Discover the Top 10 Sports Venues in London

The home of English football is a must-see venue for any sports fan, let alone any football fan. 

The hallowed Wembley turf has seen many historic moments, both sporting and non-sporting. From England winning their one and only World Cup to date in 1966, to hosting the Live Aid concert in 1985, Wembley has a special place in the country’s cultural history.

Wembley is so much more than a football stadium, also staging rugby, American football and huge boxing title fights. Concerts are still regular features with some of the biggest names playing Wembley stadium. A tour of this iconic stadium allows you to relive all this incredible history as well as visit normally off limit sections of the ground.

Rebuilt and re-opened in 2007, a 90 minute tour will see you visit the changing rooms and walk down the tunnel and out on to the pitch, just as the England national side would do. Climb the stairs and see the stadium from the Royal box. Multimedia guides let you relive the great Wembley sporting moments across the years.

The tour costs £22 for adults and £15 for concessions. For an extra treat you could opt for the exclusive VIP tour costing £70, where you explore the stadium with a private guide and gain access to even more areas of this famous ground. Entrance to the tours is on level one, behind the Bobby Moore statue.

Tennis tournaments do not come any bigger than Wimbledon, staged on the lush grass courts of SW19. The sports venue which hosts the Wimbledon tennis championships is the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, and all the top players have graced its courts across the decades.

The venue not only contains the famous courts but also houses the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.

A tour of Wimbledon gives you an intimate behind the scenes look at this special tournament as well as access to the museum and its exhibitions. Pride of place on the tour is a visit to centre court, scene to some of the most epic finals in tennis and witness to Andy Murray’s two victories in 2013 and 2016.

The tour will also take you to the player’s area, the media centre and the BBC studio area. You will also have the chance to visit the member’s balcony with its views across the venue. The museum is part of the tour too and where you can explore tennis history, including the trophies and fashions through the years, with gear donated by the top players. You can also test your skills on the Batak wall.

The 90 minute tour is led by a friendly blue badge guide. Concession prices for the tour start from £21, but you can also opt for a museum only ticket. This includes a 15 minute visit to the impressive No.1 court and costs £13 for adults, with child prices set at £8. Entrance to the museum and the tour is on Church Road via gate 4.

Twickenham is the home of English rugby, a stadium with a spine tingling atmosphere when the big rugby nations clash. Twickenham can hold 82,000 people and is the largest sports venue in the world dedicated to rugby.

The stadium also hosts concerts from some of the biggest music artists of the day.

Aside from match days and concerts, you can still visit this impressive stadium for a behind the scenes look on a Twickenham tour. Find out about the match day routines of the players, before walking up the player’s tunnel and out on to the famous Twickenham turf. Feel like royalty for a brief moment when the tour takes you up to the Royal Box.

This iconic stadium is also home to the World Rugby museum. Here you will find the largest collection of rugby memorabilia in the world. This collection includes the oldest international jersey dating from 1871, as well as the Calcutta Cup, the oldest international rugby trophy and a precious item to all English and Scottish rugby fans. The interactive displays of the Play Rugby Zone will test your skills.

The stadium tour including the museum is priced from £21.50. If you wish to only visit the museum, prices start from £10. Twickenham rail station is just a 10 minute walk away and the museum opens Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm, and on Sunday from 11am to 5pm. You can buy your England Rugby merchandise from the official store on the south west corner of the stadium.

Home to Arsenal football club, the Emirates Stadium was opened in 2006, providing a suitably modern ground for the north London based Premier League club. Arsenal have consistently been one of the top football teams in the country and have a huge fan base.

The Emirates Stadium has a capacity of just over 60,000, an increase of 22,000 on their old Highbury ground.

A stadium tour allows you to explore this impressive venue at your own pace with a state of the art multimedia handset. Normally off limit areas you can visit include the players changing rooms, media room, press conference room and directors box. Feel like a professional as you walk through the tunnel and out pitch-side. Take a seat in the dug outs for the manager’s view.

The tour also includes the Arsenal museum. The club was formed in 1886 and has a rich history charted by the museum. As well as trophies and further historical artefacts, you will be able to see many items donated by former players. This includes the gloves worn by goalkeeper Jens Lehman during the famous Invincibles season.

The stadium tour costs £27 with concessions priced at £22, and you will receive free branded Arsenal earphones as well as a personalised tour certificate. For Arsenal fans the legend tours from £40 are a particular treat, an engaging 90 minute tour with an ex-player packed with personal tales of their time at the club.

With all the new glitzy stadiums being built with ever larger capacities, it is good to still be able to visit an historic and traditional venue like Craven Cottage. Located on the banks of the Thames, Craven Cottage has been home to Fulham football club since 1896.This quaint and quirky stadium helps the venue retain the feel of a family club.

