"Incredible glimpse into the workings of Buckingham palace"
From Free to $73 · The Full Price Ladder
Buckingham Palace Tickets
There are five ways to spend money at Buckingham Palace and one way to spend nothing. This page prices all of them honestly — including the one case where you should ignore us and buy direct from the Palace's own operator.
Top pick
Official ticket
From
$44
per person
Free cancellation
- 4.6 / 5 7890+ Reviews
- From $44 Official State Rooms Ticket
- £1 Benefits Ticket Scheme
- Free Cancellation
The Experience
What the $44 Official Ticket Includes
Straight from the operator's own listing — what is in the price, and the four things explicitly excluded from it.
Highlights
- Tour Buckingham Palace with this ticket to the royal State Rooms
- Marvel at many of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection
- Feast your eyes on exquisite porcelain, masterpieces and sculptures
- Visit Buckingham Palace's popular Garden Café
What's Included
- Entrance ticket to the State Rooms (exchange voucher)
- Multimedia tour in 9 languages
How Booking Works, Step by Step
Check the season, book a timed slot, clear security, walk the rooms. The order matters more than you would think.
Check That the Palace Is Even Open
The State Rooms are not a year-round attraction. Royal Collection Trust lists the 2026 season as 9 July to 27 September — seven days a week in July and August, Thursday to Monday in September. Outside those eleven weeks there is no interior tour for general visitors, and the day becomes a Changing of the Guard morning instead.
Book a Timed Slot in Advance
Entry is by a selected time slot, and the listing is blunt about the consequence: late arrivals cannot be admitted. Book online, keep the voucher on your phone, and give yourself a buffer — you have to exchange the voucher before your slot, not at it.
Enter at Gate A and Clear Security
The State Rooms Visitor Entrance is Gate A, on the south side of the Palace at Buckingham Gate. There is an airport-style security check: no sharp objects, no luggage, and pushchairs must be checked in and reclaimed at the exit. Baby carriers are lent free of charge, subject to availability.
Walk the 19 Rooms, Then the Garden
You go room to room at your own pace with a multimedia guide in nine languages — the Grand Staircase, the Throne Room, the White Drawing Room, the Ballroom. Photography and filming are not permitted inside. The route exits through the garden, where cameras are allowed and the Garden Café is.
Photo Gallery
What the Ticket Gets You Into
The rooms, the forecourt and the garden route — the last of which is the only place a camera is allowed.
Book Your Experience
Check Availability & Prices
Select your preferred date and time. Instant confirmation — free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure.
What a Buckingham Palace Ticket Actually Buys
The cheapest way in costs nothing and the most expensive way in costs about seventy dollars. They are not the same product — here is exactly what separates them.
| Feature | GETS YOU INSIDE Official State Rooms Ticket | No Ticket at All | Cheapest Guided Option |
|---|---|---|---|
| What You Pay | From about $44 per person | £0. There is no ticket for standing outside the Palace | From about $20 per person |
| What You Get Into | The 19 State Rooms and the garden exit route | The pavement, the Victoria Memorial steps and The Mall — which is where the ceremony happens anyway | Nothing ticketed. You are paying for a guide, not for admission |
| When It's Available | Summer season only, while the Palace is not in official use | Any day of the year, though the ceremony itself is not daily | Year-round, which is the point — this still works in February |
| Who You Buy From | Royal Collection Trust's own ticket, sold through GetYourGuide and flagged there as an official ticket | Nobody | A tour operator. GetYourGuide badges this one as an Originals product |
| Cancellation | The listing states cancellation up to 2 days in advance for a full refund | Not applicable | Free cancellation, and the tour runs rain or shine |
| The Catch | Timed entry, and late arrivals cannot be admitted. No photography inside. No live guide | You will not see a single room, and on a wet day you may not see a ceremony either | This operator deliberately does not stand at the forecourt, because the view from there is poor |
| Best For | Summer visitors who want the interior and are happy going in self-guided | Anyone visiting outside the summer window, or on no budget at all | Anyone who wants the ceremony explained without paying palace-entry money |
| Check Availability | See the $20 Tour |
More Options
The Price Ladder, Cheapest First
Every Buckingham Palace product we would recommend, ordered by what it costs — from a $20 guided ceremony walk to a $73 ticket-and-guide combination.
