Trips to Buckingham Palace: How to Plan Your Visit in 2027

Last updated: 6 October 2026. Ticket and opening information comes from the Royal Collection Trust and Visit London. Schedules change, so confirm before you travel.

Seeing Buckingham Palace from the outside is free, easy and possible every day of the year. Going inside is different. The State Rooms open to the public only for a summer season, usually July to September, with a short run of small-group guided tours in the cooler months. So most trips to Buckingham Palace come down to one decision: are you happy with the view from the gates, or do you want to get through them?

For 2027, the Royal Collection Trust, the charity that runs public visits, has confirmed that summer tickets will be released in November 2026. Exact dates and prices have not been announced yet. You need a timed ticket to go inside, and booking ahead is the smart move: advance tickets have been cheaper than on-the-day ones, and the good slots go first.

At a glance

Can You Visit Buckingham Palace?

Yes. Anyone can see the outside of Buckingham Palace for free on any day, and ticket holders can go inside during set periods. What "visiting" means depends on which part you choose.

• The exterior. Free, open all year, no ticket. The Victoria Memorial and The Mall give you the classic front-on view.
• Changing of the Guard. A free ceremony on the forecourt. It runs on selected days only, not daily.
• The State Rooms. The 19 rooms used for official entertaining, including the Throne Room, Picture Gallery and Grand Staircase. Summer only, ticketed, self-guided with a multimedia guide.
• The Royal Mews. The working stables and carriage house, home of the Gold State Coach. Seasonal: 5 March to 1 November in 2026.
• The King's Gallery. Changing exhibitions from the Royal Collection, open most of the year. Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style runs until 18 April 2027.
• Buckingham Palace garden. There is no walk-in access. You pass through part of it on the way out of the State Rooms, and in summer 2026 a guided Garden Highlights Tour was sold as an add-on.
• Exclusive guided tours. Small groups led by an expert guide on selected dates, including the East Wing, the part of the Palace with the famous balcony.

When Is Buckingham Palace Open to the Public in 2027?

2027 summer opening dates have not yet been confirmed. This is exactly what is and is not known as of 6 October 2026.

Confirmed

• The Royal Collection Trust says tickets for summer 2027 will be released in November 2026.
• East Wing Exclusive Guided Tours run from 6 November 2026 to 31 January 2027, on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, with some changes around Christmas. They last 90 minutes, cost £100 per person, take a maximum of 20 people and do not include the State Rooms.
• The King's Gallery exhibition Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style is open until 18 April 2027.

Expected or not yet announced

• Summer 2027 State Rooms dates. Visit London expects them to run from early July to late September 2027. That is an expectation, not a confirmed date.
• 2027 State Rooms ticket prices.
• The 2027 Royal Mews season and any spring 2027 guided tours.

For context only, the 2026 summer opening ran from 9 July to 27 September: daily until 31 August (09:30 to 19:30, last admission 17:15), then Thursday to Monday from 3 to 27 September (09:30 to 18:30, last admission 16:15). Treat that as the usual pattern, not a 2027 timetable. Note the September detail: in 2026 the State Rooms were closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays that month.

Buckingham Palace Tickets: What Should You Book?

Book the State Rooms if you want the main event, then add the Royal Mews or The King's Gallery if you have half a day. Buy from the Royal Collection Trust where you can: its prices are the benchmark, and its tickets can be converted into a 1-Year Pass for a £2 fee.

Every price above is a 2026 figure from the Royal Collection Trust or Visit London, shown so you can budget. 2027 prices have not been published, and which tours return in 2027 is not yet announced.

