We’ll be honest with you. We didn’t make it inside St Paul’s Cathedral. The tickets were sold out by the time we checked, which was entirely our fault. But here’s the thing, the outside views of St Paul’s are so good that we’re not even sure we missed that much. Maybe we did. We’ll find out next time.

What we do know is that we spent a solid morning finding the best angles, and some of the photos we got are genuinely among our favourite from the whole London trip. All free, all within about a ten minute walk of each other.
Here’s where to go.

Millennium Bridge

This is the classic one, and for good reason. The Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian bridge over the Thames, you know the one destroyed in Harry Potter movies, and St Paul’s Cathedral sits perfectly framed at the end of it from the south bank side. But there are actually three different shots here depending on where you position yourself, and they all look completely different.

From the middle of the bridge: the most well-known angle. St Paul’s dome rising above the riverbank, the bridge disappearing toward it on both sides. It’s one of those views that stops you mid-step. Best in the morning when the light hits the dome from the east. It’s funny because we saw a couple of people passing by and all of them stopped, took their phone out and snapped a photo.

From the south bank railing: stand at the entrance to the bridge on the Tate Modern side and frame St Paul’s through the bridge structure itself. The steel cables and walkway create a natural frame around the cathedral that makes for a much more interesting photo than just the open view. I mean look at that photo, one of our favourites from the trip. Definitely going on a wall.

Coming up the steps onto the bridge: this one is less obvious but still very good looking view. Walk up from the South Bank path onto the bridge and shoot upward as St Paul’s comes into view above the bridge deck. The rising perspective makes the cathedral look enormous.

We were here at sunrise and had the entire bridge to ourselves, just a few dog walkers and runners. The light was soft, the Thames was calm, and there was nobody in the frame. If you want the same thing, get there early.

One New Change

One New Change is a shopping centre directly behind the cathedral, and it has two completely different St Paul’s shots to offer.

From the ground: stand on the street between One New Change and the cathedral and look up. The modern glass windows of the building frames St Paul’s on one side, old stone on the other. It’s a nice contrast that you don’t really notice until you’re standing in it.

From the free rooftop terrace: take the lift up and you get an elevated view of the cathedral dome from above and behind, an angle almost nobody gets because most people don’t know the terrace is there. The whole city spreads out around you too. The Shard, the Gherkin, the Thames. It’s honestly one of the best free viewpoints in London in general, not just for St Paul’s. And it’s completely free, just walk in during opening hours and take the lift.

This is the spot where you can hold the cathedral in the palm of your hand, or at least make it look that way in a photo.

Watling Street

This one is easy to walk straight past, which is exactly why we love it. Watling Street is a small, slightly curved cobblestone street just a few minutes walk from the cathedral, lined with independent shops and cafes on both sides. At the end of the street, St Paul’s Cathedral appears framed between the buildings, perfectly centred, the dome sitting above the roofline.

The cobblestones and the curved street give it a completely different feel from any other St Paul’s viewpoint, more old London, less tourist landmark. On a quiet morning with the shops still closed it looks almost cinematic.

Walk slowly and find the exact point where the framing lines up best. Something like in our pictures, you get the point.

Reflection Garden & the Pool

Right in front of the cathedral’s main entrance is a small garden with a shallow rectangular reflection pool called the Reflection Garden. On a calm day with no wind, the cathedral reflects perfectly in the water, dome and all. It’s a much quieter spot than you’d expect given how close it is to the main entrance, and the reflection adds something to the photo that you don’t get anywhere else.

Early morning is best here too. By mid-morning the wind usually picks up and the reflection breaks up. While we were there we only saw people on their lunch breaks, so we grabbed a cinnamon roll in the nearby shop, some chai latte and enjoyed.

For more London guides:

These four spots are within a short walk of each other and you can do all of them in a single morning. We’d suggest starting at Millennium Bridge at sunrise like we did.

Oh and by the way, these were taken in June. Sunrise in June is around 4:45 AM, let that sink in. But for these photos, it was worth it! Hope you get the shoot that you want!

And if you’re smarter than us, book your tickets for inside the cathedral in advance. We hear it’s magnificent.

Until next time, be mesmerized 🩵