FROM $20London: Changing of The Guard Tour with Expert Guide
Join the guards as they march towards Buckingham Palace on a unique guided tour in London. Get closer for fantastic photo opportunities and delve deep into the …
FROM $24London: The Changing of the Guard Tour and Buckingham Palace
The Royal Westminster and Changing of the Guard (English) guided walking tour offers you the ability to get up close and personal with London’s most famous and …
FROM $54Buckingham Palace State Rooms Entry & Royal London Audio App
Discover the magnificent State Rooms within the official residence of His Majesty the King. Open exclusively in the summer, explore the 19 rooms and see the …
FROM $69London: Westminster Abbey, Big Ben & Buckingham Guided Tour
Join us on a 3- or 4-hour walking tour of Central London with 2 different options to experience Westminster Abbey's spiritual ambiance: as a city tour with …
FROM $72London: Buckingham Palace Tickets with Royal Walking Tour
Gain rare summer access to Buckingham Palace’s State Rooms while exploring the royal landmarks that surround the palace. This experience pairs an expert-led London …
FROM $73Buckingham Palace Entry Ticket & Royal Walking Tour
Enjoy a guided walking tour of the royal sights in London. See top sights like St. James's Palace, Clarence House, and The Mall. Save time with skip-the-line tickets …
The Price Ladder
What a Buckingham Palace Ticket Costs, and What It Buys
Platform prices in dollars, gate prices in pounds, the £1 scheme most visitors never hear about, and the three cases where you should buy direct instead.
The cheapest way to experience Buckingham Palace costs nothing, and the most expensive interior ticket we would recommend costs about $73. Between those two points sit five genuinely different products, and most pages that rank for “Buckingham Palace tickets” blur them together.
Here is the ladder, priced honestly, with the sources named.
How much does a Buckingham Palace tour cost?
On the booking platform, in dollars:
| Option | From | What it gets you |
|---|---|---|
| Watch the Changing of the Guard | Free | The ceremony, no ticket, no booking |
| Guided Changing of the Guard tour | ~$20 | A guide, positioning, commentary. No palace entry |
| Guard tour with royal Westminster walk | ~$24 | The above plus The Mall, St James’s Park, Parliament Square |
| Official State Rooms entrance ticket | ~$44 | 19 rooms, multimedia guide in 9 languages, garden exit |
| State Rooms entry + royal-London audio app | ~$54 | Same admission, plus a self-paced app for the rest of the day |
| State Rooms entry + live guided walk | ~$72–73 | Same admission, plus a guide for the streets outside |
At the gate, Royal Collection Trust sells in pounds. Standard adult admission for the 2026 season is £32 booked in advance and £35 on the day. There are reduced rates for 18–24s and for children, under-5s go free but still need a ticket, and — the part almost nobody mentions — there is a £1 ticket scheme for visitors receiving qualifying UK benefits.
The full pound ladder, as RCT publishes it:
- State Rooms, standard adult admission — £32 in advance, £35 on the day, with concessions available
- Garden Highlights Tour — £15 per adult, and it is an add-on rather than a ticket in its own right. RCT requires it to be booked together with a State Rooms ticket, so the realistic all-in for the pair is £32 + £15 = about £47 in advance — not a separate higher-priced product
- East Wing Tour — £90 per adult, which includes the 60-minute guided tour of the East Wing
- Royal Day Out (State Rooms + The King’s Gallery + Royal Mews) — £65.70 adult in advance, with Young Person (18–24) at £42.70, Child (5–17) at £32.80 and disabled visitors at £32.80, and a 10% saving built in over buying the three separately
One honest note. Those pound figures were read on rct.uk and tickets.rct.uk on 1 August 2026. Royal Collection Trust changes its prices between seasons and prices on-the-day tickets above advance ones, so confirm on rct.uk before you budget.
When you should ignore us and buy direct
We earn a commission on the platform tickets on this page, and we are going to tell you when not to use them. There are three cases:
1. If you want the 1-Year Pass. Royal Collection Trust lets you convert a ticket into twelve months of free re-admission to the site you visited, by asking for your purchase to be treated as a donation — you sign and print your name on the ticket before you leave. Its terms are explicit: tickets booked through a tour operator or ticket agent cannot be converted. A £2 transaction fee applies when you pre-book the return visit. If you are the sort of traveller who will come back, that changes the maths entirely.
2. If you need step-free access or a companion ticket. The platform listing itself says so: if you require a step-free access route you must book directly with Royal Collection Trust, and complimentary companion tickets are direct-only as well.
