What the view is made of
Tower Bridge opened in 1894: two Gothic towers joined by high walkways, with a roadway that splits in the middle and rises to let tall ships through. After dark it is lit from below, and the bascules, the two halves of that roadway, sit in the frame like a drawbridge waiting for a reason to lift. From the right window it is the most famous thing in London you can watch from an armchair.
The catch is that the words river view promise very little. A room can face the Thames and see only water and the far bank. Seeing the bridge itself, square on and near enough to pick out the towers, depends on the building, the side, the floor and sometimes the single room.
North bank: the Tower Hotel and its neighbours
The Tower Hotel on St Katharine's Way stands about as close to the bridge as a hotel can, a 1970s block whose river-facing rooms look straight at the northern tower and across to the Shard. Critics of architecture have never been kind to its exterior. Nobody inside, looking out, has ever cared.
A few minutes west, the old Port of London Authority headquarters on Trinity Square now houses the Four Seasons, facing its gardens and the Tower of London. Whether a given room also catches the bridge depends on height and side, so ask before you book. citizenM Tower of London, a few doors along, looks directly at the Tower, and its top floor bar is a sensible place to see the bridge from above before deciding whether you need it from your bed as well.
South bank, and from high above
From the south side the bridge is seen with the Tower and the City rising behind it. Butler's Wharf, where Shad Thames runs between old spice warehouses, gives the classic angle, although most of what faces the bridge there is flats and restaurants rather than hotel rooms. Hilton London Tower Bridge, at More London, sits a street or two back from the water. Some higher rooms catch the bridge between neighbouring buildings; ask rather than assume.
Then there is the view from above. East-facing rooms at the Shangri-La in the Shard look down on Tower Bridge from so high that it reads like a model on a map, with HMS Belfast moored just upstream. It is a different pleasure from the close-up at the Tower Hotel, and our Shangri-La guide covers that building floor by floor.
When the view earns its price
A bridge view is worth paying for when you will be awake to see it in both lights. The overnight is the obvious case: the bridge lit after dinner, then again in grey morning light with the first boats moving. Ten hours at £1,800 on our overnight format covers both, and it is the booking on which the room upgrade genuinely pays its way.
It also counts for dinner served in the room, when the table can be pulled to the glass, and for any evening meant to mark something. It rarely counts for an hour at £250 that starts at eleven. By then the curtains tend to be drawn within ten minutes and the view becomes a backdrop nobody is looking at. Spend the difference on a better table the following night.
Watching it lift
The bridge still opens for tall vessels. Each lift is requested in advance by the ship, so the times are published ahead on the bridge's own website. From the warning bells to the roadway settling back takes only a few minutes, and seeing one from a window above the river is among the quieter thrills of this corner of London.
If a lift falls inside your booking, mention it when you confirm with the desk. A companion who knows it is coming will make sure you are at the window rather than in the lift to the bar. Evening lifts happen less often than daytime ones, so treat one as a bonus rather than the plan.
The bridge on foot
Whatever room you choose, cross the bridge itself at least once. The footways on either side of the roadway stay open when the high walkways are closed, and at night the walk from Butler's Wharf to St Katharine Docks takes ten minutes, passing directly beneath both towers with the lit stonework overhead and the river moving fast below. Halfway across, stop at the seam where the two bascules meet and look west: HMS Belfast, the Shard, London Bridge and the City towers line up in one frame.
The high walkways, with their glass floor panels over the road, are part of the Tower Bridge exhibition and a daytime visit with its own tickets. For an evening, the roadway is enough, and it makes the view from any window afterwards feel earned.
Asking for the right window
Book directly with the hotel, or call after booking, and ask a precise question: does this room look at the bridge, or only at the river? Ask for a floor high enough to clear the trees and walkways, and for the side that faces the bridge rather than one with a slanting glimpse. Then confirm on the day, because rooms are reassigned more often than guests realise.
Companions notice this kind of care. Cindy photographs the bridge at sunset from St Katharine Docks and will tell you, kindly, whether your window has the good angle. Bianka likes a long dinner in the warehouses of Shad Thames, with the towers glowing at the end of the lane, and Lea often starts at the Bridge Theatre, a stone's throw from the southern tower. Cindy is on the blondes page, and the Tower Bridge area page lists the hotels nearest the crossing with walking times from each station. Once the room is settled, one message through the booking page does the rest.