A few things worth knowing before you pay:

• Concessions. In 2026, under-fives were free, children aged 5 to 17 were roughly half price and 18 to 24s paid a reduced rate. Disabled visitors get a concession and a free companion ticket.
• £1 tickets. The Royal Collection Trust offers £1 tickets to people receiving Universal Credit and other named UK benefits. Check its £1 ticket page for current eligibility.
• Guided tours are direct-only. East Wing tours are not available for resale by third parties, so be wary of anyone else claiming to sell them.
• Afternoon tea. In summer the Garden Café on the West Terrace serves afternoon tea and needs no booking, but you reach it only with a State Rooms ticket. Anything sold elsewhere as a "Buckingham Palace tour with afternoon tea" is a third-party package, usually pairing entry with tea at a nearby hotel. Check exactly what is included.

Which Buckingham Palace Trip Is Best for You?

The best way to plan trips to Buckingham Palace is to decide first whether you want to go inside. The State Rooms open only in summer, usually July to September, with timed tickets from the Royal Collection Trust. Allow 2 to 2.5 hours, book ahead, and add the Changing of the Guard, Royal Mews or St James's Park.

Best if you only have two hours

Stay outside. Walk The Mall, see the gates and the Victoria Memorial, then loop through St James's Park. If your two hours fall on a ceremony morning, spend them on the Changing of the Guard instead.

Best for first-time visitors

A summer State Rooms ticket. Pick a slot after lunch on a ceremony day and you get the guard change and the interior in one visit.

Best for families

The Royal Mews plus the Changing of the Guard. The Mews takes about 45 minutes, has horses and gilded carriages, and allows photography. The State Rooms are a longer ask for small children: pushchairs must be checked in and there are no toilets until the end of the route.

Best for royal-history fans

An East Wing tour. It is the only way to stand in the room behind the balcony, and groups are capped at 20.

Best if Buckingham Palace State Rooms are closed

The exterior, the guard change and The King's Gallery, which is open most of the year. From November 2026 to January 2027, the East Wing Exclusive Guided Tour gets you inside.

Best if travelling from outside London

A coach trip with entry included, or a train into Victoria and a State Rooms slot from midday onwards so a delay does not cost you your entry.

Best for a full royal day

The Royal Day Out. In 2026 this combined ticket covered the State Rooms, The King's Gallery and the Royal Mews at a 10% saving, and took about 4.5 hours.

Best premium experience

An Exclusive Guided Tour. In 2026 these cost £100, ran in small groups and included a guidebook.

Coach Trips to Buckingham Palace

Coach trips to Buckingham Palace suit anyone travelling from outside London who would rather not juggle trains, Tube changes and timed tickets. Someone else does the driving and, on the better packages, the booking.

There are two main formats:

• Day trips. Regional coach firms run summer day excursions timed for the State Rooms season, with pickups in your home town and a few hours in London. These work best if you live within roughly three hours of the capital.
• Overnight coach breaks. National operators sell two-night and longer London breaks with a hotel and a Palace visit built in. Shearings, for example, lists a three-day Buckingham Palace break with regional joining points, two nights' hotel with breakfast and Palace entrance included, with departures listed from 2026 to 2028.

Off-Record has no commercial relationship with any coach or tour operator. Shearings is named as a current example, not a recommendation.

What to check before you book a Buckingham Palace coach trip

• Is State Rooms entry included? Some trips include a timed ticket. Others are "free time in London" days where the Palace is something you look at.
• Does the date fall inside the summer opening? 2027 dates are not confirmed, so any 2027 itinerary sold now depends on the Royal Collection Trust's announcement.
• Where does the coach drop you? The Royal Collection Trust says there is no coach parking near the Palace, with pickups on Grosvenor Place after your visit. Expect a walk.
• How much walking is involved? The summer route ends with about half a kilometre of gravel path, and there are no toilets until the end.
• Where is the hotel? On overnight breaks, check the location. A hotel in east London is a Tube ride from the Palace, not a stroll.

Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in One Day

Yes, you can see Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in one day, but if you want the State Rooms it has to be summer, and only on certain days. The State Rooms need to be open, and Windsor Castle opens Thursday to Monday, so Tuesdays and Wednesdays are out.

