St George’s Chapel is where Harry and Meghan got married. It’s also where Henry VIII is buried, right beneath the floor, alongside Jane Seymour. You walk over a king on your way to look at the stained glass. That kind of thing only happens at Windsor Castle.
This is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world — nearly a thousand years of continuous royal use, from William the Conqueror in 1070 to King Charles today. It’s also one of the most straightforward royal attractions to visit from London, with direct trains taking under an hour from Paddington or Waterloo.
But tickets aren’t always straightforward. Prices change depending on whether the State Apartments are open, the Changing of the Guard schedule shifts by season, and certain areas close without much warning when the Royal Family is in residence. I’ll walk you through exactly how to get tickets, what they include, and whether a guided tour from London is worth the extra cost.
Best for independent visitors: Windsor Castle Admission Ticket — $43. Skip-the-line entry so you avoid the walk-up queue. Go at your own pace with the included audio guide.
Best half-day from London: Half-Day Trip to Windsor with Castle Tickets — $120. Coach transport from London, guided commentary, and castle admission all bundled. Back by mid-afternoon.
Best full-day combo: Windsor, Stonehenge, and Oxford Tour — $120. Three iconic stops in one day. Hard to beat the value if you want to see England beyond London.
- How the Ticket System Works
- Official Tickets vs Guided Tours
- The Best Windsor Castle Tours to Book
- 1. Windsor Castle Admission Ticket —
- 2. Half-Day Trip to Windsor with Castle Tickets — 0
- 3. Full-Day Windsor, Stonehenge, and Oxford Tour — 0
- When to Visit Windsor Castle
- The Changing of the Guard
- How to Get There From London
- Tips That Will Save You Time
- What You’ll Actually See Inside
- Beyond the Castle: The Long Walk and Windsor Town
- More London Day Trip Guides
- Combining Windsor with Other Trips
How the Ticket System Works
Windsor Castle tickets are sold through the Royal Collection Trust, the same organisation that manages Buckingham Palace. You can buy them online at rct.uk or in person at the castle entrance, but the online route saves you the walk-up queue — which can stretch to 45 minutes on summer weekends.
Tickets are timed. You pick a 30-minute entry window when booking online. Miss your window and you might get turned away, though staff are generally flexible if you’re within 15-20 minutes either side.
Standard adult admission is around $36-43 (about £30). This includes the State Apartments, St George’s Chapel (except Sundays when it’s reserved for worship), the Semi-State Rooms (October through March only), and Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House. Children under 5 go free. There are discounts for over-60s, students, and family groups.
One genuinely useful trick: if you convert your ticket to an Annual Pass at the admissions desk on the day of your visit, you can return unlimited times for a full year. It costs nothing extra — you just need to show your ticket and ask. The staff actively encourage it because the pass income is treated as a charitable donation.
Official Tickets vs Guided Tours
This is the real question, and it depends entirely on what kind of day you want.
Buy official tickets directly if: you’re already in Windsor or nearby, you want to spend a full morning or afternoon at the castle without being rushed, you’re comfortable navigating the train from London on your own (it’s dead simple), or you want to combine the castle with lunch in Windsor town and a stroll down the Long Walk.
Book a guided tour from London if: you’d rather not deal with trains and logistics, you want commentary and context from a live guide who knows the history, or you want to combine Windsor with other stops like Stonehenge or Oxford in a single day.
The price gap is real. Official tickets run about $36-43, while guided tours from London range from $93-$120. But the tours include return transport (which would cost you about $20-30 by train anyway), skip-the-line entry, and a guide. If you’re doing a full-day combo tour hitting three sites, the per-stop value is actually quite strong.
The downside of tours is time. Most give you 1.5-2 hours at Windsor, which is enough to see the main sights but not enough to really absorb the State Apartments or linger at St George’s Chapel. If Windsor is your main event for the day, go independently. If it’s one stop among several, a tour makes more sense.
The Best Windsor Castle Tours to Book
I’ve picked three tours that cover different needs — a standalone admission ticket for independent visitors, a dedicated half-day trip, and an ambitious full-day combo. All three include castle entry.
1. Windsor Castle Admission Ticket — $43
This is the straightforward option. You get timed entry that bypasses the general admission queue, a multimedia guide included in the price, and full access to the State Apartments, St George’s Chapel, and the castle precincts. No guide, no transport — just the ticket.
At $43 per person, this is the cheapest way to see Windsor Castle with guaranteed entry. The skip-the-line element alone justifies booking through GetYourGuide rather than showing up on the day, because walk-up queues at the castle gate get genuinely long from April through September. The multimedia guide is solid — it covers the major rooms in the State Apartments with enough historical context that you won’t feel lost.
