Buckingham Palace tickets and the 81 days you can use them
State Rooms open 9 July to 27 September 2026 at 33 pounds booked ahead, against 20 listings here with a median of 50.62 EUR.
Buckingham Palace is a working royal residence that lets the public into its State Rooms for 81 days a year. In 2026 that window is 9 July to 27 September, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays closed through September. For the remaining 284 days there is no interior on sale at any price, from anyone, and what the market offers instead is the Changing of the Guard: a military parade on public pavement that is free to watch and cannot be booked. Almost every difficulty people have with this palace comes from not knowing which of those two things they are buying.
The evidence for that is unusually clean. Two listings in this catalogue cost exactly 16.58 EUR, both run 120 minutes, and both are walking tours built around the same free ceremony. One holds 1,101 reviews at 4.4. The other holds 1,087 reviews at 4.9. Same price, same length, same parade, nearly identical review volumes, half a rating point apart. Nothing about the palace explains that gap, because the palace is not the variable. The guide is.
The wider spread says the same thing more loudly. The highest rated product in the entire United Kingdom catalogue is a Buckingham one: 34.34 EUR, 120 minutes, 5.0 across 758 reviews, and it promises the guard change and nothing else. The lowest rated product in the entire United Kingdom catalogue is also a Buckingham one: 75.79 EUR, 150 minutes, 4.1 across 2,024 reviews, and it promises the guard change plus palace admission. Which is a promise that can only be kept for 81 days of the year.
What follows is the full ticket ladder as the Royal Collection Trust prices it, the rules that make this the least forgiving booking in British castles, and the ceremony timetable with the cancellations already on it.
Marching Down The Mall: Changing of the Guard with a Historian
Designed with a former Guardsman, this walk moves with the Guards and the band down The Mall instead of watching from behind a railing.
Three Palaces on Foot and Afternoon Tea at the Orangery
The walk avoids the crowded route and ends at Queen Anne's 300-year-old Orangery for a full afternoon tea, with Spencer House and a red bus on the way.
Buckingham, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, from the Ritz
Three hours on foot from the Ritz, then the Abbey with your ticket pre-booked and a free audio guide. Note that the guide does not go inside with you.
Changing of the Guard and Buckingham with its 16-Hectare Gardens
No guide may speak inside the palace, so yours briefs you outside and hands over the official audio tour at the door. The gardens run to 16 hectares.
Changing of the Guard from Green Park to Parliament Square
The walk follows the ceremony rather than waiting for it: it starts at St James's Palace, ends at Buckingham, and leaves you opposite Big Ben.
Changing of the Guard on Foot, from Victoria to Horse Guards
A front row spot for the guard change, then the walk carries on past Clarence House and St James's Palace to finish at Horse Guards Parade.
Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and Jermyn Street
The rare Westminster walk that does not stop at the palace gates: it carries on into St James's, past the shirtmakers and hatters of Jermyn Street.
Buckingham State Rooms and a Royal Walk from St James's Square
The Grand Staircase, White Drawing Room, Ballroom and Throne Room, entered on your own after a walk that starts at the William III statue.
Buckingham Palace Interior and the Park That Was a Royal Zoo
St James's Park held the royal menagerie before it held picnickers. The walk crosses it to a palace whose doors open two months a year, tickets pre-booked.
Westminster Abbey Guided or at Evensong: Two Walking Options
Two ways in: four hours with skip-the-line and a Blue Badge guide inside, or three hours ending at a free organ recital, evensong or evening mass.
Buckingham Palace State Rooms: the Ticket, with Audio Guide
No walking tour attached and no guide to wait for: 19 State Rooms and an audio guide, on the summer dates when the palace is not in official use.
Changing of the Guard Away from the Palace Railings
The crowd at the palace gates forms early and never moves. This guided version watches from positions chosen for the view, with commentary throughout.
Afternoon Tea Bus Tour and the Buckingham State Rooms
Tea eaten on board during the 90-minute circuit, then the State Rooms at 4:15pm. The walk from Victoria to the palace is yours to make, 10 to 15 minutes.
Buckingham State Rooms with the Sèvres Porcelain and a Royal Walk
No guard ceremony to work around, so the hours go on the royal walk and on the palace collections: the Sèvres porcelain and the French furniture.
Buckingham State Rooms with Van Dyck, Rembrandt and Canaletto
Four painters hang in these rooms and most listings never name them. Self-guided with an English audio guide; no guide and no transport included.
Changing of the Guard with a Headset, in a Group of 15
A group of fifteen that moves between vantage points as the ceremony does, with a headset so the commentary carries over the band and the crowd.
