Buckingham Palace: Tickets, Hours and Tips
Buckingham Palace: Tickets, Hours and Tips
Here’s the surprise that catches most first-time visitors: you can’t just book a Buckingham Palace tour any month you like. The State Rooms only open to the public for one summer window a year, 9 July to 27 September in 2026, and outside those dates the interior simply isn’t for sale at any price. Time your trip right and GBP 33 gets you into rooms still used for state banquets today. Time it wrong and the forecourt and the free Changing of the Guard are all you get, which honestly still isn’t nothing.
Buckingham Palace at a glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Price | GBP 33 adult (25+) State Rooms, 9 July-27 September 2026 only; Changing of the Guard free year-round |
| Hours | 9:30am-7:30pm daily Jul-Aug; Thu-Mon 9:30am-6:30pm in September |
| Time needed | 2 hours for the State Rooms, add 45 minutes for an East Wing add-on tour |
| Booking lead | Book State Rooms weeks ahead in August; Changing of the Guard needs no ticket at all |
| Getting there | Green Park or St James’s Park stations, or Victoria for the Gatwick Express connection |
Can you tour the palace outside the summer window?
Not the State Rooms, no. From October to May the interior tour is limited to a separate 90-minute East Wing experience, first opened to the public in 2024, which doesn’t include the main State Rooms at all. Outside both windows, the exterior, the forecourt and the Changing of the Guard are the only access there is.
Is the Changing of the Guard worth planning around?
Yes, and it’s free, but the palace railings are the worst place to watch it from. Go instead to Wellington Barracks on Birdcage Walk by 10:15am, where the New Guard forms up at close range before marching over, a clearer and considerably less crowded version of the same ceremony.
The ceremony runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday most weeks, roughly 11am, confirmed on the Household Division’s official schedule , and it’s cancelled without much notice for bad weather or state occasions, so check the week you’re actually travelling rather than trusting a date months out.
Book State Rooms tickets directly through the Royal Collection Trust , or if you’d rather have a guide handle the whole Royal London route including the ceremony viewpoint, book a guided tour instead. Combine the visit with the free river views a short walk away at the London Eye , or start planning from the full London guide if this is your first trip.
The single fact worth remembering: the Union flag flying instead of the Royal Standard doesn’t mean a lesser visit, it just means the King is elsewhere, most likely Balmoral, which is exactly why the State Rooms are open to you in the first place.