This post is about Windsor Castle, including ticket prices, cheap or low-cost tickets, and whether 2-for-1 tickets are available.
We also cover how to get here, guided tours, as well as things to see.
- Tickets + Ways to Save
- Plan Your Visit
- Guided Tours
- Other Day Trips from London
- Things to Do in London
TICKETS
Below we detail the price of a general admission ticket and what is included in that ticket.
We also list several deals and other ways you can save money on your Windsor Castle tickets.
General Admission Ticket Prices
- Adult (25+) | £30
- Young Person (18 - 24) | £19.50
- Children (5 - 17) | £15
- Disabled £15
- Under 5 - FREE
- Purchase tickets here.
What is included in your ticket?
You will have access to:
- the Middle Ward and Round Tower
- the State Apartments
- St. George’s Chapel (except on Sundays; you may attend services if you wish)
- the Home Park
- the Semi-State Rooms (open only from October to Mid-February)
- the Changing of the Guard at 11 am on specific days (see the schedule below)
- a free multimedia tour (available in several languages)
- an optional free 30-minute tour of the castle grounds called the Precincts Tour
See our section below with descriptions of each of these sights.
Be sure to check out our post on castles in and around London.
12 WAYS TO SAVE ON WINDSOR CASTLE TICKETS
This section provides information about several opportunities to save money on Windsor Castle tickets, including tourist passes, combo packages, and more.
1. Tourist Passes
Admission to Windsor Castle is included with more than one London tourist pass.
If you’re planning to enjoy a lot of different attractions in London and the surrounding areas, this is a great way to save some money.
The London Pass is one of the most popular options, and it includes tickets to Windsor Castle in addition to more than 80+ activities.
This is an all-inclusive pass that covers admission to dozens of popular tours, museums, historic locations and more for a specific amount of time (1, 2, 3, 6, or 10 days).
Here are some of the other things you can do with a London tourist pass:
- Tower of London |
£27.50 - Westminster Abbey |
£23 - Hop on Hop off Bus Tour |
£34 - Hampton Court Palace |
£23.70 - View From the Shard |
£32 - The Queen’s Gallery |
£13.50 - The Royal Mews |
£12 - Thames River Cruise |
£19.25 - LEGOLAND Windsor Resort |
£60 - And more!
Alternatively, you can also see Windsor Castle on a day trip which is included on the London City Pass for 20% off.
This is a prepackaged pass that includes a few specific services and savings on dozens of additional activities.
Depending on how you use these passes, you should be able to save anywhere from 20% - 50% off general admission prices, and possibly much more than that.
To find out more, read our post comparing London Tourist Passes.
2. Combo Packages
While tourist passes can save you a lot of money, you usually have to use them for several different activities in order to save as much as possible.
If you’d rather just enjoy a few attractions, a combo package might be better.
Here are a few combo deals which include Windsor Castle:
Westminster Walking Tour + Windsor Castle
- Tickets: £63.25/Adults | £38.84/Children
- Includes 3-hour walking tour of Westminster.
- See the Changing of the Guard.
- Includes entry to Windsor Castle.
Windsor Castle + London Eye Half-Day Tour
- Tickets: £109/Adults | £106/Seniors, Students | £99/Kids
- Includes transportation to London Eye and Windsor Castle.
- Includes entrance to Windsor Castle.
- Includes ticket to the London Eye.
Windsor Castle + Stonehenge + Roman Baths Day Trip
- Tickets: £99/Adults | £96/Seniors, Students | £89/Kids
- Includes transportation to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Etc.
- Includes entrance to Windsor Castle.
- Includes entrance to Stonehenge.
- Includes entrance to Roman Baths.
Windsor Castle + Buckingham Palace
- Tickets: £127/Adults | £124/Seniors, Students | £117/Kids
- Includes transportation to Windsor Castle & Buckingham Palace.
- Includes entry to Windsor Castle.
- Includes entry to Buckingham Palace.
- Only available in July, August, and September.
- Tickets may sell out quickly.
3. 2 For 1 Windsor Castel Tickets
Although many popular and historic attractions in London are eligible for this deal, Windsor Castle is not currently included in the 2 for 1 program.
That said, there's always a chance they'll add this location to their deal shortly.
If you're planning to use the National Rail to get here, make sure to read our full post covering the 2 For 1 deal to find out more about how it works.
4. Get Free Admission for 1 Year
When you ask for your ticket purchase to be treated as a donation, you can enjoy re-admission to Windsor Castle for an entire year.
All you have to do is ask a Warden to stamp your ticket at the end of your visit!
This is a great option if you live in London and plan to visit more than once during a calendar year.
