Tours and attractions in London

Book London tours and tickets

London’s ticketed attractions are run by an independent charity, a royal trust, a royal abbey and a botanic garden, and no two of them add to the headline price the same way. One prints an optional donation as a second column, one charges four pounds more at the gate than online, one stacks a gate premium on top of a donation. Comparing the big numbers across them tells you very little.

The summer is also over in a way that shows up at the till. A temporary VAT cut on admission ran from 25 June to 1 September 2026 and has now expired, so every figure below is the price actually being charged this month rather than the cheaper one advertised in August.

Each number here is the one its operator publishes. Where an operator publishes two prices for the same ticket — and three of the ones below do — both are given, because the gap between them is the whole point.

The Ceremony of the Keys, and why no tour operator can sell you one

This is the most useful thing on the page. The Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, the nightly locking-up ritual, runs 21:30 to 22:05 every day and is pay-what-you-choose: anything from £10.00 to £50.00 per ticket, with £30.00 suggested. Historic Royal Palaces sells it online and nowhere else.

The booking rules are strict and they are enforced. Tickets are released at 13:00 on the first working day of each month for the following month, pushed to the Monday if that day falls on a Friday, capped at six per applicant, and the named ticket holder has to be the person who turns up. The wording on resellers leaves no room: “We do not accept bookings by groups, schools or third parties, tour operators etc. Any bookings will be cancelled.” Multiple bookings under the same name, email or address may also be cancelled, with entry refused on the night.

Then the arrival rule, which is where people lose the ticket they queued online for. Visitors are admitted under escort at 21:30 precisely and must arrive by 21:25 at the latest: “Late arrivals will not be admitted.” There is no waiting list, no photography during any part of the ceremony, and no toilets or refreshments once you are inside.

The daytime equivalent costs nothing extra. Yeoman Warder tours are included in Tower admission, run every 45 minutes from 10:00 with the last at 15:15, and members go free. If something sold to you as a London tour itemises a Yeoman Warder tour as an extra, you are paying twice for a thing your entry ticket already buys.

The summer VAT cut expired on 1 September, and your August ticket did not survive it

From 25 June to 1 September 2026 inclusive, VAT on admission to attractions was cut from the standard 20 per cent to 5 per cent under the government’s Great British Summer Savings campaign. It has ended, and HMRC is specific about what that means for a ticket already in your inbox: “Any payments received for rights to admissions which take place once the relief ends on 1 September 2026 will be subject to the standard rate.” Tickets bought during the window for admission on or after 2 September are standard-rated too. A price you screenshotted in August is not a price you can still get.

Westminster Abbey shows the size of it, because it publishes both sets side by side. For 2 to 30 September 2026 an adult is £31, over-65s and students £28, children 6–17 £14, under-6s free. During the relief those same tickets were £27.13, £24.50 and £12.25. The Abbey also notes that the saving applied to “full-price entry tickets only” and not to paid tours, special events or other offers, so the cut was narrower than it read even while it lasted. A family ticket of one adult and one child is £31, the same as one adult alone, which makes the child free in that combination.

The Abbey also has the single best reason on this page to book direct. A ticket bought on the Abbey’s own website upgrades free of charge to an annual pass giving three visits within one year for the price of one — and the exclusion is the point: “Promotional tickets (including Highlights and Lates) and tickets purchased via third parties cannot be upgraded.” An identical-looking reseller ticket at the same face value is worth a third as much. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries are a separate timed ticket at £5 for adults, free for 17 and under, and can only be bought in combination with Abbey entry.

Three attractions, three different ways of adding to the price

None of these is a booking fee in the American sense. Each is a different mechanism, and each rewards a different behaviour:

