Buckingham Palace: free audio guide, tickets and opening times

Buckingham Palace is the King’s official London residence and a working royal palace, at the end of the Mall. Its 19 State Rooms open to visitors only in summer: in 2027, from 8 July to 26 September, and tickets are already on sale. This is its free audio guide, made to be heard at the railings, so it works on any day of the year.

What the audio guide tells you

The audio guide lasts about 2 minutes 45 seconds. Press play at the railings, with the palace in front of you and the white Victoria Memorial behind you: it tells you what you are looking at and ends by pointing you towards Big Ben. These are its stops:

Inside the State Rooms you will not need it: the summer ticket includes the palace’s own multimedia guide. This one is for the outside, and for the 9 months of the year without the summer opening.

Opening times: when you can go inside in 2026 and 2027

The calendar decides what you can see. The State Rooms open only for the summer, and from October to May the palace opens only on selected dates for small-group guided tours. This is the calendar on the official Royal Collection Trust pages, read on 10 November 2026:

The State Rooms work with timed entry. Check the official Buckingham Palace visit page for the times of your day.

Buckingham Palace tickets, prices and rules at the door

The summer ticket costs less if you book ahead. These are the official prices for the State Rooms in summer 2027:

The ticket includes a multimedia guide in 9 languages, with a British Sign Language version and an audio-described guide.

A few rules stop people at the door, so read them before you go:

• No photography inside.
• No pushchairs.
• No food or drink except bottled water.
• Airport-style security check, so arrive 15 minutes before your time.
• The visitor entrance is on Buckingham Gate, on the south side of the palace, not at the front railings.

The route takes you through large rooms on 2 floors, and in summer it can get very warm inside. You leave along a long gravel path through the garden, so wear shoes you can walk in.

What to do at Buckingham Palace the rest of the year

For most of the year the State Rooms are closed, but the palace still has 4 things to give you.

The Changing the Guard. It takes place in the forecourt, the space between the railings and the palace, facing the Mall. It fills up well before it starts. Come from the Victoria side and avoid arriving from Green Park at that time, when roads around the palace are closed.

The King’s Gallery. It is open daily and shows changing exhibitions from the Royal Collection. Until 18 April 2027 it holds Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, the largest exhibition of the late Queen’s fashion ever mounted, for the centenary of her birth. An adult ticket costs £22 in 2026 and £24 in 2027; young people £14 and children £11 in 2026.

The Royal Mews. These are the working royal stables, open in 2027 from 4 March to 31 October, closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays except in July and August. The star is the Gold State Coach, about 260 years old, used at the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, the Platinum Jubilee in 2022 and the coronation of Charles III in 2023. In 2027 adults pay £18, young people £12 and children £9, with a free multimedia guide.

The East Wing guided tours. From 6 November 2026 to 31 January 2027, on Fridays to Mondays (also 22, 23 and 29 to 31 December; none on 20 November or 25 and 26 December), they are the only way inside in winter. They cost £100, start at selected times between 10:00 and 15:30, last about 1 hour 30 minutes and take up to 20 people, so book early. You walk in through the front gates and across the forecourt, as guests do for official events, and the tour takes in the Centre Room, behind the famous balcony, first used by Queen Victoria.

Buckingham Palace history: from a townhouse to the King’s office

The name comes from its first owner. In 1703 Buckingham House was built as a townhouse for the Duke of Buckingham and Normanby. In 1761 George III bought it as a private home for Queen Charlotte, and it became known as the Queen’s House.

In 1826 George IV decided to turn it into a palace with the architect John Nash. The costs ran so high that Nash was removed in 1829, and Edward Blore finished the work. Queen Victoria, in 1837, was the first sovereign to live here. Between 1847 and 1849 a new wing closed the courtyard: that is the East Front, the one facing the Mall, with the balcony where the royal family steps out on the big occasions. In 1913 Aston Webb refaced it in Portland stone as the backdrop to the Victoria Memorial in front of the gates; the Mall, the avenue that runs from Admiralty Arch, was completed in 1911.

Today the palace has 775 rooms, 19 of them State Rooms. The summer route climbs the Grand Staircase and crosses the Blue Drawing Room, the Green Drawing Room, the Throne Room, where investitures are usually held, and the Picture Gallery, 50 m long and lit from above, with works by Rubens, Van Dyck and Canaletto. The largest room is the Ballroom, completed in 1855, 36.6 m long, where state banquets are held.

Behind the palace lies a 39-acre (16 ha) garden, the largest private garden in London, with a lake and more than 1,000 trees. The State Rooms have opened to visitors every summer since 1993: the money first paid for the rebuilding of Windsor Castle after the fire of 1992, and today it pays for the care of the Royal Collection.

And the King? Charles III lives at Clarence House, a short walk away, and comes to Buckingham Palace to work: it is still the monarch’s administrative headquarters, with more than 700 people on the staff.

Getting there and step-free access

Buckingham Palace is in London SW1A 1AA, at the end of the Mall. 4 Tube stations are about 10 minutes away on foot: Victoria, Green Park, St James’s Park and Hyde Park Corner.

Disabled visitors pay the reduced price, and an access companion goes free. The standard route is not step-free: step-free access has to be booked in advance with the Specialist Sales team, on +44 303 123 7324 or at specialistsales@rct.uk. Assistance dogs are welcome.

Big Ben is about 1.2 km east in a straight line, across St James’s Park, and that is where the audio guide sends you: to the clock tower you can climb on a 334-step tour. Next to it stands Westminster Abbey, the coronation church, open Monday to Saturday. Across the river, about 1.6 km away, the London Eye lets you pick out the palace to the west, and Tower Bridge is about 4.6 km downriver. For a rainy afternoon, the British Museum is free and about 2.3 km north-east. All of them have their own free audio guide, and more are on the free audio guides of London page.

Free audio guideBig Ben

Closer still, Hyde Park is about 1.7 km north-west and free from 5am to midnight:

Free audio guideHyde Park

Walk the Mall north-east from the gates, about 1.2 km through Admiralty Arch, to Trafalgar Square:

Free audio guideTrafalgar Square

Or cross Green Park to Piccadilly Circus, about 1.1 km away:

Free audio guidePiccadilly Circus

And from Victoria the Circle line runs direct to Notting Hill Gate in 5 stops, for the colourful houses and the market of Notting Hill (best on a Friday or Saturday):

Free audio guideNotting Hill

Reading this in Spanish? The same guide, written for a Spanish-speaking visitor and narrated in Spanish, is at Palacio de Buckingham en vozviajera.com.