The maths is tight. Allow 2 to 2.5 hours for the State Rooms and two to three hours for Windsor. Trains run from London Paddington to Windsor and Eton Central in around half an hour with a change at Slough, or direct from London Waterloo to Windsor and Eton Riverside in just under an hour. In 2026, last admission at Windsor was 16:00 between March and October.

Either way it is a long, full day with a lot of standing. If you care about both places, give each its own day. If you just want to say you have seen both, the combined Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle tour is the lower-stress route.

How Long Does a Buckingham Palace Tour Take?

A self-guided visit to the Buckingham Palace State Rooms takes 2 to 2.5 hours, according to the Royal Collection Trust. Visit London suggests allowing up to three. Guided tours are shorter, at around 90 minutes.

Build in the extras:

• Arrival and security. Arrive 15 minutes before the time on your ticket. Security is airport-style, so travel light.
• The garden exit. The route is one-way and finishes with a walk of about half a kilometre through the garden. Add time if you want the Garden Café or the shop.
• Royal Mews. About 45 minutes.
• The King's Gallery. About an hour.
• All three together. The 2026 Royal Day Out was timed at about 4.5 hours.
• The exterior. 15 to 20 minutes for the gates, the Victoria Memorial and photos.
• Changing of the Guard. The ceremony lasts about 45 minutes, but a decent view means arriving around 10am for an 11am start. Call it up to two hours.

How to Get to Buckingham Palace

The nearest Tube stations to Buckingham Palace are Victoria, Green Park and Hyde Park Corner, each roughly a 10-minute walk away.

St James's Park station (Circle and District) is a similar distance if you are coming from Westminster.

A few other pointers:

• By coach. Victoria Coach Station is about a 10-minute walk from the Palace, which is handy for National Express and regional services.
• By bus. Routes 11, 211 and C10 stop nearby.
• On foot. It is about 15 minutes from Trafalgar Square down The Mall, and about the same from Westminster via Birdcage Walk. Both are better walks than Tube journeys.
• By car. Don't. There is no visitor parking.

Lines and stations rarely change, but closures do. Check the TfL journey planner on the morning you travel.

A Perfect Buckingham Palace Day Trip Itinerary

This plan assumes a summer day with a State Rooms ticket booked for early afternoon. Timings are approximate.

Morning: Westminster, about 9:30am

Start at Westminster station for Big Ben, Parliament Square and the outside of Westminster Abbey while the pavements are still quiet. Then walk Birdcage Walk or cut through St James's Park towards the Palace. It takes about 15 minutes.

Late morning: the Palace gates, from about 10:15am

On ceremony days, find a spot for the Changing of the Guard. The Household Division currently lists the main guard change at 11am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with a Sunday parade at 10am. It does not happen every day, the pattern can shift by season, and it can be cancelled at short notice in wet weather, sometimes as late as 10:45am. Check the calendar that morning.

No ceremony? Use this slot for the Royal Mews or The King's Gallery instead.

Lunch: about 12 noon

Victoria has the quickest options and puts you next to the visitor entrance. If you have longer, walk north through Green Park to St James's or Mayfair for something slower.

Afternoon: the State Rooms, about 1:30pm

Be at the entrance 15 minutes before your slot. Expect to come out through the garden onto Grosvenor Place at around 4pm.

Late afternoon: your call

• The classic finish. Back along The Mall to Trafalgar Square.
• The slower finish. A lap of St James's Park, with the view of the Palace from the bridge over the lake.
• The Off-Record finish. Through Green Park to Piccadilly and on into Soho, where the record shops and bars pick up as the tour groups thin out.

Outside summer, swap the State Rooms for an East Wing guided tour (to 31 January 2027) or The King's Gallery, and keep the rest.

What to Wear on a Trip to Buckingham Palace

There is no dress code for Buckingham Palace tours. The Royal Collection Trust states that no formal dress code is required, and its only clothing advice is comfortable shoes, because the summer route ends with about half a kilometre of gravel path.