• The Tower of London asks for a donation and prints it as a second column. Adult 18–64 is £37.00 without the optional 10 per cent donation and £40.70 with it; child 5–15 and young person 16–17 £18.50 or £20.40; senior 65+, full-time student 18+ and disabled concession £29.50 or £32.50; groups of 15 or more pay £34.10 with no donation option at all. Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity that receives no ongoing government support, and a UK taxpayer who ticks Gift Aid lets it claim a further 25 per cent of the ticket value at no extra cost — a cheaper way to give it more than paying the donation column.
• Buckingham Palace charges you for deciding late. The State Rooms are £33.00 in advance and £37.00 on the day for an adult, £21.50 or £24.50 for 18–24s, £16.50 or £18.50 for children 5–17, with under-5s and access companions free. The combinations carry the same penalty: the State Rooms with the East Wing Tour are £93.00 or £97.00, the Royal Mews combination £45.90 or £49.50, the Royal Day Out £65.70 or £69.30. This year’s season runs 9 July to 27 September 2026, so it closes within weeks.
• Kew stacks a gate premium on top of a donation. In peak season, 2 September to 31 October, an adult is £25 online or £28 at the gate, and £27.50 or £31 once the donation goes on: best case to worst case is £6 on one adult. The child rate is worse in proportion — ages 4–15 are £2 online and £4 at the gate, exactly double. Off-peak, 1 November to 31 January, the adult is £17 online or £20 at the gate.

One thing no price comparison will show you: at Buckingham Palace an outside guide cannot come in with you. Royal Collection Trust states that “Guiding isn’t allowed at Buckingham Palace. Visitors can enjoy a free multimedia tour, available in nine languages.” Anything sold as a guided tour of the Palace is therefore a guide who talks to you outside and a free handset inside. The only guided product within the building is the Trust’s own Exclusive Guided Tour, a flat £100.00 per person.

The pound tickets, and the two opposite ways to claim them

Two of London’s most expensive attractions sell £1 tickets, and the Tower runs two separate schemes whose procedures are exact opposites. Getting the procedure wrong costs the day, not the pound:

• Tower of London, on benefits — £1 for anyone receiving Universal Credit, Working Tax Credit, Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance, for up to four people per household, and only one person in the party needs to show documents. Booked online in advance, and book early: “Visitor numbers are limited and many dates and timeslots are sold out in advance.”
• Tower of London, if you live in Tower Hamlets — £1 all year round, one ticket per adult per day plus up to three accompanying children at £1 each, on proof of address. This one is the reverse: “Tickets can only be purchased on the day from our ticket office for the next available timeslot.” Never online. And it cannot be used for event tickets such as the Ceremony of the Keys.
• Kew Gardens, on Universal Credit or Pension Credit — £1, or £2 with the donation, from 2 September 2026: one adult ticket each, plus up to four guest tickets, a guest being either a child aged 4–15 or anyone aged 16 or over.

Kew runs two more offers that need no means test at all. £10 Tuesdays run every Tuesday from 8 September to 29 December 2026 — £10 adult entry, £11 with the donation, valid for Tuesday entry only, which is under half the peak online adult rate. And residents of Richmond, Kingston-upon-Thames, Hammersmith, Fulham, Wandsworth and Hounslow pay the concession rate: £23 online or £26 at the gate in peak season, £15 or £18 off-peak, with proof of address checked at the gate.

Free, and the warning the Household Division publishes

The Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street is the honest free alternative to a paid observation deck: free of charge, open 10am to 6pm on weekdays and 11am to 9pm at weekends. What it costs instead is flexibility. Tickets are released only three weeks ahead, they are valid for the date and time printed on them and nothing else, there is a one-hour limit from the time of entry, and walk-ins cannot be accepted after 5pm on weekdays. Treat it as a booked appointment rather than somewhere to drift into.

Changing the Guard is the other free fixture, and it runs to a published timetable. The King’s Guard changes in front of Buckingham Palace at 1045, takes about 45 minutes, and happens on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; the Windsor Castle guard changes Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Soldiers gather at St James’s Palace and Wellington Barracks from 1000 and march to the Palace with music, which is worth more than a place at the railings. On days with no guard change the guard is inspected at 1500; on Sundays that inspection incorporates the Colour and is held at 1000 as the Sunday Parade.

Do not hang a morning on it. The Household Division warns that ceremonial activity “can sometimes be altered or cancelled at very short notice, especially in wet weather and can be decided as late as 1045 on the day” — that is, at the advertised start time, with the crowd already assembled.

The same page carries a security warning, and the fact that it needs publishing tells you how routine the problem is: “As with all crowded places, pickpockets have been known to operate in this area. Please report any suspicious behaviour to a Police Officer.” Police officers are always present at the ceremony; the advice is simply to keep hold of your belongings in the crush.

Does the London Pass pay?

