Tours of Parliament

It is possible to tour the Palace of Westminster. Details of arranged tours can be found here. It may also be possible for your MP to arrange a tour (group or individual). Contact details of MPs are available here.

If a visit to London isn't possible (and because of the sitting times - most tours need to start at a time when rail companies charge their peak fares) you can do a virtual tour.

There are a number of guides to Parliament available - the ones I use most often (for revision purposes before I take a tour round) are - The Houses of Parliament: A Guide to the Palace of Westminster (Fell; Mackenzie & Natzler - 15th Edition, 2002 TSO - currently out of print); Westminster Hall: Nine Hundred Years of History (Gerhold - James & James); The Story of Parliament in the Palace of Westminster (Field - James & James) and Dod's History of Parliament.

Congressional Tours

Details of tours of the US Capitol can be found at http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/.

Virtual tours are available at

Senate

House

Another view of the buildings around Capitol Hill can be seen in a video I made in 2008

Tours of Westminster

It is possible to tour the Palace of Westminster during the summer recess. Details of the tours can be found here. The Adult price is £11.70. As an alternative you can take a virtual tour. These are available at

http://www.parliament.uk/about/virtualtours.cfm

There are also some interesting materials on the Palace and its history and work at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/7098934.stm