So dress for a long London day, not for an audience:

• Footwear first. Trainers or anything you can stand in for three hours. Gravel is unkind to thin soles and heels.
• Layers. British summers change their mind by the hour, and you will go from a queue outdoors to warm rooms and back out into the garden.
• A small bag. Bags larger than 45cm x 20cm x 30cm are not allowed in, and backpacks cannot be worn inside.
• A hood over a brolly. Long umbrellas have to be checked in on arrival. A compact one or a hooded layer is less hassle.
• Something you like in photos. Photography is banned inside, so every picture you take home will be outdoors: the gates, The Mall, the parks.

You don't need to dress like you're meeting the King. London does understated better anyway.

Warm summer day. A heavyweight cotton tee with trousers or straight jeans and comfortable trainers. Off-Record's Stamp Tee is cut oversized in ring-spun cotton, which means it holds its shape through a day of queues, parks and Tube carriages.

Cooler London day. The same tee under a hoodie. The Stamp Logo Fleece Hoodie covers the walk from Victoria and the unexpected shower. Our guide to layering streetwear for autumn goes deeper.

Photos and London streetwear. The Palace front is pale stone behind black and gold gates. Plain colours and small graphics sit well against that, while loud all-over prints fight it. A box logo such as the GUESTLIST Premium Range Box Tee or a low-key cap does the job without shouting. For more on dressing streetwear up a notch, see smart casual streetwear.

Things to Do Near Buckingham Palace

Almost everything worth adding to a Buckingham Palace trip is within a 20-minute walk. Walking times below are approximate.

• St James's Park. Directly in front of the Palace. Lake, pelicans, deckchairs in summer and the best free view back towards the building.
• The Mall. The ceremonial road from the Palace to Admiralty Arch. About 15 minutes end to end, finishing at Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.
• Green Park. The quieter park on the north side, and the natural route to Green Park station, Piccadilly and Mayfair.
• Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. About 15 minutes via Birdcage Walk.
• Hyde Park. Up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park Corner and Wellington Arch, roughly 10 to 15 minutes.
• Mayfair and St James's. Galleries, arcades and the tailoring streets, a short walk beyond Green Park.
• Soho. Around 25 minutes on foot from the Palace, or one stop from Green Park to Oxford Circus. This is where a royal day turns into a London night. If yours does, Off-Record has guides on what to wear to fabric, Ministry of Sound and KOKO.

Is a Trip to Buckingham Palace Worth It?

Yes, seeing Buckingham Palace is worth it for almost every visitor to London. Paying to go inside is worth it for most first-timers, but not for everyone.

• From the outside. Always worth it. It is free, takes 20 minutes and sits between two parks and Westminster, so it costs you nothing in time or money.
• Inside the State Rooms. Worth it if you have a spare half day in summer. It is a working palace, not a museum set, and the art collection alone justifies the ticket. Know the trade-offs: around £33 at 2026 prices, a fixed time slot and no photos indoors.
• Royal-history enthusiasts. Yes, and consider going further with an East Wing tour or the Royal Day Out.
• First time in London. Do the exterior and, if the day lines up, the Changing of the Guard. Be realistic about the ceremony: crowds are deep, views are partial unless you arrive early, and rain can cancel it.
• Limited time. Skip the interior. A timed slot plus 2.5 hours is hard to fit into a one-day London visit. Take the photo, walk the park and spend the afternoon elsewhere.

Buckingham Palace Trip FAQs

Can you go inside Buckingham Palace?

Yes. The public can go inside Buckingham Palace with a ticket during the summer opening of the State Rooms, usually July to September, and on a limited number of small-group guided tours at other times. For the rest of the year, visitors can see the exterior, the Changing of the Guard, The King's Gallery and, seasonally, the Royal Mews.

When can the public visit Buckingham Palace in 2027?

