How to Photograph the Prime Meridian Line for Free
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I was excited when my friend Vera invited me to Greenwich for a rainy Sunday afternoon. This was my chance to complete an important step in my global travels. I had already stood on the equator in Kenya when I began my travels in 2006, and now I would have the opportunity to straddle the Meridian line in Greenwich; I would experience zero longitude!
I hopped online to research the best place to get a picture of the famous line where time seems to stand still. Google delivered my answer swiftly. To get a picture straddling the Meridian line you would need to go to the Royal Observatory and head out in the courtyard where the center of world time is marked with a line and a monument. Perfect – mission accomplished.
Ahhhh – but wait for a second. On my Google search results another headline caught my eye.
“Greenwich Meridian Line Visitors to Pay £10 – Travel News”
My mood dropped as I read the article. As of March 2011, the Observatory started charging 10 pounds to get into the facility, which was the only way you could really take a picture of your feet on two different days. I was quite upset about the whole thing. 10 pounds is 16 US dollars – all for a picture. Sure you could go visit another part of the observatory, but I didn’t really have the time or desire to do that, I simply wanted a picture, and I know I’m not alone in that desire. This new charge comes at a very convenient time as the 2012 Olympics arrive in London and specifically Greenwich in a year’s time. Sounds like the Prime Meridian Line will be a prime source of income.
Being a budget traveler, I drew the line at paying $16 for a picture. Hell, the line isn’t just in the observatory, it runs from the North to the South pole…I didn’t need the crummy observatory for my picture – I was now on a mission to find a way to get a picture of me on the line for free.
I continued to research online searching and studying maps of the line and where it ran through the city of Greenwich and if there were any markings. The search proved harder than I initially thought. However, I did come across a picture of a street with little dots on it representing the Prime Meridian and it had the title Park Vista. I found the street on the map and was on a mission.
Where to find the Meridian Line outside the Observatory
As soon as I arrived in Greenwich, Vera and I set out to find Park Vista. The location I had identified was just north of the children’s boating pond in Greenwich Park. Look at a park map and go to Park Row Gate, there you’ll see the beginning of Park Vista street. Walk east on the street and watch the road carefully. You’ll come to some raised metal ‘dots’ in the road – those represent the Meridian! If you look south, you’ll see a little plaque that identified the meridian line too.
Mission Accomplished!
So, if you are heading to Greenwich for the 2012 Olympics in London and want to see and photograph the Prime Meridian, then be sure to save money and go to Park Vista and have your own personal photo shoot for FREE. That’s exactly what Vera and I did…enjoy!
Video of our free visit to the Prime Meridian:
Here’s a park map with the Meridian Line on it.
PIN IT FOR LATER!
Thanks for the post. I want to do that when I’m in London but don’t want to have to pay the entrance fee either. Yeah!
This is awesome! You will be seeing the same picture of me, shortly! Thanks for the tip! 🙂
sorry to disappoint but the prime meridian is not the same as the international date line. you can’t be in saturday and sunday at the same time in the UK. The date line is 180 degrees away in the pacific…a great next project for you!
Thanks for educating me and giving me more work!! Sounds like a great adventure!
Isn’t Greenwich lovely! I lived in England for forty years and had never been there until last year, when my son ran the London Marathon, which begins there. We went the previous day to suss it all out, and were blown away by all the spring blossoms. I have never, ever seen anything like them. That was in April, and I want to go back for each season to see the changes. I also decided that if I win the lottery that’s where I will live!
I’m a geography geek, so I enjoyed my trip to Greenwich many years ago (when the price wasn’t so exorbitant).
This is a really helpful post for people who don’t want to spend that, but still want a piece of geographical geekdom! Thanks!
Charging ten pounds for access to the Greenwich Mean Time line is highway robbery. The area does have great scientific history around astronomy and time.
WAY COOL! I love getting around the man.
I liked your video =). Very fun!
Cool! Can you imagine being a kid growing up there? I’d be jumping back and forth over the line all the time! “It’s Tuesday now. It’s Wednesday now. It’s Tuesday. No it’s Wednesday.” 🙂 I LOVE how you found a way around the fee.
That’s actually not how it works. You are at the longitudinal mark. You can say you are in two different hemispheres you aren’t in two different days. That’s the international date line on the other side of the globe!
I live in London and am pleased that you’ve found a way of ducking the £10 charge.
It’s all part of rip-off Britain.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We went to this exact spot today and it was heavenly. Great way to see an awesome sight!
So glad you found the ‘secret spot’! Enjoy!
