St Paul's Cathedral

What it is

St Paul's Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Diocese of London and the great domed building on Ludgate Hill, designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1675 and 1710 after the medieval cathedral on the site burned in the Great Fire. Wren's cathedral was consecrated on 2 December 1697 by Henry Compton, Bishop of London, and the final stone of the lantern was set on 26 October 1708; Parliament declared the building officially complete on 25 December 1711. It is 518 feet, or 158 metres, long and 365 feet, or 111 metres, high, and it was the tallest building in London from 1710 until 1963. The dome is double-shelled, with a brick cone carrying the weight between the inner and outer domes, both cone and inner dome eighteen inches thick — the structural trick that lets a shallow inner ceiling sit under a tall outer silhouette. St Paul's survived the Blitz, and the survival is part of what the building means in London: it was bombed on 10 October 1940 and 17 April 1941, and a time-delayed bomb that landed beside it was defused on 12 September 1940 by Robert Davies of the Royal Engineers.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

What's inside

A visit to St Paul's has three levels. The cathedral floor holds the nave, the quire and the Great West Doors, and the crypt below it is the largest in Europe, running under the whole building rather than only its eastern end. Above them are the three dome galleries, and the cathedral publishes the climb exactly: the Whispering Gallery is 257 steps, the Stone Gallery a further 119 steps, and the Golden Gallery another 152 steps from the Stone Gallery, all of it stairs only. The Whispering Gallery is the interior balcony around the base of the dome and the one that carries a voice around its wall; the Stone and Golden Galleries are outdoor balconies with the City spread below. The crypt and the quire have step-free access, the crypt by lift and the quire by a small electric stair lift, while the rest of the building is step-access only. A separately booked Treasures tour reaches the Triforium, 141 steps up, where the eighteenth-century Library, the Geometric Staircase and Wren's Great Model stand. That model, built in 1673, cost over £500 and is more than 13 feet tall and 21 feet long — Wren's rejected first vision of the cathedral, kept in the building that replaced it.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

How long to spend

Allow two hours at St Paul's Cathedral, which is the duration this guide records. That splits roughly into 45 minutes on the cathedral floor, 30 minutes in the crypt, and 45 minutes for the dome climb and the time spent on the outdoor galleries at the top. Visitors who skip the 528 steps of the full climb can do the floor and crypt comfortably in an hour and a quarter. Visitors who add the guided Cathedral floor and Crypt tour, which the cathedral gives as approximately 90 minutes, should budget closer to three hours in total. The climb is the variable: it is stairs the whole way, it cannot be rushed when the staircase is busy, and the galleries invite standing still.

Checked 2026-08-26

Season and crowds

St Paul's is open Monday to Saturday for sightseeing, and on most days the doors open at 8.30am. Last entry for sightseeing is usually at 4pm, with sightseeing ending 30 minutes after the last entry time. The cathedral itself warns that opening and closing times can change and recommends checking its calendar for the specific day. Sunday is not a sightseeing day: it is free to attend the cathedral for services, but exploring the building needs a sightseeing ticket. On Sundays between 15 March and 25 October 2026, the three dome galleries are open — the page read for this guide states that they open but does not give Sunday times, so no Sunday hours are recorded here. The practical consequence is that the first hour after 8.30am is the quietest slot of the day and the only one that reliably gives the nave without crowds, while a 4pm arrival leaves 30 minutes and is not enough for the dome climb.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Tickets

Sightseeing at St Paul's is ticketed and the cathedral publishes two price tables. Outside the period 25 June to 1 September 2026 an adult ticket is £27 without a donation and £29.70 including one; seniors aged 65 and over and students pay £24, children aged 6 to 17 pay £10.50, infants aged 0 to 5 are free, a family ticket for two adults and two or three children is £64.50, and the group rate for 15 or more is £24.30 an adult. During the cathedral's Great British Summer Savings period, 25 June until 1 September 2026, the same tickets are cheaper: £24 an adult, £21.50 for seniors and students, £9.50 for children, £57.50 for a family of two adults, and £21.60 for groups. Both sets are printed here rather than averaged, because both are current on the cathedral's own page. The cathedral also lists a £1 sightseeing ticket to which terms and conditions apply, free entry for Friends of St Paul's Cathedral, and free tickets for those with a disability. Student tickets require photo identification issued by the place of study. Attending a service is free; a service is not a sightseeing visit.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Getting there

The cathedral's address is St Paul's Cathedral, St Paul's Churchyard, London EC4M 8AD, and it is within easy walking distance of several Underground and mainline stations. The cathedral gives the distances itself: 270 metres, about 3 minutes, from St Paul's Underground station; 300 metres, about 4 minutes, from City Thameslink; and 500 metres, about 7 minutes, from Blackfriars Underground and mainline station. It also notes that the cathedral can be reached by bus, river boat or bike. The approach worth choosing on foot is from the south across the Millennium Bridge, which lines up the west front at the end of the bridge and delivers a visitor to the building the way the view was intended. Wheelchair users and anyone needing step-free access should use the North Transept entrance, which has ramped access leading directly onto the cathedral floor.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

What to watch out for

Four things catch visitors at St Paul's. First, videography: the cathedral does not allow visitors to record moving images anywhere in the building, and it also bars flash, additional lighting, tripods, monopods, gimbals and selfie sticks, so a plan built around video needs rewriting before arrival. Second, the two places where even stills are refused: photography is not permitted on the Whispering Gallery for health and safety reasons, and St Dunstan's Chapel is a designated space for private prayer where photography is not allowed; the cathedral may also sign temporary no-photography areas. Third, the climb: the dome galleries are reached by 257, then 119, then 152 steps with no lift, and the cathedral recommends that those with pre-existing medical conditions or mobility difficulties think carefully before starting. Fourth, bags: items above 45cm x 30cm x 25cm, including handles, wheels and pockets, cannot be brought into the cathedral and there is no cloakroom facility, so a suitcase means a wasted journey. Services take priority over sightseeing throughout, and photographs during a service are asked against out of respect for other people's privacy.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Photography

Visitors are welcome to photograph St Paul's during sightseeing hours, Monday to Saturday, and non-flash stills photography for personal, non-commercial use is welcomed across the cathedral floor, in the crypt and on the Stone and Golden Galleries. Cameras, phones and tablet cameras are all fine. The two interior exclusions matter for planning a shot list: nothing may be photographed on the Whispering Gallery, which is the very balcony most people climb for the view down into the dome, and nothing in St Dunstan's Chapel. Outside, the Stone Gallery at 376 steps up and the Golden Gallery at 528 give the City skyline from inside the dome's own silhouette. On the ground, the Millennium Bridge gives the classic south approach to the west front, and the churchyard's north-east corner keeps the dome and the towers in one frame without the traffic of Ludgate Hill. Wedding and engagement photography inside the cathedral and on its land is only for couples marrying there.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Where it is

• 45 min

  5 min walk · London Borough of Islington

  Cook's Hall

  • Historic monument
• 2 hours

  9 min walk · London Borough of Southwark

  Tate Modern

  • Must see
  • Art and culture venue

External links

• Official site
• View on Wikidata