Summer 2027 opening dates have not been confirmed yet. The Royal Collection Trust says summer 2027 tickets will be released in November 2026, and Visit London expects the opening to run from early July to late September 2027. East Wing Exclusive Guided Tours are confirmed from 6 November 2026 to 31 January 2027.

How much are Buckingham Palace tickets?

Buckingham Palace ticket prices for 2027 have not been published. In 2026, advance State Rooms tickets cost £33 for adults, £21.50 for ages 18 to 24 and £16.50 for children aged 5 to 17, with under-fives free. On-the-day tickets cost a few pounds more, and exclusive guided tours cost £100 per person.

How long does a Buckingham Palace tour take?

A self-guided Buckingham Palace State Rooms visit takes 2 to 2.5 hours, according to the Royal Collection Trust. Guided tours last around 90 minutes. Add about 45 minutes for the Royal Mews and about an hour for The King's Gallery. The combined Royal Day Out ticket was timed at about 4.5 hours in 2026.

Do you need to book Buckingham Palace in advance?

Yes, booking Buckingham Palace in advance is strongly recommended. Entry is by timed ticket, advance tickets were cheaper than on-the-day tickets in 2026, and popular summer dates sell out. Guided tours must be pre-booked and are limited to between 20 and 30 people each.

What is the nearest Tube station to Buckingham Palace?

The nearest Tube stations to Buckingham Palace are Victoria (Victoria, Circle and District lines), Green Park (Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines) and Hyde Park Corner (Piccadilly line). Each is roughly a 10-minute walk. Victoria is best for the visitor entrance, and Green Park is best for the front gates.

Can you take photos inside Buckingham Palace?

No. The Royal Collection Trust does not permit any photography or filming inside Buckingham Palace, and photography is also not allowed on guided garden tours. You can photograph the exterior freely, and non-commercial photography is welcome at the Royal Mews, without flash around the horses.

Is there a dress code for Buckingham Palace tours?

No. The Royal Collection Trust says no formal dress code is required to enter Buckingham Palace. It advises comfortable shoes, because the summer route ends with a walk of about half a kilometre along a gravel path. Keep bags small: anything larger than 45cm x 20cm x 30cm is not allowed in.

Can you visit Buckingham Palace for free?

You can see the outside of Buckingham Palace and watch the Changing of the Guard for free. Going inside requires a paid ticket. In 2026, under-fives were free, and the Royal Collection Trust offers £1 tickets to people receiving Universal Credit and other named UK benefits.

Is the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace every day?

No. The Household Division currently lists the main Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace at 11am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with a Sunday parade at 10am. The ceremony lasts about 45 minutes and can be cancelled at short notice in wet weather, so check the official calendar on the day.

Can you see Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in one day?

Yes, but it is a full day. You need a date when the State Rooms are open, and Windsor Castle opens Thursday to Monday. Allow 2 to 2.5 hours at the Palace, two to three hours at Windsor and about an hour's travel between them. Organised coach tours cover both in around eight hours.

Are there coach trips to Buckingham Palace?

Yes. Regional coach firms run summer day trips to Buckingham Palace, and national operators sell overnight London coach breaks that include a Palace visit. Before booking, check whether State Rooms entry is included, whether the date falls inside the summer opening and how far the drop-off point is from the entrance.

Sources

Checked on 6 October 2026. Prices and dates change, so confirm with the official source before booking.

• Royal Collection Trust: Buckingham Palace (2027 ticket release, guided tours, access)
• Royal Collection Trust: practical information (visit length, photography, bags, dress code)
• Royal Collection Trust: East Wing Exclusive Guided Tour
• Royal Collection Trust: The Royal Mews and The King's Gallery
• Royal Collection Trust: Windsor Castle
• Visit London: Buckingham Palace summer opening (2027 expectation, 2026 prices, Tube stations)
• Visit London: Windsor Castle (train times)
• Household Division: Changing the Guard calendar