Palace of Westminster

What it is

The Palace of Westminster is the seat of the two houses of the United Kingdom Parliament and, unlike the other great buildings on this stretch of the Thames, it is a workplace before it is a monument. Over 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases and three miles of passageways sit behind the river front. Most of it is Victorian: on 16 October 1834 a fire started by an overheated stove burning the Exchequer's stockpile of tally sticks destroyed the medieval palace, and Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin replaced it in Gothic Revival, construction starting in 1840 and running thirty years, with the Lords Chamber finished in 1847 and the Commons Chamber in 1852. One major survivor predates all of that. Westminster Hall dates from the reign of William II, who ruled from 1087 to 1100, and it is the room a visitor stands in first. The Palace has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, together with Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

What's inside

There is no general admission to the Palace of Westminster; there are tours, and choosing between them is the whole of planning a visit. The self-guided audio tour is available to all visitors, offered in ten languages plus an English version made for children, and covers the House of Commons, the House of Lords and many other spaces at the visitor's own pace. The guided tour is delivered in English only, lasts 90 minutes, and takes a group through Westminster Hall, the Commons and the Lords with a guide. The State Apartments of Speaker's House tour goes into the Speaker's official residence and is described by Parliament as best suited to those aged 16 and over. UK residents have a fourth route: a free 75-minute guided tour of how Parliament and democracy work today, booked through the visitor's own MP rather than through the ticket office. Family-friendly tours and experiences are listed separately. The Jubilee Café and the Jubilee Shop sit just off Westminster Hall.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

How long to spend

Allow two hours. Parliament states that the guided tour of the Palace of Westminster lasts 90 minutes; the self-guided audio tour is taken at the visitor's own pace and has no published length. Two hours is this guide's planning figure and it is the tour plus the things around it — the queue at the Cromwell Green entrance, which starts outside the building, the airport-style security screening, and the café and shop off Westminster Hall afterwards. The 75-minute MP-booked tour for UK residents is shorter and correspondingly cheaper, being free. Watching a debate from the public gallery has no fixed length at all: visitors turn up and wait, and Visitor Assistants tell them how long the wait is likely to be. Anyone combining the Palace with the Elizabeth Tower should note the two are separately ticketed and separately timed, and should not assume one visit covers both.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Season and crowds

Tour availability follows the parliamentary calendar rather than a weekly opening pattern, and Parliament publishes that calendar rather than a set of opening hours — which is why this guide records no opening hours for the Palace of Westminster. The public galleries have their own rhythm: they are open Monday to Thursday and some Fridays, with times differing through the week and between the two Houses. Watching a debate is free for everyone, UK residents and overseas visitors alike. No ticket is needed for general debates, and on most days a visitor can simply turn up and queue at Cromwell Green; tickets are required for Prime Minister's Questions and can be requested in advance for Ministerial Question Time. Commons debates also take place in the Grand Committee Room just off Westminster Hall, known as Westminster Hall debates, and visitors are welcome at those too. Summer is the season Parliament markets hardest, and in 2026 it reduced tour prices across the holidays.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Tickets

Every tour is separately priced and Parliament published two tables at the time of writing, one for tickets bought up to 1 September 2026 under a seasonal summer reduction and one for tickets from 1 September 2026 onward. Both are given here rather than averaged. From 1 September 2026: the guided tour is £40 for an adult booked in advance or £43 on the day, £30 for a young person aged 16 to 24, and £20 for a child aged 5 to 15; the self-guided audio tour is £31 for an adult in advance or £34 on the day, with one child free per full-paying adult and additional children £12; the Speaker's House tour is £23 for an adult. Under the summer pricing to 1 September 2026 the same tickets are £35, £27 and £20 respectively. Children under 5 go free but still require a ticket, and Parliament notes the guided tour is not recommended for that age group. Watching a debate from the public galleries is free. Tickets are sold online or at the ticket office in Portcullis House, Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2LW.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Getting there

Visitors enter at the Cromwell Green entrance, on the Palace's western side facing Parliament Square, and Parliament publishes a map and directions as a PDF. The postcode for the visitor entrance is SW1A 0AA. The ticket office is not at the same address — it is in Portcullis House on Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2LW — so a visitor buying on the day walks to one building and enters at another. The queue for both tours and the public galleries forms outside the building, which matters in London weather more than it sounds: there is no sheltered waiting area, and Parliament's own advice for the Elizabeth Tower queue at the same entrance is to dress for the weather. Westminster Abbey is a few hundred metres away across Parliament Square and Westminster Underground station sits at the north end of the Palace, so the whole Westminster group is walkable in one morning.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

What to watch out for

This is a working parliamentary estate with security measures and copyrighted works of art in it, and the visitor rules follow from both. Mobile phone use by visitors is restricted, not merely discouraged: cameras and phones may not be used on the tour routes outside the two named halls, nor in the public galleries, and Parliament asks that phones be switched off during tours in consideration of other visitors. Tripods must not be used at any time. The rules extend beyond cameras to sound recording, painting and sketching. Parliament reserves the right to cancel a booked tour at any time for reasons relating to parliamentary business, security or health and safety, with a refund of the ticket price only — not of travel. The privacy of those who work at or visit Parliament must be respected at all times. For debates there is usually a queue for the public galleries and no way to shorten it, though Visitor Assistants will give an estimate of the wait.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Photography

Three places, and only three, are open to a visitor's camera. Photography and filming for personal, non-commercial purposes are welcome in Westminster Hall, in St Stephen's Hall, and in the visitor area of New Palace Yard, which is where the view of the Elizabeth Tower from inside the estate is taken. Everywhere else on the tour routes, and in the public galleries of both Houses, cameras and mobile phones may not be used. The rule covers every device including phones and tablets, and extends to sound recording, painting and sketching; tripods are banned outright. Visitors attending events and meetings may be allowed to photograph in certain rooms with the permission of the sponsor, which must be checked first. Requests for photography or filming intended for wider publication must be agreed in advance — through the Media and Communications Team for the Commons, or Black Rod's Office for the Lords. Parliament points visitors who want interior images to its guidebooks and to its Flickr page.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Where it is

• 1 hr 45 min

  2 min walk · City of Westminster

  Big Ben

  • Must see
  • Historic monument
• 2 hours

  3 min walk · City of Westminster

  Westminster Abbey

  • Must see
  • Historic monument
• 1 hour

  7 min walk · City of Westminster

  Statue of Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford

  • Art and culture venue

External links

• Official site
• View on Wikidata