Why go

Westminster Abbey has hosted coronations for centuries, along with royal weddings and funerals, and it remains a working church with daily services. Around 3,300 people are buried or remembered here, from medieval kings and Tudor queens to Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking. Few buildings pack so much of a nation’s story into one walk.

The first stone church on the site was built in 1065, and the Abbey you see today was largely rebuilt in the 13th century under Henry III. Look carefully in the Nave and you can spot where the money ran out and later builders carried on with plainer arches.

What to see

  • The Coronation Chair. Monarchs have sat in it to be crowned for more than 700 years.
  • The Grave of the Unknown Warrior. A quiet, moving stop in the Nave, especially around Remembrance in November.
  • Scientists’ Corner. Memorials and burials including Newton, Darwin and Hawking.
  • The Lady Chapel. Its fan-vaulted ceiling with hanging pendants was once described as “the wonder of the world”. The banners of the Order of the Bath hang here, beside the Battle of Britain window.
  • The Tudor queens. Elizabeth I, Mary I and Mary, Queen of Scots are all buried here.
  • The Cosmati Pavement. A colourful 13th-century Italian floor in front of the High Altar, where coronations take place.
  • Poets’ Corner. More than 100 poets and writers are buried or remembered here, beginning with Geoffrey Chaucer.
  • The cloisters and Chapter House. Where you will also find Britain’s oldest door, made in the 1050s, and the Pyx Chamber.
  • College Garden. The oldest cultivated garden in England, and a surprisingly peaceful corner of Westminster.

Plan your visit

The Abbey opens to visitors Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 4:30pm, with last entry at 3:30pm, and on Saturdays from 9am to 4pm, with last entry at 3pm. On Sundays it is open for worship only. As a working church it can close at short notice for services and events, so check the daily entry times on the official site before you travel.

The Abbey suggests that under an hour covers the main highlights with the multimedia guide, while two hours lets you linger, visit the side chapels, walk the cloisters and reach the gardens. The multimedia guide is included in your ticket and available in 14 languages, or you can download a shorter version to your phone.

Visitors enter by the North Entrance on Parliament Square. All doors have walk-through security with bag checks, and anything larger than cabin bag size (55 x 40 x 20cm) is not allowed inside. The nearest left luggage is at Victoria station.

Tickets and saving money

An adult ticket is £32, with £29 for over 65s and students, £14 for children aged 6 to 17, and free entry for under 6s. A family ticket for one adult and one child is also £32. The best value tip is the “Buy once, come three times” offer: book directly on the Abbey’s website and staff can upgrade your ticket to an annual pass for free, so you can return twice more. If you arrive by train, National Rail’s 2 for 1 offer applies to full-price adult tickets bought at the door, not pre-booked ones.

Registered disabled visitors and one essential companion get in free, as do NHS staff and UK Armed Forces personnel and veterans. You can also attend Evensong or any daily service without charge, though services are for worship rather than sightseeing. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, high in the triforium, cost an extra £5 and give one of the best views down into the Abbey.

Accessibility

The Abbey has step-free access through the North Door, the Great West Door and the cloister entrance in Dean’s Yard, and most of the visitor route is step free. The Lady Chapel and the Tudor tombs involve steps, as do the Chapter House and the passage into the cloisters. Manual wheelchairs can be borrowed free from an Abbey Marshal, and assistance dogs are welcome.

Nearby

The Abbey faces the Houses of Parliament across Parliament Square, and St Margaret’s Church sits right beside it. St James’s Park is a few minutes’ walk west, and Buckingham Palace lies at its far end. Cross Westminster Bridge for the South Bank and the riverside walk east.