Each year multiple ice rinks spring up around London to help both residents and visitors to celebrate the holiday season or just have a little fun when the weather turns colder. Some of the more well known can be found at Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland Festival, Somerset House, Canary Wharf and the Tower of London.
We decided to give the Tower of London a go during our recent visit to the area to celebrate New Year’s. We chose the 4pm session which ended up being a lovely choice because the sun set as we were skating and the lights lit the ice in a fun, magical way. The experience was very well received both by those of us skating and those that chose to remain in the cozy warmth of the Ice Rink Café. Sessions are 45 minutes long and you are asked to arrive 30 minutes in advance. This allows for enough time to enter the queue, claim your skates (skate hire is included in the price of your ticket), swap out your shoes for skates and queue to enter the skating rink.
You exchange your shoes for skates 
If you don’t have your own skates, no worries, they can provide some.
After each session the ice is cleared and the Zamboni makes it’s way around the ice to clean it up for the next session. Skaters are allowed onto the ice at the top of every hour and from there, you’re free to enjoy yourself for the next 45 minutes. All levels of skaters are welcome and if you have little ones along with you a penguin skate aid can be rented on a first come, first served basis to help them get around.
Everyone was considerate, and while I wasn’t the most adept person on the ice, I also wasn’t the worst person either. Laughs and jokes rang through the air as friends and family skated around, or attempted to. The one thing I would advise is putting away that phone while you’re on the ice. If you want to take a picture, move off to a corner, because I saw plenty of spills from people trying to take selfies or pictures of friends and losing situational awareness.
After your 45 minutes is over you’ll again swap your skates for your shoes and off you go. Whether you want to spend some time touring the Tower of London or grab a quick bite and drink at the Rink Café there’s plenty of space. Spectators can watch the skaters for free either from the Café or other viewing areas around the rink.