The Royal Mews: the Working Stables and the State Coaches
A working stable, not a museum: the Windsor Greys and Cleveland Bays live here, and it still arranges every road journey the King makes.
Westminster Abbey Reserved Entry, or Guided with a Private Upgrade
The standard ticket gives you the Abbey with an audio guide; the private upgrade puts a guide inside with you and adds the Changing of the Guard.
The King's Gallery: the Public Art Gallery Inside Buckingham Palace
The part of the palace that shows the royal collection to anyone with a ticket, through the pillared portico, with exhibitions that change.
Buckingham State Rooms and the Guard, via Lancaster House
The walk explains which ceremony you will actually see, Foot Guards or Horse Guards, then takes you inside the State Rooms with an audio guide.
Ratings collected by Viator, Tripadvisor, Tiqets and Civitatis
Six tickets, and what each one adds
The State Rooms visit is self-guided, with a multimedia guide included at no extra cost in ten languages including Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and British Sign Language. Everything above the base ticket adds a live guide, a second building, or a smaller group. Nothing adds more of the State Rooms, because there is only one set of them.
| Ticket | Booked ahead | On the day | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Rooms, adult 25 and over | 33 pounds | 37 pounds | Self-guided, multimedia guide included |
| State Rooms, 18 to 24 | 21.50 pounds | 24.50 pounds | Same visit |
| State Rooms, 5 to 17 and disabled visitors | 16.50 pounds | 18.50 pounds | Under fives free, one companion free |
| State Rooms, UK benefit recipients | 1 pound | 1 pound | Same visit, but excluded from the one-year pass |
| State Rooms and Garden Highlights Tour | 48 pounds | Not stated separately | A live 45-minute garden tour in English, starting 2 hours 15 after your entry time |
| State Rooms and East Wing Highlights Tour | 93 pounds | 97 pounds | A live hour in the East Wing, then the rooms on your own |
| Royal Day Out | 65.70 pounds | 69.30 pounds | The Royal Mews and The King's Gallery as well, about four and a half hours |
| Exclusive Guided Tour | 100 pounds | Not sold at the gate | Small group, on selected September and early October 2026 dates |
One product people go looking for does not exist this year. There is no self-guided garden ticket in the 2026 listings: the garden appears only inside the guided Garden Highlights Tour. A version sold on its own existed in 2021, and its absence now is the sort of thing that survives in old blog posts long after the palace has stopped selling it.
The least forgiving booking in British castles
Entry is by 15-minute slot, assigned when you book, and for anything with a guided component you are asked to arrive fifteen minutes before it. The Royal Collection Trust puts the consequence in writing: it cannot guarantee entry if you do not arrive at that time.
Tickets are not refundable. A change of date or time is possible only by telephone, only before the slot you booked, costs two pounds, and depends on availability. There is no online self-service and no grace period published.
Security is airport-style screening at the entrance. Bags larger than 45 by 20 by 30 centimetres are refused, rucksacks have to be carried by hand rather than worn, and there is no left luggage anywhere on site: the nearest option is a commercial one around Victoria Station. Windsor, run by the same organisation, does have a free cloakroom, so this is a decision about this palace rather than a house rule.
Photography is banned outright indoors. The Royal Collection Trust's own wording is that strictly no photography or filming at all is permitted inside Buckingham Palace, and the ban covers the State Rooms, the East Wing and the guided part of the garden tour. Outside, in the forecourt and at the railings, it is fine.
The ceremony is free, and it can vanish at 10:45
The Changing of the Guard is not a tour and no official source attaches a price to it. The troops muster at Wellington Barracks at 10:30, the ceremony at the palace starts at 11:00 and runs about 45 minutes, and you watch from the railings, The Mall or the Victoria Memorial. What a listing sells is a person who explains it, a place to stand and a route around the surrounding streets, which is a real service and a different one from admission.
In the confirmed calendar for August and September 2026 it runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday there is a Captain's Inspection at 15:00, and on Sunday a parade at 10:00: related ceremonies, not the same one. Windsor Castle holds its own guard change at 11:00 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, which is how the two royal sites divide the week between them.
It is also fragile. The parade can be altered or cancelled at very short notice, mostly for weather or military duties, and the decision can come as late as 10:45 on the day. For 2026 the 26th and 27th of September were already off the calendar because of two city running events. The schedule is published roughly six weeks ahead and no further.
Now put that beside a number from our own database. Of the 20 listings we track for Buckingham Palace, only 16 carry free cancellation, the weakest proportion of any British page in this catalogue. The event most likely to be called off a couple of hours before it starts is being sold, in a fifth of cases, on terms that do not let you call it off at all.