3. If you qualify for the £1 benefits ticket. That scheme exists on rct.uk and nowhere else.
Outside those three cases, the platform ticket is the same admission to the same rooms, with free cancellation up to 2 days in advance for a full refund, priced in your own currency. For most international visitors booking months ahead on dates that might move, the cancellation window is worth more than the pass.
Is the Buckingham Palace tour worth it?
Yes if your dates fall inside the summer opening and you want the interior; no if you are hoping to see private royal life.
Judged purely as a transaction: about $44 buys entry to 19 rooms, a visit that Royal Collection Trust itself says to allow two to two and a half hours for, a multimedia guide in nine languages and the garden walk out. Against other major-city landmark interiors that is not expensive, and 7,890 verified reviewers rate it 4.6 — the deepest review sample of any Buckingham Palace product on the platform, which is what you would expect of the operator’s own ticket rather than a reseller’s bundle.
What tips it against, for some people:
- No live guide — guides are not permitted inside, on any ticket
- No photography anywhere indoors
- No private apartments, ever
- A queue that reviewers put at around thirty minutes even with a pre-booked ticket
- No map included — the printed guidebook is £7 on site
And if your dates fall outside 9 July – 27 September 2026, the question is moot: the interior does not open, and the best value on this entire site becomes the $20 guided guard-change walk, which delivers more experience per dollar than anything else we list.
What the official ticket includes and excludes
Straight from the operator’s listing.
Included: entrance ticket to the State Rooms, issued as an exchange voucher; the multimedia tour in nine languages.
Excluded: a live tour guide; transfers; food and beverages; the 1-Year Pass.
Not on the listing but worth knowing from the reviews: no printed map or guide is handed out, the on-site guidebook costs £7, and there is a café on the garden route at the end. The audio guide has a separate children’s version that parents in the reviews rate highly.
Do you need to book in advance?
Yes, on three separate grounds. Advance tickets are cheaper than on-the-day ones at the gate. Entry is by narrow timed slot and the listing states plainly that late arrivals cannot be admitted — you exchange your voucher before your slot, not at it. And the season is only eleven weeks long, so the supply of slots is genuinely finite.
Reviewers who pre-booked still describe a queue of around half an hour. Reviewers who did not pre-book describe a considerably worse morning. With free cancellation up to 2 days before, booking early costs nothing if your plans move.
The cheaper things worth knowing about
The ceremony is free. No ticket, no booking. Watching the Changing of the Guard is the single best free thing on a royal-London itinerary, and a $20 guided walk buys you positioning rather than access.
The neighbours are cheaper and open longer. The Royal Mews — a working stable housing the 260-year-old Gold State Coach — and The King’s Gallery, with its changing exhibitions, are separate Royal Collection Trust attractions on Buckingham Palace Road with far longer seasons. Both were listed as open daily at the time of writing, though the Mews closes for part of the winter. The King’s Gallery’s 2026 exhibition marking the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth was extended because of demand; adult admission is reported at around £22.
The combined ticket is genuinely cheaper. If you want all three sites, the Royal Day Out at £65.70 advance beats buying them separately by about 10%.
Ready to book? Check live availability and prices — free cancellation up to 2 days before. And if you would rather buy direct for the 1-Year Pass or an access requirement, rct.uk is the place, and we would rather you did that than pay for the wrong thing here.
We are not affiliated with Buckingham Palace and we do not sell tickets. This is an independent visitor guide with no affiliation to, endorsement from, or connection with Buckingham Palace, the Royal Collection Trust, the Royal Household or the Household Division. We use no royal emblem, crest or cypher. Every product listed here is sold by GetYourGuide, and we earn a commission if you book through our links at no extra cost to you. Where GetYourGuide flags a product as an “official ticket”, that flag describes the ticket and the operator that issued it — Royal Collection Trust — and says nothing about this website.
Written 1 August 2026. The 1-Year Pass mechanism and its exclusion of agent-bought tickets come from rct.uk. Every pound price on this page — £32 advance / £35 on the day standard adult admission, the £15 Garden Highlights add-on and its requirement to be booked alongside a State Rooms ticket, the £90 East Wing Tour, and the £65.70 Royal Day Out with its £42.70 young-person and £32.80 child and disabled rates — was read at source on rct.uk / tickets.rct.uk and re-confirmed on 1 August 2026. RCT does change its prices between seasons, so confirm before booking. The £1 benefits scheme, the concession structure and the 2026 season dates come from rct.uk and its 8 July 2026 press release. The King’s Gallery price is reported rather than verified. Dollar prices, ratings, review counts, inclusions and reviewer quotes come from the booking platform’s own listings, captured in 2026, and change over time. Confirm all prices on rct.uk before budgeting.
