Virtual Tourist Attractions

Virtual tourist destinations to visit this half term

With Half Term approaching I thought that I would look at some of the places which you could virtually visit whilst tourist destinations are still in lockdown.

City tours

Take a day trip to the cities of London: https://360.visitlondon.com/# Edinburgh: https://edinburghtourist.co.uk/virtual-tours/ or Paris: https://en.parisinfo.com/what-to-do-in-paris/info/guides/virtual-visit-paris with these virtual guides.

Museums and Galleries

Explore, Museums, art and architecture from around the world: https://artsandculture.google.com/

Visit The British Museum galleries & collection, the British Museums blog has links and tips for exploring the museum from your own home: https://blog.britishmuseum.org/how-to-explore-the-british-museum-from-home/

Via The Natural History Museum virtual pages you can not only take a virtual self-guided tour, but you can also find out more about my favourite exhibit in the Museum, Hope, Blue Whale: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/virtual-museum.html

Take a look around the fascinating Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where you might spot exhibits used in the film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian: https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/vt3/NMNH/

You can take 3 virtual tours around the National Gallery, I like to visit Room 43, as Monet’s The Water-Lilly Pond takes my breath away every time I see it: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtual-tours

At the Tate Modern you can view the Turner collection, see the work of sculptor Henry Moore and view British artwork from 1545 to the present day: https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain#getting-here (Select online displays).

Remember to stop for coffee.

Places to Visit

The Buckingham Palace virtual tour allows you to look around the Grand Staircase, White Drawing Room and the Throne Room: https://www.royal.uk/virtual-tours-buckingham-palace

Take a 360 tour around the grounds of the Tower of London as a voice over tells you about the Towers history: https://www.youvisit.com/tour/meadk  Hampton Court Palace should be next on your list, you can look around the Great Hall, Watching Chamber and end your tour in the kitchens: https://in360degrees.co.uk/indie360/HamptonCourt/

If you have you ever wondered about the different rooms which make up the Houses of Parliament take this 360 tour: http://www.parliament.uk/visiting/virtualtour/ after that you may like to have a look inside 10 Downing Street: https://www.eyerevolution.co.uk/blog/get-inside-10-downing-street/

This 360 tour of the Vatican Museums is well worth a virtual visit: http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/tour-virtuali-elenco.html

Visit the Royal Opera House where you can see performances of Ballet & Opera:
https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/all

Whilst the Aquarium and Zoos are closed you can still see the animals via a variety of Webcams and live streams:

London Zoo: https://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/virtual-london-zoo

Chester Zoo: https://www.chesterzoo.org/

View the Panda cam at Atlanta Zoo: https://zooatlanta.org/panda-cam/

Houston Zoo Webcams: https://www.houstonzoo.org/explore/webcams/

Monterey Bay Aquarium webcams: https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams

Aquarium of the pacific: http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/exhibits/webcams

Harry Potter Exhibition

Finally if you are a fan of Harry Potter and you missed the British Library 2017 – 2018 Harry Potter Exhibition: https://artsandculture.google.com/project/harry-potter-a-history-of-magic?dm_i=5JXV%2C178Q%2C6XNPO%2C4C53%2C1&fbclid=IwAR1mFx41mrbH76jQM6SIeK0WW9tP8FMuyHjUfRjHPZ3WQUvLmOPchMQO5sE

Whatever you do or wherever you virtually go may I wish you a good Bank Holiday weekend and Half Term Holiday.