How to Visit Kensington Palace: Tickets, Hours, Tours & Everything You Need to Know (2026)
The three things first-time visitors get wrong
None of these is obvious from a booking page, and each of them costs somebody a morning.
- It is not open seven days a week. Mondays and Tuesdays are closed days. Several map listings still show a seven-day week because they are repeating the summer timetable across every day of it.
- No guide comes inside with you. Historic Royal Palaces does not allow guided commentary in the State Apartments, so every guided tour ends at the door and hands you the handset that admission already includes.
- Most tours do not include your palace entry. On more than half the trips listed here it is a checkout upgrade rather than part of the fare, which moves the real cost of an afternoon by about twenty-five pounds a head.
Opening days and hours
Ten in the morning, five days a week. What changes is the other end of the day, and it changes by two hours.
| Season | Days | Open | Close | Last admission |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 March – 31 October | Wed to Sun | 10:00 | 18:00 | 17:00 |
| 1 November – 28 February | Wed to Sun | 10:00 | 16:00 | 15:00 |
| 24 – 26 December | Closed | — | — | — |
Seasonal hours from Historic Royal Palaces, checked August 2026.
Two hours of visiting time vanish between summer and winter. On a January afternoon that is the difference between an unhurried visit and a brisk one, and it is why a morning slot is worth more in winter than at any other time of year. The best time to visit takes the year month by month.
What a ticket costs, and why the number keeps moving
Historic Royal Palaces adds an optional ten per cent donation at checkout. That is the entire explanation for a price that appears differently on every page you read.
| Ticket | Without donation | With donation |
|---|---|---|
| Adult 18+ | £24.70 | £27.20 |
| Child 5–15, young person 16–17 | £12.40 | £13.70 |
| Senior 65+, student, disabled concession | £20.00 | £22.00 |
| Under 5 | free | free |
Historic Royal Palaces rates, checked August 2026. Anything still quoting £20 for an adult is out of date.
What entry actually includes
More than most visitors expect, and knowing the list changes what an upgrade is worth.
- The King's State Apartments, including the King's Grand Staircase and the Cupola Room
- The King's Gallery, with the 1694 wind dial above its chimneypiece
- Victoria's childhood rooms, including the bedroom she was born in
- The Jewel Room, open all year
- The Last Princesses of Punjab, from 26 March to 8 November 2026
- The multimedia guide, in nine languages and British Sign Language
What is not included is a person walking round with you, and that is not the operators' choice. What you see inside takes the rooms in the order the handset does, and it also marks the wing that is closed: the Queen's State Apartments shut on 15 June 2026 and reopen in spring 2027.
Getting there, and the meeting-point trap
The palace stands inside a 265-acre park and has no street frontage, so every arrival ends on foot. Two stations serve it and neither is closer in a way that matters.
| Station | Line | Walk | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queensway | Central | 10–15 min | Guided garden walks and tea tours |
| High Street Kensington | Circle, District | 10–15 min | Entrance tickets and the palace door |
| Notting Hill Gate | Central, Circle, District | 15–20 min | Combining with Portobello Road |
Walking times measured at an unhurried pace across the park, August 2026.
Here is the part that catches people. If you hold a plain ticket, High Street Kensington puts you nearest the door. Most guided walks, though, meet at Queensway station rather than at the palace, and two operators put that in capital letters on their own listings because visitors keep going to the gate and missing the start. Getting here lists every meeting point on the site in one table.
How long to allow
Historic Royal Palaces suggests ninety minutes for the state apartments and that is an honest figure. This is a compact palace and you can finish it. What extends the day is the park.
- 90 minutes: the state rooms, at a reading pace
- 2 hours: the same, plus the Jewel Room and the exhibition
- 3 hours: add the Sunken Garden, the Round Pond and the Italian Gardens
- A morning: all of it, plus the Diana Memorial Playground if you have children with you
Do you need a tour at all?
It is a fair question here in a way it is not at most palaces, because the thing a guide would normally give you comes free with the ticket. What a paid trip adds is specific: the gardens explained out loud, the royal history in order, and a table held for you at the Orangery, which is otherwise hard to book. If those are what you want, the tour is worth it. If you only want the rooms, buy the ticket and keep the difference.
Before you leave home
- Bring photo identification matching the lead traveller's name; the entrance tickets check it, and the ticket is valid only on the day you booked.
- Leave luggage and large bags behind. There is no left luggage on site and there are bag searches at the entrance.
- Wear shoes you can walk a mile in. Every route to the door crosses open park.
- Book a morning slot. Ten to eleven is the emptiest hour in the King's State Apartments in any month.
Everything above sits in one place on plan your visit, and Kensington Palace Tours compares every bookable way in. If you are weighing a guided walk against the plain ticket, every Kensington Palace tour compared puts the two side by side with what each gets you inside.
Tours that fit this trip
Chosen for what this post covers rather than for what sells.