5. Bring the Kids for Free
If you’ve got any young kids under the age of 5, you won’t have to pay for their tickets.
Simply purchase an adult ticket for yourself and your children will also receive admission for free!
Tickets for youth from the age of 5-17 will be required, but they are a much lower cost at just £15 per child.
6. Use an Advantage Card
Residents of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead can receive a free advantage card which will grant them access to Windsor Castle at no charge.
All you have to do is show proof of your residence and you’ll have access to this card.
In addition to providing free admission to the castle, this card also offers several additional deals.
7. Groupon and Similar Sites
Aside from tourist passes and combo packages, this is one of the best ways to save money on admission to Windsor Castle.
Sites such as Discount London and Groupon frequently offer deals on day trips and other services in and around Windsor.
8. AAA Deals
Currently, there are no known AAA deals on tickets to Windsor Castle. That said, the tourist passes and combo packages typically offer much better deals than any offer you might get from AAA.
9. Senior Discount
Senior citizens are eligible for a lower price of £21.20, which is just over £2 off the normal price for adults.
10. Student Discount
Students with a university ID are eligible for the same lower ticket price that senior citizens receive, just £21.20.
11. Family Tickets
If you’re planning to visit Windsor Castle as a family with at least 2 adults, you can save money on tickets for up to 3 kids by purchasing a family ticket.
This option will be £60.50. To give you a sense of how much you’ll save, the total price would be £87.50 without a family ticket, which means you’ll receive over £25 off!
PLAN YOUR VISIT
There are two ways to visit Windsor Castle. You can buy tickets and travel to the castle on your own. (See below for how to get to Windsor Castle)
Alternatively, you can join a tour, which provides your ticket to the castle, round-trip transportation (via coach or train), and, depending on the tour company, other activities, and amenities.
We explain them below in the Tours section.
Windsor Castle Hours
The Castle is open year-round.
- March-Oct, daily 10:00 am-5:15 pm (last admission 4:00 pm)
- Nov-Feb, daily 10:00 am-4:15 pm (last admission 3:00 pm)
Note: Some parts of the castle close slightly earlier than others or are closed altogether on certain days.
- Entrance to the State Apartments closes 30 minutes after the last admission time.
- St. George’s Chapel closes at 4:00 pm, although visitors may attend the evensong service at 5:15 pm.
- St. George’s Chapel is closed to visitors all day on Sundays as services are held all day. Worshippers may attend services, however.
Windsor Castle Closures
All of Windsor Castle may be closed on certain dates, or in some instances only specific parts of the castle will be closed.
As of January 2024, Windsor Castle is closed on both Tuesday and Wednesday each week.
How long does it take to visit?
With so much to see at Windsor Castle, we recommend that you set aside 2½ and 3 hours to tour the Castle and the grounds.
Add into that the train rides (an hour each way) and your visit to Windsor will be at least 5 hours.
Give yourself some additional time if you choose to visit Windsor Town Centre and spend some time walking around, or getting some food.
TIP: Take a look at our post on visiting other Royal Palaces.
Best Times to Visit
The castle is busiest from opening and throughout the morning. The best time to go is after midday. If you can, buy your tickets in advance to save yourself time.
Of course, you can expect that there will be more visitors during peak season, and in the months of June and July, you have more opportunities to see the Changing of the Guard.
The advantage of visiting in the winter months is that it will be less crowded and the Semi-State Rooms will be accessible.
The disadvantage is that the Changing of the Guard occurs less frequently and only when the weather permits.
Getting Here
We recommend that you use Google Maps to plan your trip.
By Train
The closest train station to Windsor Castle is Windsor and Eton Riverside. Trains depart from both London Waterloo and London Paddington stations.
It is about an hour train ride if you want a direct train or surprisingly, it’s faster if you're willing to change at Slough.
Once you arrive at Windsor and Eton Riverside, the castle is an easy walk from the station.
It is about 7 minutes and you can follow the signs directing you to the castle. You should be able to see the castle as you exit the station.
By Coach
Bus service operates several times daily from Victoria Station. The trip takes approximately one hour and 10 minutes.
Fares before midday are £19 (or £15 if the ticket is purchased via their app). Fares after midday are £10 (or £9 if the ticket is purchased via their app.)
This is a shuttle bus service Hampton Court Palace and between Windsor Castle. It runs 7 days a week (except 24, 25, & 26 December).
If you have an Oyster card, you can use this to get to Hampton Court station and take the shuttle bus from there.
By Car
There is no visitor car parking at the Castle, so we recommend you use public car parks in the town centre.
Details about parking can be found here.
Keep in mind that you might have to pay the Central London congestion fee depending on your route.
