Canterbury Cathedral from Dover to London Private Tour

This private tour starts at the Dover cruise port and visits Canterbury Cathedral, about 16 miles (26km) away, before ending with a drop-off at your London hotel.

After meeting your guide, you depart Dover and make your way inland to Canterbury. The city has welcomed travelers for well over a thousand years, and its compact medieval core, still partly enclosed by its old city walls, blends timber-framed buildings, a lively high street and one of England's most important religious sites.

The Cathedral itself was founded in 597 AD, when Saint Augustine arrived from Rome on a mission from Pope Gregory the Great to reintroduce Christianity to England. It has served as the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the most senior figure in the Church of England, ever since, and today forms part of the Canterbury World Heritage Site, designated by UNESCO in 1988 alongside St Augustine's Abbey and St Martin's Church.

The Cathedral's fame as a pilgrimage destination traces back to a single, violent event: the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket inside the building on 29 December 1170, killed by four knights believed to be acting on King Henry II's word. Becket was canonized within three years, and pilgrims began traveling to his shrine almost immediately, a tradition that continued for centuries and later inspired Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Although the shrine itself was destroyed during the Reformation in the 1500s, its former site in the Trinity Chapel is still marked and remains the spiritual heart of the building.

Inside, look up in the center of the Cathedral to see Bell Harry Tower, the soaring central tower completed in the 1490s and named for its great bell, cast in 1495; its fan vaulted ceiling is considered one of the finest examples of English Perpendicular Gothic architecture. The Cathedral also holds some of the oldest surviving stained glass in England, including the Ancestors of Christ windows, with individual panels dating to the mid 12th century, and the Miracle Windows surrounding the former shrine site, created between 1180 and 1220 to depict the healings and miracles pilgrims attributed to Becket after his death. Elsewhere in the Cathedral lies the tomb of Edward the Black Prince, the medieval English military commander and eldest son of King Edward III.

After the Cathedral visit, you have free time in Canterbury for lunch (meal not included) before the drive continues on to your hotel in London.

• This tour is not available on Sundays.
• Walking is easy overall, though the cathedral involves stone floors and some steps; a folding wheelchair can be accommodated with advance notice, but some interior areas may be inaccessible.
• As Canterbury Cathedral is an active place of worship, modest dress (shoulders and knees covered) is recommended for the interior visit.