London Bridge
1695 Diamond Dr, Lake Havasu City, AZ
Lake Havasu City, AZ
A genuine nineteenth-century London bridge that once carried traffic over the Thames, taken apart, shipped across the world, and rebuilt stone by numbered stone over the Arizona desert.
The London Bridge in Lake Havasu City is not a replica. It is the actual bridge that carried traffic over the River Thames in London for more than a century, dismantled in the late 1960s, its granite blocks numbered and crated, shipped across the Atlantic and across America, and reassembled here over a channel of the Colorado River. It stands as one of the most improbable landmarks in the country, a slice of nineteenth-century London anchored in the Sonoran Desert.
The bridge came to Arizona through the vision of the town's founder, who bought it when London put the old, sinking span up for sale and needed a bold attraction to draw people to his new desert community. The gamble worked. The rebuilt bridge became a genuine tourist draw and the symbol of Lake Havasu City, and it remains the town's centerpiece, arching over the water beneath the desert sun.
What Guests Love
- Standing on a real piece of old London set down in the Arizona desert
- The unlikely story of how the whole bridge crossed an ocean and a continent
- Strolling the English-themed village of shops and eateries beneath it
- Watching boats slide under the arches on the blue lake channel
Worth Knowing
- Summer here is very hot, so early morning and evening are the best times to walk the bridge
- The bridge is free to see and walk across at any time
- Parking and the village get busy on summer weekends and holidays
- It pairs naturally with a day on the lake, so plan for water and sun
Details
Lake Havasu City, AZ
Learn about London Bridge
From the Thames to the desert
The bridge was built in London in the 1830s to replace an even older medieval crossing, and for over a hundred years it carried the traffic of the growing city across the Thames. By the mid-twentieth century it was slowly sinking under the weight of modern loads, and the city decided to sell it and build a new one, offering the old bridge to any buyer willing to take it away.
That buyer was Robert McCulloch, a wealthy entrepreneur who had founded Lake Havasu City on empty desert land and wanted something spectacular to put it on the map. He bought the bridge in 1968, and workers carefully took it apart, numbering each granite facing stone so it could be put back in the right order, and shipped the pieces around the world to Arizona.
Rebuilt stone by numbered stone
Reassembling the bridge was a feat of patience. The numbered granite blocks were laid over a new concrete core built on dry land, following the original plan, so that the historic stones formed the visible skin of the structure. Only after the bridge was finished did crews dredge a channel beneath it and let the water of Lake Havasu flow through, turning what had stood on land into a bridge over water once more.
The rebuilt span opened in 1971 with great fanfare, complete with a ceremony and English pageantry, and it worked exactly as its buyer had hoped, drawing curious travelers who could hardly believe a real London bridge stood in the desert. It has carried both vehicles and countless walkers ever since, a working bridge and a monument at the same time.
The English village and the water
Around the base of the bridge the town built an English-themed village, a cluster of shops, pubs, and restaurants meant to extend the illusion of a corner of Britain. Visitors can walk across the bridge, wander the village below, and take in the channel where boats pass beneath the arches, a lively hub that anchors the town's waterfront.
The setting is what makes it charming: the old grey granite of the bridge against the bright blue lake and the tan desert hills beyond. It is a stop that surprises nearly everyone, a place where two very different worlds meet, and it gives Lake Havasu City an identity found nowhere else along the Colorado River.
A base for the lake
The bridge sits at the center of a town built for water and sun. Lake Havasu spreads out on either side, offering beaches, boating, paddling, and fishing, and the surrounding desert and mountains give hikers and off-road travelers plenty to explore once they have had their fill of the water.
Between the bridge, the lake, and the near-constant sunshine, the area has become a year-round destination, busiest in summer with boaters and warm again in winter when visitors come south to escape the cold. The London Bridge is the front door to all of it, an oddity that grew into the beating heart of a desert river town.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Sands Motel of Boulder City
Honorable Mention809 Nevada Way, Boulder City, NV
107 miles away|Learn More ›
Things to Do Near Lake Havasu City
Lake Havasu State Park
About 2 miles, a short drive
Sandy beaches, coves, boat launches, and camping along the Arizona shore of Lake Havasu, with a desert nature garden.
Lake Havasu
At the bridge
The wide blue reservoir on the Colorado River, a playground for boating, swimming, and fishing under the desert sun.
Topock Gorge
About 20 miles north
A scenic canyon where the Colorado River narrows between rock walls, prized for paddling and wildlife.
Oatman
About 45 miles northeast
A Route 66 gold-mining ghost town where wild burros roam the old main street.