Windsor Castle Tours
There are a lot of great companies offering tours of Windsor Castle from London, each including admission to the attraction and transportation to and from Windsor.
You may also want to consider taking a hop-on hop-off bus tour of Windsor when you get there!
In addition to these options, we also offer a free self-guided tour.
For more information about the various ways to experience and learn about this historic landmark, make sure to check our full post covering tours of Windsor Castle.
HISTORY
Built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, Windsor Castle has been a primary seat of the royal family ever since.
In the 12th century, the Castle complex was expanded and improved by King Henry II and became a base for King John when he was forced to hide from the population before the eventual signing of the Magna Carta – at Runnymede, just near the castle.
King Henry III heavily altered and invested in the Castle and he transformed the royal accommodation rooms into the luxurious and opulent rooms that we would today expect to exist inside a royal castle.
Much of the layout of the Castle today is because of Henry’s updates in the mid-13th century.
King Edward III was born at Windsor Castle and used it primarily as his base for the rest of his reign.
He is the king who established the Order of the Garter and declared Windsor as its headquarters.
Edward spent £51,000 on his renovations – the largest amount spent by any medieval monarch on a single building operation.
When you consider that Edward’s annual income was around £30,000, it’s easy to see the sheer value he placed on the buildings!
Centuries later, King Henry VI was born at Windsor (and declared Henry of Windsor) and his wife was later held hostage here by King Edward IV during the tumultuous Wars of the Roses.
It was this Edward who began the construction of the present St. George’s Chapel in 1475.
King Henry VII, the eventual and ultimate victor of the Wars of the Roses, completed the Chapel and began using Windsor Castle to host diplomatic events.
Ultimately his son, King Henry VIII, continue additions to the Castle and would eventually come to rest at St. George’s Chapel.
The youngest daughter of King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, used Windsor Castle as a safe haven for crises as it was considered the most secure of royal strongholds.
She often used Windsor to entertain but by the end of her reign, Windsor was considered too small and improvements were required.
William Shakespeare makes light of the constant flow of foreign visitors in his work ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor.’
King James, I held a drinking session with the Danish King Christian of Denmark IV in 1606 that became known throughout Europe for the scandalous behavior of the two Kings, and James’s son, King Charles I was the one who finally turned an artistic eye to the Castle and added the much-needed expansions to the complex.
However, all his work was to be undone during the Civil War when the complex was seized by the Parliamentarians and totally ransacked. It is estimated that a total of 3,580oz – or 101kg – of gold and silver was taken from the Castle at this time. Charles himself would end up buried in the Chapel here – after his public execution in 1649.
After the years of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell, King Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660 and Windsor was the only royal residence he modernized during his 25-year reign – showing the importance of the complex at the time.
It was Charles who initially brought in the idea of French design, mimicking the grand palace of his cousin King Louis XIV of France.
The castle fell out of royal favour during the early Hanoverian reigns but was brought back to the forefront of the royal court by King George III in the mid-18th century.
George spent over £150,000 to modernize and redesign the complex – equal to over £100 million today – and he is to be credited with the park and gardens there today. Near the end of his reign, when the King descended into madness, Windsor Castle became his prison.
His son, King George IV picked up the work his father had done, managing to spend double what his father did to bring the interiors of the Castle to a modern 19th-century luxury design and it is a lot of his work that visitors still see today.
George’s niece, Queen Victoria, initially found Windsor to be ‘prison-like’ but she lived here with her husband and it was here that he died in 1861.
Both Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, were eventually buried in the Home Park here.
Queen Elizabeth II, spent the majority of her childhood here with her sister and the rooms the princesses lived in were specially reinforced during the Blitz and Windsor was considered the best place for them to stay during the bombings.
Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth used Windsor as her principal weekend home.
Windsor was also the primary home for the Queen’s children - including our current King Charles III - when they were growing up and today it is where she spends the majority of her time.
Windsor Castle hosts just as many banquets and state events as Buckingham Palace does, although the latter is far more famous.
It is thanks to Queen Elizabeth II that Windsor is such an accessible location for tourists – she pushed significantly for the building to be maintained and available for the public to enjoy. And it is within St. George's Chapel that Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest after her death in September 2022.
Royal Weddings
St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle is one of the many locations where you can find celebrations of royal weddings.
Other locations are Westminster Abbey (William and Kate) and St. Paul's Cathedral (Charles and Diana).
For his second marriage, King Charles III and Queen Camilla had their Prayer and Dedication Ceremony at St. George's Chapel.
On May 19, 2018, Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle wed at Windsor Castle in St. George's Chapel. If you love Royal Weddings as we do, check out our post the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
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