Westminster Abbey Entry Tickets
Westminster Abbey entrance tickets, booked online for a chosen date and time, give timed entry to London's thousand-year-old coronation church. A visit to the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster takes in the Coronation Chair, Poets' Corner, royal tombs and the medieval Cloisters, with a multimedia guide included. The visitor entrance is the Great North Door, beside Parliament Square.
Book your tickets to Westminster Abbey
Do I need a ticket to get into Westminster Abbey?
Sightseeing visitors need a timed entry ticket to explore Westminster Abbey, one of London’s top attractions, and the admission charge maintains the church and its World Heritage buildings.
Booking online for a date and time secures the visit and grants priority entry, while the Abbey sells same-day tickets at the door subject to capacity. Entry covers the church, the chapels, Poets' Corner, the royal tombs, the Cloisters, and a multimedia guide.
Visitors book the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries and verger-led tours separately, alongside the Abbey entry ticket. Worshippers attend services without a ticket, though these services do not open the tombs, monuments, or galleries for viewing.
What can you see inside Westminster Abbey?
Westminster Abbey has been the coronation church since 1066 and the burial place of more than 3,000 monarchs, poets, scientists and statesmen. A single ticket reaches the highlights below, while the Cloisters, the octagonal Chapter House, the Pyx Chamber and College Garden open onto quieter medieval corners covered by the same entry.
The Coronation Chair
The Coronation Chair is the oldest piece of furniture in Britain still used for its original purpose. Made of oak around 1300 for King Edward I, it has been the seat at the coronation of almost every English and British monarch for more than 700 years, most recently King Charles III in 2023. The chair stands near St George's Chapel, by the Abbey's west end, close to the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.
Plan your visit in advance
Opening hours
Westminster Abbey opens to visitors at 9.30am from Monday to Saturday. Last entry is 3.30pm Monday to Friday and 3.00pm on Saturday, and the church closes to sightseeing about an hour after the final admission. On Sunday the Abbey opens only for worship, with no general visiting. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries keep slightly shorter hours, with last entry at 3.00pm on weekdays and Saturday and no access on Sunday, so the upper galleries are best reached earlier in the day.
General information for visitors
A grasp of the practical details makes a visit to this busy working church run more smoothly:
- Book online for a timed slot. An online ticket fixes the date and time, brings priority entry and avoids the longest waits at the door.
- Allow about two hours. Most visitors need 90 minutes to two hours, stretching towards three hours with the galleries and Cloisters added.
- Use the included multimedia guide. Admission includes a multimedia guide in 14 languages plus British Sign Language, narrated in English by the actor Jeremy Irons.
- Travel light. Security searches operate at the entrance, large suitcases and bags are not allowed inside, and the Abbey has no cloakroom.
- Mind the photography rules. Personal photography is allowed in most of the church but not during services or inside the galleries, and professional or commercial filming needs prior permission.
- Consider a verger-led tour. A verger tour lasts about 90 minutes and reaches the Shrine of St Edward the Confessor, which is otherwise closed to general visitors.
- Plan for accessibility. Step-free entry is available at the west front, a lift in the Weston Tower reaches the galleries, and assistance dogs are welcome, though the Abbey has no parking and only limited Blue Badge bays nearby.
- Dress for a place of worship. Respectful dress suits the setting, and quieter moments come at the 9.30am opening, in the final hour and midweek.
How long is the queue to get into Westminster Abbey?
The wait to enter Westminster Abbey depends mostly on whether a ticket is booked ahead. Visitors holding an online timed ticket use a priority entry and usually walk straight in, while those buying at the door join a counter queue that can exceed an hour during the busiest spells. Queues run longest from late morning to early afternoon and peak in the summer months from May to August, over Easter and around Christmas and New Year. The calmest times are the 9.30am opening and the last hour before closing, and midweek is quieter than Saturday. Because the Abbey closes to sightseeing on Sundays, weekend visitors are concentrated into Saturday, so a weekday morning is the most reliable way to avoid a long wait.