The London Pass, sold by Go City, is priced per adult by duration: 1 day £99, 2 days £149, 3 days £179, 4 days £199, 5 days £219, 6 days £239, 7 days £259 and 10 days £279. It covers 113 attractions, is valid for one year from the date of purchase, and a pass you have not yet activated can be cancelled free of charge within 90 days of buying it.

The arithmetic is unforgiving. Two of the most expensive doors in the city — the Tower of London at £37.00 without the donation and Westminster Abbey at £31 — come to £68 between them, a little over a third of the three-day pass. A three-day pass therefore only pays if you are getting through three or four ticketed attractions a day, every day, which is a particular way to spend a holiday rather than an obviously better one.

Two things tilt it further in London. The best of the city is free and takes a morning each, so every free thing you actually want to do is a paid slot the pass no longer fills. And the venues that reward booking direct — the Abbey ticket that upgrades to three visits, Kew’s £10 Tuesday, the Tower’s two £1 schemes — are cheaper or simply better bought from the operator. Price the specific doors you intend to walk through, in the order you intend to walk through them, before you buy anything that bundles them.

The general version of this calculation is on the attraction tickets page, and the question of when a guide is worth paying for at all is on the tours and excursions page. Reaching the outlying ones is a transport question rather than a ticket one — see London trains and London buses.

Common questions

How do I get Ceremony of the Keys tickets at the Tower of London?

From Historic Royal Palaces, online, and from nobody else. Tickets are released at 13:00 on the first working day of each month for the following month, capped at six per applicant, and the named holder must attend. It is pay-what-you-choose, from £10.00 to £50.00 per ticket with £30.00 suggested. HRP does not accept bookings from groups, schools, third parties or tour operators, and cancels them.

Why do London attractions cost more now than they did in August?

A temporary VAT cut on admission, from 20 per cent down to 5 per cent, ran from 25 June to 1 September 2026 and has expired. HMRC states that payments for admissions taking place after the relief ended are charged at the standard rate, and that tickets bought during the window for a visit on or after 2 September are standard-rated too. An adult at Westminster Abbey went from £27.13 back to £31.

Is it cheaper to book London attractions online?

Usually, but the mechanism differs by venue. Buckingham Palace charges an adult £33.00 in advance and £37.00 on the day. Kew is £25 online and £28 at the gate in peak season, and its child ticket doubles from £2 to £4. The Tower of London does not charge more at the door, but adds an optional 10 per cent donation to the £37.00 adult price, shown as a second column at £40.70.

Who qualifies for a discounted Tower of London ticket?

Two groups, by opposite procedures. On Universal Credit, Working Tax Credit, Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance you can book £1 tickets for up to four people per household, online in advance only. If you live in Tower Hamlets it is £1 all year plus up to three children at £1, but only from the ticket office on the day with proof of address, and not for the Ceremony of the Keys.

What days is Changing the Guard in London?

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in front of Buckingham Palace, at 1045, lasting about 45 minutes; the Windsor Castle guard changes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Soldiers gather at St James’s Palace and Wellington Barracks from 1000. On days with no change the guard is inspected at 1500, and on Sundays at 1000 as the Sunday Parade. It can be altered or cancelled as late as 1045 on the day, especially in wet weather.

Is the London Pass worth buying?

Only at pace. It is £99 for one day, £179 for three and £259 for seven per adult, covering 113 attractions, valid a year from purchase and cancellable free within 90 days if never activated. The Tower of London at £37.00 and Westminster Abbey at £31 come to £68 between them, so a three-day pass needs several more paid doors to break even — and London’s best free attractions count for nothing towards it.

Sources

Fares, journey times and operating rules on this page were checked against these sources on 11 September 2026. Authorities change fares and timetables without notice — confirm anything time-critical on the operator’s own site.

• HMRC - Revenue and Customs Brief 5 (2026), temporary reduced rate of VAT for family attractions
• Westminster Abbey - prices and entry times
• Historic Royal Palaces - Tower of London tickets and prices
• Historic Royal Palaces - Ceremony of the Keys, booking conditions
• Royal Collection Trust - the State Rooms, Buckingham Palace
• Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - Kew Gardens tickets and prices
• Sky Garden - booking your visit
• The Household Division - Changing the Guard
• The London Pass, Go City - pass prices and coverage