Guest Reviews
What Ticket-Holders Say
4.6/5
from 7890 verified guests
"Really enjoyed walking through there, a definite must see when in London. Walking up the grand staircase when you first walk in is magical. Definitely get there much earlier than your start time as you queue for about half an hour with your tickets. And definitely pre-book or else you could stand in the queue for hours!!"
"Love a trip to Buckingham palace, too one of the grandchildren. Nice tea and cake to finish."
"Went to see the state rooms in Buckingham Palace. The rooms that are seen on TV when the King and Queen have an event. Audio commentary in several languages is available and to get the best from the visit needs to be used. Went along the gallery and viewed over 100 pictures and marble statues in the royal art collection. The throne room where the coronation chairs are held seemed so much smaller. After our tour you end up in the garden for afternoon tea at the Cafe and when leaving visited the shop which had some lovely pieces of porcelain but very pricey. No pictures are allowed to be taken during your visit."
"The visit was great to the Palace. only thing I could say is the cafe could have fresh muffins. the one I got was real stale."
"Tour was great. Not too long and the kids loved the children’s audio tour!"
"It was beautiful and I’m so happy we got to see this. My only suggestions are 1- add a water bottle filling station somewhere and 2- include a complimentary small map/information. I ended up purchasing the guide book for 7 GBP, which I’m sure is the reason they don’t give away any maps. The audio guides were included in the ticket price and those were really good."
"Great experience but it didn’t last 2h we did it in 1 h30 without rushing . Very interesting visit . Worth doing ."
Read all 7890 verified reviews
See All ReviewsThe Official Ticket, at the Official Price
Royal Collection Trust's own State Rooms entrance ticket, sold through GetYourGuide and flagged there as an official ticket. Rated 4.6 by 7,890 verified guests, from about $44, with free cancellation up to 2 days before. Timed entry — late arrivals cannot be admitted. Starting from $44 per person.
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Buckingham Palace Tickets FAQ
What each ticket costs, what it actually includes, where to buy it, and the one reason to buy direct instead of through us.
On the booking platform, the official State Rooms entrance ticket starts around $44 per person; ticket-plus-guided-walk combinations run to about $72–73; a guided Changing of the Guard tour with no palace entry starts around $20; and watching the ceremony unguided costs nothing. At the gate, Royal Collection Trust's standard adult admission for 2026 is £32 in advance and £35 on the day. Reduced rates apply for 18–24s and children, under-5s are free but still need a ticket, and there is a £1 ticket scheme for visitors receiving qualifying UK benefits. Beyond that, the Garden Highlights Tour is a £15 per-adult add-on that must be booked together with a State Rooms ticket rather than bought alone, the guided East Wing Tour is £90 per adult, and the Royal Day Out is £65.70 adult in advance (Young Person 18–24 £42.70, Child 5–17 and disabled £32.80). Those pound figures were read on rct.uk on 1 August 2026; RCT revises prices between seasons, so confirm before booking. Dollar prices come from the booking platform's listings, captured in 2026, and move over time.
Yes if your dates fall inside the summer opening and you want to see the interior; no if you are hoping for a glimpse of private royal life. Judged purely on money: about $44 buys entry to 19 rooms, roughly two to two and a half hours of visit on Royal Collection Trust's own estimate, a nine-language multimedia guide, and the garden walk out. That is not expensive for a major-city landmark interior, and 7,890 verified reviewers give it 4.6. What tips it for some people and against it for others is what is absent — no live guide, no photography, no private apartments — plus a queue that reviewers put at around half an hour even with a booked ticket. If the summer window does not fit your trip, the honest answer is that a $20 guided guard-change walk gives more experience per dollar than anything else on this page.
The official State Rooms entrance ticket if you are here between 9 July and 27 September 2026; a guided Changing of the Guard tour at any other time. Within the summer window, the further choice is only about what is bundled: the plain official ticket at about $44, the same entry with a royal-London audio app at about $54, or the same entry with a live guide for the streets outside at about $72–73. All three walk the identical route through the identical rooms, because guides are not permitted inside. That makes the cheapest option the default recommendation unless you specifically want the outdoor commentary. Our State Rooms page compares the three side by side.