Fulham bill themselves as London’s original football club, with a stadium which certainly helps back up the tag line. A tour of the club allows you a close up view of how a football club operates while sampling the character this venue continues to exude. The tour starts by the Johnny Haynes statue, a nod to the importance of the club’s history and the talent that has graced its pitch.

Part of the tour takes you in to the Johnny Haynes stand, a grade II listed building which was built in 1905. You will also visit the Craven Cottage pavilion, the landmark feature in one corner which gives the ground so much of its unique character. The tour is enhanced by a passionate tour guide who can talk to you about all things Fulham.

You can visit Craven Cottage throughout the week, with the tours taking place between 11am and 3pm. These tours last around an hour and cost £20 for an adult ticket, with concessions from £16. A family ticket for two adults and two children is priced at £60. All tours conclude with a visit to the club store.

A recent addition to London’s spectacular collection of stadiums is a true multi-use venue. This state of the art stadium opened in 2019, with technological innovations that includes a retractable pitch. This enables Tottenham to also boast the first purpose built American football stadium outside the US, hosting two NFL games a year.

There are unique elements to this stadium which sets it apart from many others, but one which will appeal to many fans is the refreshment offerings. The Goal Line bar is one such example, located in the South stand and running the whole 65 meters of the goal line below, making it the UK’s longest bar. There is also a taproom with an on-site microbrewery on level 1 offering craft beers.

A tour of the stadium provides an insight in to all these areas and more. Tour guides and multimedia devices will help you get the best out of your tour which includes the dressing room and players tunnel. Out pitch-side. you can even try out the manager’s seat in the dug-out.

Tours cost £27 with concessions from £24, while family tickets start from £67. The more adventurous may be tempted by the Dare Skywalk, where you will be treated to spectacular views across London having scaled the Tottenham Hotspur stadium before stepping out on to a glass walkway nearly 50 meters above the pitch.

This stadium will be very familiar to fans of the Olympics, having been the main venue for the London 2012 games. This was the scene of some incredible Olympic and Paralympic sporting moments and is now home to West Ham United football club.

The stadium sits within the stunning Queen Elizabeth Park in Stratford, East London. As part of the Olympic legacy the stadium remains a multi-use venue and hosted the athletics world championships in 2017. As a football stadium it seats 60,000 people but this can increase to a capacity of 80,000 when holding concerts.

Tours of the stadium offer superb panoramic views over the ground. You will also get to look behind the scenes in the players changing rooms, players tunnel and out pitch-side from the manager’s hot seat in the dug-out. Another highlight of the tour is a visit to the indoor warm-up track where the great athletes of 2012 prepared for their events.

Stadium tours combine a tour guide with multimedia guides, which are available in five languages. Tours cost £19 with concessions from £16. There is also a legends tour priced at £40 for adults, which lasts two hours and is led by a former West Ham legend such as Alvin Martin or Tony Gale.

Stamford Bridge has been the home of Chelsea FC since 1905, another powerhouse club of the English Premier league. This is one of the oldest grounds in the country and has undergone much renovation to make it the modern ground visitors see today. 

Located in south west London, Stamford Bridge offers a selection of tours to get the best out of your visit. The popular and award winning stadium and museum tour gives you access to normally off limit areas such as the dressing rooms and player’s tunnel. The tours are led by expert guides who can point out the best spots for your keepsake photos.

The extended Classic tour offers a little bit more to the eager fan, including exclusive access to match day items from the first team. You will start the tour in the museum, which includes the most complete collection of silverware in the capital. Both tours see you leave with a free Chelsea FC lanyard.

The stadium and museum tour costs £25 with concessions from £16, while the Classic tour is priced at £35 with concessions from £23. For that extra treat for the Chelsea fan there is also the Legends tour and museum, where you can go behind the scenes with a Chelsea playing legend for £80.

The Oval cricket ground with the famous gasholders in the background was the first venue to host test cricket in England. This historic ground was where an England team containing the legendary W.G Grace lose to Australia in 1882. This led to the writing of an obituary to English cricket, and in that obituary the famous Ashes series title was born.

The Oval has been home to Surrey county cricket club since 1845 and traditionally hosts the last test match of the English summer. Yet it contains so much more sporting history having played host to international rugby in the 1870’s, as well as staging the first ever FA cup final in 1872 and the first ever international football match in 1870, featuring England and Scotland.

A tour of the Oval allows you to delve in to all this sporting history as well as take a look behind the scenes of one of cricket’s best loved venues. Pass through the famous Bradman doors and imagine you are heading out to bat in your debut test innings. Sit in the commentary box, look in at the committee room and browse the history contained in the museum.

The Oval tour costs £15, or £14 for seniors. A family ticket covering two adults and two children is priced at £35. The venue is located within the Kennington area of London and is just 100 meters from the Oval tube station on the Northern line.