); 11am to 9pm (Sat-Sun). Last entry to the garden is 1 hour before closing time. Opening times for the bars are 8am to midnight (Mon-Thu and Sun); 8am to 1am (Fri-Sat); Last entry to the bars is 11pm (Mon-Thu and Sun); Midnight (Fri-Sat).

How much time do you need?

A typical visit to the Sky Garden takes 1 hour.

Which buses go to the Sky Garden?

Bus routes 25, 35, 40, 47, 48, 149 and 344 all stop close by.

Which is the closest train station?

The nearest station is Monument, which connects with the Circle and District lines. It only takes two minutes to walk to the Sky Garden.

Which other attractions are nearby?

These attractions are all within 15 minutes walk of the Sky Garden: Leadenhall Market, The Monument, Billingsgate Roman House & Baths, All Hallows-by-the-Tower, Royal Exchange, Horizon 22, Mansion House, Bank of England Museum, London Mithraeum, Tower of London, HMS Belfast, Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall, Golden Hinde and Clink Prison Museum.

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My review of the Sky Garden

Worth a visit? ★★★Good value? freeGood for kids? ★★★

Reviewed by Craig Cross on 27 July 2020. Times and prices updated on 22 July 2026

I used to think of this place as the Palm House at Kew, five hundred feet in the sky, but now I think of it as one of those giant sci-fi cities in the clouds. This is how we’ll all be living soon, enclosed in a giant bio-dome.

The Sky Garden skyscraper at 20 Fenchurch Street

The security is always super tight at the Sky Garden. First of all you have to book a time slot on their website, then print off your free ticket, then flash them some ID, then tip all your clattering coins into their lap-tray by the scanner – in goes my phone and wallet but I must have missed something because all of the alarms have gone off, so I get patted down and sent back through the machine and beep beep beep, all the flashing lights go off again so he pats me down properly this time, and jokes that it must have been the fillings in my teeth.

Ridng a lift to the public observation level

Once I’ve made it past the scanners and the cold hands of the security staff I’m shuffled into a little lift with ten tourists all wondering what they’re about to see. Their faces are the usual mix of wonderment and puzzlement as the door slides shut and the numbers start whizzing up to 10, 20, 30 – when’s it going to stop?

The viewing level and cafe on the 35th floor

The Sky Garden cafe — The viewing level and cafe on the 35th floor

When you step out onto the 35th floor you’re straight into a scatter of tables and chairs and people drinking Pimms and Pernod. They’ve got a posh bar up here selling cocktails and bottles of Dom Pérignon for 250 quid a pop and the busy floor looks like a cross between a business meeting and an airport departure lounge – half of us are tourists and the other half are suits. Half of us are sitting here with a kid or a camera, and the other half are dictating diktats to their ponytailed PAs.

Tropical plants at the Sky Garden

The greenhouse garden is what everyone comes to see but it’s just a giant rockery really, like an avalanche of mud down either side, planted with palms and tropical trees. It’s never very colourful when I’ve seen it before, just a load of rubbery green leaves and peeling trees, but the plants are looking jungle lush this morning.

They’ve got fiery red flowers and huge tubular blooms with giant white feathers, all decorated with purple pebbles and a bark carpet of wood chippings. What they need are a few pipes pumping in a drizzle of mist to make it look like a rainforest.

View of London’s skyline from the 35th floor

But the garden is just a sideshow compared to the view outside. The front window is absolutely ginormous. The best way I can describe it is this: imagine looking through a see-through cliff-face at the sky behind. It really is that impressive. If you’re lucky then you’ll be able to walk through the revolving door onto the open-air balcony where I’m always expecting to get my teeth sucked out of my mouth in a swirling vortex of wind, but it’s surprisingly serene today. The last time I came here they weren’t letting anybody out because it was too windy, but there’s hardly even a breeze this morning.

Let me rattle off a list of landmarks and you can award yourself a point each time you find one – Front window: City Hall and Southwark Cathedral are pretty easy, but Big Ben and The Monument might take you a little longer.

View of St. Paul’s Cathedral from the Sky Garden — View of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the London Eye from the Sky Garden

West window: Try and find St. Paul’s to start with because that’s ridiculously easy, then Cleopatra’s Needle (still easy), and the Bank of England, Globe Theatre and London Eye (easy, easy, easy). You might have to give your eyes a quick polish to find Nelson’s Column and the arch of Wembley Stadium – well done if you manage to spot those. If you know London really well then try and find the Old Bailey and the Royal Courts of Justice.

From this height the river almost looks solid, like a sheet of shining steel, and the tops of the office blocks are littered with all sorts of solar panels, satellite dishes, air-conditioning fans and flags, pipes and vents. Some of them have got gardens and greenery on top, and I can even see a few trees where the chimneys used to be.

View of Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast — View of Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and HMS Beflast

East window: This is my favourite window in all of London because you get a fantastic view of Tower Bridge and the Tower of London from here – you can see all of the crenelated walls and pick out the barracks and chapel and Bloody Tower. After that you can follow the bend of the river all the way round the Isle of Dogs and skyscrapers at Canary Wharf, to the runway at London City Airport.

View of The Shard and London Bridge from the Sky Garden

You can’t see much out of the south window because there’s a solid wall of skyscrapers rising up behind it.

A final tip: there’s still one more level above the main one if you want to climb even higher. If you walk around to the west window and look behind the plants you’ll see a flight of stairs leading up to the Fenchurch restaurant. It looks out of bounds to non-diners but they don’t mind people standing on their terrace.

I’ve ranked the Sky Garden as ★3 in the best free attractions in London, ★4 in the best parks and gardens in London and ★11 in the 25 things to do in London at least once

It also appears in my one-day London itineraries with timings, free one-day London itinerary and what to do in London in 2 days itinerary

What do you think? (9)

Ask a question, or share your experience of the Sky Garden

J1960 Will definitely visit next time I visit family. Thank you,. (reply)

Simon369 Are dogs allowed on a lead? (reply)

Craig Hi Simon. It doesn’t look like it, no. This is what they say on their website: "Pets and other animals are not allowed into the Sky Garden, except for Guide Dogs" – skygarden.london/faqs-search/ (reply)

Sajid The sky garden has got one of the best view of London. It is amazing to see at the sunset. It is free, and worth to be visited. I have some of my best shots there. (reply)

Eunice My son and I will visit Sky Garden this summer. Can we sit and eat a snack at cafe without making a reservation? We do not drink alcohol, can we still sit at the bar or is it ok to sit at the bar for a teenager? Thank you. (reply)

Craig Hi Eunice. You don’t need a reservation for the bar in front of the big window. They sell tea, coffee and other non alcoholic stuff. They’ve got a completely separate restaurant up there as well which might need a reservation, depending on how busy it is. But remember that you still need to book a ticket to get into the Sky Garden itself. They won’t let you in if you just turn up on the day. All you need to do is book a free time slot on their website, and remember to take some ID with you as well, because they’ll check that. (reply)

Eunice Thank you for responding to me. (reply)

isla Must you book in advance to visit the sky garden. (reply)

Craig Hi Isla. You do, yes. You have to book a time slot on their website before you go, which is free. Then you either print off the ticket or show it on your phone. If you just turn up at the door without a ticket they won’t let you in. (reply)

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