Buy direct from Royal Collection Trust if any of three things apply to you — otherwise the platform is fine, and we will say so even though we earn a commission on the platform. Buy direct if: (1) you want the 1-Year Pass, since RCT lets you convert a ticket into a year of free re-admission by treating the purchase as a donation, and its terms explicitly exclude tickets booked through a tour operator or ticket agent; (2) you need a step-free access route or a complimentary companion ticket, both of which the listing says must be booked directly with RCT; (3) you qualify for the £1 benefits ticket. Outside those cases the platform ticket is the same admission, with free cancellation up to 2 days in advance and prices set in your own currency.
Royal Collection Trust says to allow between two and two and a half hours, and that is the figure to budget against. It covers the 19 State Rooms at your own pace plus the exit route, which is a half-kilometre gravel walk through the garden rather than a door. Reviewers report a range: one finished comfortably in an hour and a half, others use the full allowance. On top of that, add the queue — around thirty minutes is the figure reviewers keep citing, even with a pre-booked ticket. Admission is in narrow timed slots and late arrivals are not admitted, so arrive early rather than on time. The East Wing Highlights Tour adds about another hour.
On the booking platform, the official State Rooms ticket carries free cancellation up to 2 days in advance for a full refund, per the operator's own listing. That is a real advantage over gate purchase for anyone booking months out on uncertain dates. Guided tours on the platform generally carry free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Royal Collection Trust's direct-purchase terms are its own and differ, so check them if you buy on rct.uk. Whichever route you take, the ticket is for a specific timed slot — a refund policy is not the same thing as flexibility on the day, and late arrivals are not admitted.
No — general public access is limited to the summer opening, listed for 2026 as 9 July to 27 September. Seven days a week in July and August, Thursday to Monday in September. For the remaining forty-one weeks of the year the State Rooms are closed to general visitors, and only a small programme of guided tours runs on selected dates, sold direct by Royal Collection Trust in limited numbers. That is why this site treats the Changing of the Guard as the main event rather than the sideshow: it is the thing that is actually available when most people visit London.
Included, per the operator's listing: entry to the State Rooms as an exchange voucher, and the multimedia tour in nine languages. Excluded: a live tour guide, transfers, food and drink, and the 1-Year Pass. Not stated on the listing but worth knowing from reviewers: no printed map or guide is handed out, and the on-site guidebook costs £7. There is a café on the garden route at the end. The audio guide has a separate children's version, which reviewers travelling with kids single out as genuinely good rather than a token.
Yes, and one of them is free. Watching the Changing of the Guard costs nothing at all — no ticket, no booking — and it is the single best free thing on a royal-London itinerary. A guided guard-change walk at about $20 buys commentary and, more usefully, positioning. Royal Collection Trust's £1 ticket scheme covers visitors on qualifying UK benefits for the interior itself. And if you are doing more than one royal site, the Royal Day Out combining the State Rooms, The King's Gallery and the Royal Mews is priced at £65.70 in advance with a 10% saving built in, which beats buying the three separately.
Yes. Entry is by timed slot, on-the-day tickets are priced higher than advance ones, and the platform listing states plainly that late arrivals cannot be admitted. Reviewers who pre-booked still queue about half an hour; reviewers who did not pre-book describe a much worse morning. The season is eleven weeks long and slots are finite, so the practical advice is to book as soon as your dates are firm and rely on the free-cancellation window if they change.
They are separate Royal Collection Trust attractions on Buckingham Palace Road with their own tickets and much longer seasons — both were listed as open daily at the time of writing, though the Royal Mews closes for part of the winter, so check the dates you are travelling. The Mews is a working stable and houses the 260-year-old Gold State Coach, with a free multimedia tour included. The King's Gallery runs changing exhibitions; the 2026 show marking the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II's birth was extended because of demand, with adult admission reported around £22. If you want all three, the Royal Day Out combined ticket is the cheaper route.
No to the first; no to the second. This is an independent visitor guide with no affiliation to, endorsement from or connection with Buckingham Palace, the Royal Collection Trust, the Royal Household or the Household Division. We do not sell tickets. Every product listed here is sold by GetYourGuide, and we earn a commission if you book through our links at no extra cost to you. Where GetYourGuide labels a product an official ticket, that label describes the ticket and the operator that issued it — Royal Collection Trust — and says nothing about this website.
Still have questions? Email us at info@buckingham-palace-tour.com