🚇 Unique format: This tour combines walking with 4 short tube journeys between entirely different neighbourhoods — giving you a genuinely broad experience of London that most tours never reach.
From Bodysnatchers to Vaccines
Nowhere in the world has shaped medicine more than London — and this tour finds every place where it happened
London has been the world’s most important city for medical discovery for centuries. From medieval hospitals and plague lanes to the identification of the first vaccine and the discovery of penicillin, the breakthroughs that saved hundreds of millions of lives happened here — in streets and buildings you can still visit today. This is not a tour just for people in the medical profession. It is a fabulous alternative tour of London for anyone who is curious about how the modern world came to be.
The 4 tube journeys between stops are a feature, not an inconvenience — they take you into entirely different parts of London that most tours never reach, connecting neighbourhoods whose medical histories are separated by centuries but linked by the same relentless drive to understand and heal.
A tour of the medical sites that changed the world — hidden across London
One of many remarkable stops on the Medical History Tour
Where some of the greatest medical discoveries in history were made
Not Just for Medical Professionals
A fabulous alternative tour of London — for anyone who finds history fascinating
This tour attracts doctors, nurses, scientists and medical students — but it is absolutely not exclusive to them. The stories it tells are among the most compelling in all of London’s history: a man who mapped a disease outbreak using pin and paper. A woman who transformed nursing against fierce opposition. A researcher who spotted something growing in a discarded petri dish and changed the world.
Optional museum visits depending on the day you book — the Foundling Museum, St Thomas’ Old Operating Theatre and St Bartholomew’s Hospital Museum are all part-time and not guaranteed, but we do our best to include them when open.
🧫 Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin here in London. Dr John Snow cracked cholera here. Dr Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine nearby. The places where they made those breakthroughs still exist — and this tour takes you to every one.
Pricing — 3.5 Hour Tour
Per Person — Guide Included
Entry fees not included. Child prices available on request. Departure 10:00am. Tube fares not included.
Book via the calendar below, by email, or through Viator.
Frequently Asked Questions for the London Medical History Tour
Standard Adult Prices per person excluding entry fees (child prices available upon request).
Departure Time:10 am
City Location: London
Duration of Tour: 3.5 hours
(Approximate times as all tours are bespoke)
How to book the London Medical History Tour
To make a booking please use our automated calendar and booking form below or contact us above.
Alternatively you can book by using the automated booking process with Viator.
“This tour isn’t just a Medical History Tour — it is a fabulous alternative tour of London for anyone curious about how the modern world came to be.”