Thank you for this!!! I’ll be going to London in August (yep as a spectator for the olympics) but my budget is already full as it is… but thanks to your post I can finally get to stand on the Prime Meridian!!! :o) Thank you! I’ll be on the lookout for Park Vista!
The Prime Meridian line is available for photographs free at Greenwich just outside the Observatory grounds!
Indeed it is. I’ve been there last month and also took a picture just outside the Observatory grounds!
There is a public footpath just in front and to the north of the Royal Observatory.
On the wall is a marker showing the line.
At night a green laser is projected from the Observatory along the meridian
Thank you for this tip. as a budget traveller i felt the same when visiting last year 10 pound is 20 dollars AUD.
thanks to you though i will be getting my time warp pic this year on a trip with my mum as i drag her through the under river tunnel too.
At the Prime Meridian you can stand in both eastern and western hemispheres by straddling the line. The Prime Meridian is ZERO degrees longitude. The International Date Line on the opposite side of the Earth is where you can cross from, say, Tuesday to Wednesday, and back if you like!
Thank you so much for sharing! The line was huge, but I searched on-line and your blog came up, so I was able to see this on my visit to Greenwich. Cheers! 🙂
Ali – Glad you went and checked it out!! A fun little travel stop!
I am also a perpetual traveler. In May I stood on the date line in Taveuni Fiji. It was a line with a sign by the local football field and very low key. As I will be in London later this month I thought it would be cool to stand on the Prime Meridian. I had the same reaction as you $16!!! because they have bothered to draw in a line? Thank you for posting an alternative! I am excited to hunt this down. I am looking forward to spending the money on a more worthwhile endeavorer like a drinking pints in a pub while watching World Cup Rugby.
So happy that this was useful for you and your quest to visit the Prime Meridian on a budget! 🙂 Enjoy the Rugby and your pint!
Thanks for this post! I’m heading to London in a month and I want a picture at the meridian and don’t want to pay 10 pounds for it! haha Cheers!
Great! I hope you get the shot you want!! Good luck.
Thanks so much for your post. It helped me get a photograph of prime meridian without really paying for it. I found the exact spot that you have mentioned. I was so thrilled!!
Super! Glad it worked for you!
I was going to download the park map but it doesn’t work. Where can I get it? Thanks
Thanks for letting me know! I just updated it with a new map and link. Thanks and enjoy your time in Greenwich!
I used Google view and moved all along Park Vista Street and could nut see the point you mentioned not even the houses in your photograph?
Nick
Sherry….with a bit more work I have discovered it , we will visit from Moscow Russia on Sunday and will let you know how we got on .
BR Nick
That’s awesome Nick! I actually need to do a little update to that post – so if you find anything useful that I should include – please let me know! Enjoy the trip!
Thank you so, so much!
My mum is in London this week and I want us to do as much as possible away from what she’s done before –the usual Tower Bridge, Piccadilly, Buckingham Palace, etc…– but I didn’t want to pay the £10 fee either!
Thanks so much!
Glad it was useful! Have a great trip!
Once again, thanks so much. We went this morning, it was kinda weird to see it after your video, kind of like when you go to the scene of a film ? Found it very easily and I wonder why people still go to the observatory!
Thanks to your blog, we found it last Wednesday! When we were busy taking photos and videos, there was a small family, walked briskly, across us. He husband said to his wife, oh there is a prime meridian line here. His wife was surprised and shouted to us (while walking away from us), thanks for pointing us to the prime meridian. We don’t know that, we live here. They were too far if we also want to shout to them, thanks to this blog for pointing it to us. Thank you again. It was a nice experience for us too 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that it worked out for you!
Morning everyone.
I’m from Greenwich. You cn straddle the Prime Meridian for free just outside the Observtory. Face the GMT clock and go left through a turnstile.
Jo
Just to correct my earlier post. You have to face the GMT clock outside the Observatory and go right and through the turnstile to take your free photo of you straddling the Prime Meridian. Sorry!
Hey! Thank you so much! Just checked it out!
The Greenwich meridian is artificial. It was the man who decided to place it at that point. It could have been placed anywhere else on Earth. There’s no astronomical feature at Greenwich that tells us that this longitude has to be the division between East and West.
The Equator parallel, on the other hand, is a true landmark; because it runs at the same distance from both poles -North and South. The Equator truly has reference points that determine why it is where it is.
Long story short, the English decided where longitude 0 would be, created a myth, and now they charge you 10 pounds to visit it.
Thank you for opening my eyes. I will do as you suggested.