Private Charles Dickens Storytelling Walk, London

The world of Charles Dickens comes to life on this 90-minute private walk through Holborn, where you'll explore the historic London neighborhood with an entertaining storyteller guide. Learn how the author drew on the "sooty spectre" of Victorian London as an endless source of inspiration for his novels, and trace the footsteps of beloved characters like David Copperfield and Amy Dorrit as you uncover the real locations featured in Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Bleak House, and more.

This immersive 90-minute experience begins when you meet your private guide outside 48 Doughty Street, the former home of Charles Dickens and now the Charles Dickens Museum. From here, you'll set off to explore historic Holborn (long-known as the city's legal district), where Dickens worked as a law clerk and found inspiration for his colorful characters among its winding alleys and ancient courts.

Listen as your storyteller guide brings Dickensian London to life with their entertaining narration, and learn how the author saw the city as his beloved "magic lantern" and a constant source of his creativity. Some highlights of the walk include a stop by Gray's Inn, where you can see the very office where a teenage Dickens once sat, and a visit to the remarkable half-timbered facade of the Staple Inn. Built in 1585, this was one of the few timber-framed buildings to survive the Great Fire of London, and it plays a pivotal part in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

The route also passes the site of Dickens' early lodgings at Furnival's Inn, where he wrote The Pickwick Papers; look out for the small bust displayed there as your guide explains why the author asked for no monuments after his death. You'll also stroll down the narrow alley known as Saffron Hill, a former Victorian slum where Dickens set Fagin's hideout in Oliver Twist, and pass Barnard's Inn, described by Pip in Great Expectations as a "mere dust-hole." The walk draws to a close at Chancery Lane Station, where you'll step out of the pages of fiction and back into modern-day London as you part ways with your guide.