Best for anyone who’s already in Windsor or happy getting the train from London independently. Budget about 2-3 hours for the full visit.
2. Half-Day Trip to Windsor with Castle Tickets — $120
If you want Windsor Castle without the hassle of figuring out trains and you’d rather have a guide walking you through the history, this is the one. Coach pickup from central London, a guide who knows the castle inside out, castle admission included, and you’re back in London by mid-afternoon.
At $120, it’s nearly three times the cost of a standalone ticket. But you’re paying for someone else to handle the logistics, a live guide who can answer questions and point out details the audio guide skips, and door-to-door transport. Visitors consistently praise the guides on this tour — they bring a level of context and storytelling that the audio guide can’t match. The half-day format also means you’re not rushing through the castle. You typically get about 2 hours inside, which is enough for a proper visit.
The one downside: you’re on the tour’s schedule, so if you wanted to explore Windsor town or walk the Long Walk after, you’d need to make your own way back to London.
3. Full-Day Windsor, Stonehenge, and Oxford Tour — $120
This is the do-it-all option. Windsor Castle in the morning, Stonehenge in the afternoon, and a stop in Oxford to see the university colleges before heading back to London. It’s a long day — 11 to 12 hours — but you see an enormous amount of England outside London.
At $120 per person, the value here is remarkable. That’s the same price as the half-day Windsor-only trip, but with two additional major stops. The trade-off is time at each location. You get about 1.5 hours at Windsor Castle, which is tight but doable if you focus on the State Apartments and St George’s Chapel. Stonehenge gets roughly the same. Oxford is more of a walking tour than a deep dive.
The guides on this tour are consistently strong — the kind who keep a full coach engaged for 11 hours, which takes real skill. If you’re visiting England for a short trip and want to see as much as possible beyond London, this is probably the single best-value day tour in the country.
When to Visit Windsor Castle
Opening hours: Windsor Castle is open Thursday through Monday, 10:00 to 16:15 (last admission 15:00). It’s closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. These hours can shift for state occasions and Royal events — always check the Royal Collection Trust website before booking.
Best time of day: First thing in the morning or after 14:00. The mid-morning rush between 10:30 and 12:30 is the worst, especially when tour buses arrive in waves. If you can time your visit for a Thursday or Friday morning, you’ll have noticeably fewer people in the State Apartments.
Best season: October through March is quieter and you get access to the Semi-State Rooms, which are only open during the winter months. These rooms are arguably the most impressive interiors in the castle — George IV’s private apartments, dripping with gilt and silk. They close when the court moves to Windsor for Easter and summer.
Worst time: School holidays (especially half-term in February and the summer break from late July through August) and bank holiday weekends. The castle doesn’t feel crowded in the way the Tower of London does — it’s simply too large — but the queue to enter can be painful.
The Changing of the Guard
The Changing of the Guard at Windsor is smaller and more intimate than the Buckingham Palace version, and honestly, I prefer it. You can get much closer to the action, the setting is more atmospheric, and you don’t have to fight through 10,000 travelers for a sightline.
The ceremony takes place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 11:00, though the schedule changes and cancellations happen for weather, security, or Royal events. The British Army’s official website has the most up-to-date schedule. The old guard forms up inside the castle precincts while the new guard marches up from Victoria Barracks through the town — so you can watch the march through the streets and then the handover in the castle grounds.
If you’re combining the Changing of the Guard with a castle visit, arrive by 10:00, watch the ceremony, then head inside when the crowds thin out around 11:45. Your castle ticket is valid all day regardless of your entry time slot.
How to Get There From London
By train (recommended): Two options, both about 50-60 minutes from London.
From London Paddington: Take the Elizabeth Line or GWR train to Slough, then change for the short branch line to Windsor & Eton Central. This station drops you literally on the castle’s doorstep — you walk out and the castle entrance is right there. Trains run every 20-30 minutes.
From London Waterloo: South Western Railway runs direct trains to Windsor & Eton Riverside, with no change required. The journey takes about 55 minutes. The station is a 5-minute walk from the castle through the town centre, which is actually nicer because you walk past the shops and restaurants.
A return train ticket costs about $20-30 (£15-25) depending on when you travel and whether you book in advance. Off-peak returns are cheapest.
By coach tour: All the guided tours listed above depart from central London (usually near Victoria or Gloucester Road) and include return transport. The drive takes about an hour each way, depending on traffic on the M4.
By car: Honestly, don’t. Parking in Windsor is expensive, limited, and stressful. The train is faster and easier.