The pass problem, and the ticket that pays you back
Sign the ticket before you leave, and Windsor is included
A Buckingham Palace ticket bought directly can be turned into a pass valid for twelve months, and the mechanism is physical: print and sign your name in the spaces on the paper ticket before you leave the site, on the day of the visit. It does not require a Gift Aid declaration, despite what circulates online, and it cannot be claimed afterwards.
What it covers is the whole Royal Collection Trust estate except one building: Buckingham Palace, the Royal Mews, The King's Gallery in London, Windsor Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse and The King's Gallery in Edinburgh. St James's Palace is excluded. So a single 33 pound ticket, signed at the right moment, also opens Windsor, where standard admission is 32.
The exclusions are the part to read. Complimentary tickets, one pound tickets, and anything bought through a tour operator or agent are not eligible. It is not transferable, and on up to five days a year it may not be available at all. Anyone booking this palace through a reseller is giving up a second castle without being told there was one on the table.
The London passes are included here in name and awkward in practice. The London Pass lists the State Rooms at a value of up to 37 pounds and available until 27 September, but holders cannot pre-book a time slot at all, a restriction the Royal Collection Trust states on its own booking page. You arrive, you queue, and on a sold-out day you do not go in.
Go City narrows it further: the State Rooms are covered only from 1 August to 27 September 2026 rather than the whole season, afternoons only, walk-up at Gate A on Buckingham Palace Road, still closed on the September Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and step-free access is not included and has to be arranged separately. For a palace whose entire season is 81 days, a pass that cannot hold a slot is the wrong instrument.
The season, and what starts when
Two calendars, two days apart at the start, both ending on 27 September 2026. Read from rct.uk on 2026-09-05.
| Month | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State Rooms, self-guidedOpen 9 July to 27 September 2026 and closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in September. The rest of the year there is no interior on sale, and no reseller can change that. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Garden and East Wing toursThese start on 11 July, two days after the State Rooms, and run to 27 September on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The Royal Day Out is available from 9 July according to its own page. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
The Changing of the Guard runs all year on its own schedule, published about six weeks ahead, and is not part of any palace ticket.
Buckingham Palace: what to settle before booking
Can I go inside Buckingham Palace?
Only between 9 July and 27 September 2026, and not on Tuesdays or Wednesdays in September. That is 81 days. Outside the season there is no interior ticket of any kind, and any listing that appears to offer one for an October date is selling something else, most likely the free ceremony at the railings.
How much is a Buckingham Palace ticket?
The State Rooms cost 33 pounds for an adult booked ahead and 37 on the day. It is 21.50 for 18 to 24 year olds, 16.50 for 5 to 17 year olds and disabled visitors with one companion free, and 1 pound for people receiving certain British benefits. In this catalogue the median listing is 50.62 EUR and the range is 16.29 to 157.49.
What is the difference between the tickets?
Never more State Rooms. The Garden Highlights Tour at 48 pounds adds a live 45-minute garden walk that begins two hours and fifteen minutes after your entry time. The East Wing tour at 93 pounds adds a guided hour before the self-guided rooms. The Royal Day Out at 65.70 adds the Royal Mews and The King's Gallery, about four and a half hours in total.
Is the Changing of the Guard free?
Yes. It is a military parade on public ground: no ticket, no booking, no price on any official source. It starts at 11:00, lasts about 45 minutes, and in the confirmed August and September 2026 calendar runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. What a paid listing gives you is a guide, a plan and a place to stand.
What happens if the ceremony is cancelled?
It can be called off with a couple of hours' notice, sometimes as late as 10:45 on the day, and two September 2026 dates were already cancelled for city running events when we read the calendar. Sixteen of the 20 listings here carry free cancellation, which means four do not. On these listings in particular, check that line before the price.
Can I photograph the State Rooms?
No. The rule is absolute indoors, in the Royal Collection Trust's own words no photography or filming at all is permitted inside Buckingham Palace, and it covers the State Rooms, the East Wing and the guided section of the garden tour. Outside, at the gates and in the forecourt, personal photography is fine.
What if I miss my time slot?
Entry is not guaranteed. Tickets are non-refundable, and a change is possible only by telephone, before the slot you booked, for a two pound fee and subject to availability. There is no online change and no published grace period, which makes this the strictest booking of the four British castles in this catalogue.
Does the London Pass get me in?
Nominally yes, practically with a large caveat: pass holders cannot pre-book a time slot, so entry is walk-up and subject to space. Go City covers the State Rooms only from 1 August to 27 September 2026, afternoons only, at Gate A, and does not include step-free access. For an 81-day season, a pass that cannot hold you a slot is a weak way in.
Data verified on. Prices, season, rules and the one-year pass from rct.uk. Ceremony timetable and cancellations from householddivision.org.uk and changing-guard.com. Listing figures from our database.