St Paul's Cathedral

Gorgeous cathedral! Go to Westminster for history, but St. Paul's is sheer elegance. The entrance fee is a little high, but not enough to stop me from going again.

As far as people's complaints about rude staff, I encountered none. The no camera rule is made clear when you come in and you choose to pay admission with that knowledge, so I think it is reasonable to expect people to follow it. Just because it's an attraction doesn't mean you shouldn't respect the fact that its a church and just because its a church doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to confront you for breaking the clearly displayed rules. I love photography and was definately dissapointed to not be able to take pictures but I also think that camera flashes and having to walk around people posing everywhere would have taken away from the experience. Travel should be about more than the pictures you take home anyway.

I visited St. Paul's twice during my trip to London. The first was a self-guided/audio tour of the cathedral proper, the second was as part of "The Blitz" tour from London Walks. As a first time visitor to London I was aware that this is one of the many "must-sees" during the trip. My thoughts:

History: Anyone interested in history will find plenty of it here. This was the site of Churchill's funeral and Charles and Diana's wedding. The cathedral also plays an almost spiritual role in WWII. The crypt below contains a virtual "who's-who" of British history, among them Lord Nelson, Lawrence of Arabia, and Florence Nightengale.

Whispering Gallery: Anyone traveling with children might find this of interest, you can hear whispers across the dome due to its unusual acoustics. It might be the highlight of the trip for an 8-year-old!

Climb to the Top: Worth it for spectacular views of London. If I recall correctly they do charge a bit extra for this but it's worth it.

Cost: Sure it may be a little more than others in London (~20$), but you're visiting one of the world's most famous places of worship in one of the world's most interesting cities. (I would imagine the heating bill is a little on the pricey side as well ;)

Worth a visit even for the most cursory of travellers.

Etc.: As an aside, I would agree with the no-camera policy which allows visitors to enjoy the cathedral while not being interrupted.

First they sting you for £10 to get in, then when you try to take a photo or a video they storm up to you and tell you off, on the grounds that, and I quote "This is a CHURCH, show some respect!" Well, if it's a church, what are they doing charging people to get inside? While they are lecturing visitors (who they clearly resent being let in at all) on "respect", downstairs they are allowing MILLIONS, literally millions of people to walk across people's headstones in the crypt. Some of these stones have been so badly worn they are hardly readable --- where is the "respect" being shown to the dead? And what is more, is it respectful to have a tourist-trap gift shop and profit-making cafe in the vicinity of what is in effect a graveyard?

As an "attraction", it's not worth the £10 entry fee.