Tips That Will Save You Time
- Book online. Walk-up queues can hit 45 minutes in summer. Online ticket holders join a separate, much shorter line.
- Bring photo ID. You might be asked to show it to match your booking. Passport or driving licence works fine.
- No large bags. Bags larger than 45cm x 25cm x 25cm aren’t allowed inside. There’s a bag drop near the entrance, but it fills up early on busy days.
- Audio guide is included. Don’t pay for a third-party one — the official multimedia guide that comes with your ticket is good and covers all the major rooms.
- St George’s Chapel closes for services on Sundays. You can attend a service, but you can’t tour it as a visitor that day. Plan accordingly if the chapel is your priority.
- The State Apartments close when the King is in residence. The Royal Standard flag flying over the Round Tower means the monarch is home. The castle stays open, but some areas may be restricted. This happens most often at Easter and during Ascot week in June.
- Convert your ticket to an Annual Pass. Free at the admissions desk. Even if you think you won’t come back, it’s a donation to the Royal Collection Trust and costs you nothing.
What You’ll Actually See Inside
The State Apartments are the main draw. These are the rooms used for official state business and entertaining foreign dignitaries — massive halls with painted ceilings, walls lined with Old Masters (Rubens, Van Dyck, Canaletto), and furniture that has been in continuous royal use for centuries. The Waterloo Chamber, built to celebrate the defeat of Napoleon, is overwhelming in scale. The ceiling is so far above you that the portraits lining the walls look like normal-sized paintings until you realise they’re each over two metres tall.
St George’s Chapel is the other must-see. It’s a masterpiece of Perpendicular Gothic architecture and the burial place of ten monarchs, including Henry VIII, Charles I, and most recently Queen Elizabeth II. The fan vaulting in the nave is extraordinary — it’s up there with King’s College Chapel in Cambridge as the finest Gothic ceiling in England. Harry and Meghan were married here in 2018, and the chapel is where the Order of the Garter ceremonies take place each June.
Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House sounds like a novelty but it’s actually fascinating. Designed by Edwin Lutyens in the 1920s at a scale of 1:12, it has working electricity, running water, real bottles of wine in the cellar (tiny ones), and miniature books written by actual authors of the period. It took 1,500 craftspeople three years to build.
If you visit between October and March, add the Semi-State Rooms to your itinerary. These were George IV’s private apartments and they’re lavish in a way that makes Buckingham Palace look restrained. The Crimson Drawing Room has more gilt per square metre than almost any room in Europe.
Beyond the Castle: The Long Walk and Windsor Town
Don’t leave Windsor immediately after the castle. The Long Walk is a nearly three-mile tree-lined avenue stretching from the castle gates to the Copper Horse statue of George III at the top of Snow Hill. It’s free, open to everyone, and the view back toward the castle is probably the single best photograph you’ll take in Windsor. Even walking the first half-mile and turning around is worth it.
Windsor town itself is worth an hour. It’s small, compact, and has good pubs and restaurants along the river. Eton is literally across the bridge — a two-minute walk — and you can peer through the gates of Eton College where generations of Prime Ministers were educated. The area around the station has a handful of decent lunch spots, though they’re priced for travelers.
More London Day Trip Guides
If Windsor is on your list, you’re probably planning other day trips too. Our guide to visiting Stonehenge from London covers the same logistics — and the full-day combo tour above hits both in one go, which is hard to beat for value. Back in London, the Tower of London is the other must-do castle experience (and honestly, the Crown Jewels give Windsor’s State Apartments a run for their money). For something completely different, the London Eye at sunset is worth the ticket price for the views alone, and the Harry Potter Studio Tour is a full day out if you’ve got kids or fans in the group. And if you want a rainy-day backup, Madame Tussauds is cheesy fun that fills a morning nicely.
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Combining Windsor with Other Trips
Windsor is often paired with Stonehenge on full-day coach tours from London. The two sites sit in different directions from the capital, but the guided tours manage the logistics efficiently and save you the hassle of multiple train connections. If you only have one day for excursions, the combo is hard to beat.
The Cotswolds are further west but share a similar feel of quintessential England outside the city. If Windsor gives you a taste for royal history, the Cotswolds offer the picture-postcard villages and rolling countryside that complete the image.
Back in London, Buckingham Palace is the obvious companion site for anyone interested in the working monarchy. The State Rooms at both residences share collections and furnishings, and seeing both gives you a fuller picture of how the royal households actually function. The Tower of London rounds out the royal trio — Windsor for the weekend residence, Buckingham for the official London base, and the Tower for the darker chapters.