Tower of London: Tickets, Prices and Opening Hours

Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that runs the Tower, prices tickets by age band with one optional 10% donation on top. There is no peak and off-peak split, and no family ticket.

💡 The Short Version:

• Price: Adult £38.00 (£41.80 with the optional 10% donation). Young person (16–17) and child (5–15) £19.00 (£21.00 with the donation); under 5s free. Senior, student and disabled concession £30.30 (£33.40 with the donation). No family ticket — book each person separately, or as an official timed entry ticket on GetYourGuide, which matches the gate price and includes free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
• Hours: Hours change through the year, so check HRP’s opening times for your date.
• When to go: HRP’s own guidance is that the Tower is quieter after midday. Allow two to three hours.
• The Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) tour is free with admission — never pay a third party for an “exclusive” version.
• The Ceremony of the Keys is pay-what-you-choose (HRP suggests £30, from £10 to £50), booked online only, in advance.
• If you have The London Pass, entry is included — show your digital pass at the ticket office.

Tickets and prices

One rate applies whatever day you visit.

Anyone on Universal Credit, Working Tax Credit, Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance pays £1 a head, for up to four people in the household, booked online in advance. Tower Hamlets residents pay £1 all year. Historic Royal Palaces membership starts at £65 a year and covers the Tower, Hampton Court and Kensington Palace.

Book direct through Historic Royal Palaces or as an official timed entry ticket on GetYourGuide, which matches the gate price and includes free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

What to see

The Waterloo Barracks, home to the Jewel House.

The Crown Jewels

The Crown Jewels are displayed in the Waterloo Barracks, through the Bloody Tower archway and across the Inner Ward. Moving walkways carry visitors past the working ceremonial regalia: the Imperial State Crown, the Sovereign’s Sceptre with the Cullinan I diamond, and St Edward’s Crown, used at the 2023 Coronation.

The Yeoman Warder tour

Free with standard admission, with no separate booking needed. Tours run roughly every 30 minutes from near the Middle Tower through the day; the last one included in the ticket leaves mid-afternoon. They cover Traitor’s Gate, the execution site on Tower Green, and the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula, where Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey are buried.

A Yeoman Warder addressing visitors.

The White Tower and the Line of Kings

The White Tower is the original Norman keep.

The Line of Kings.

• First floor: St John’s Chapel, an 11th-century Norman chapel in white Caen stone.
• Second floor: the Line of Kings, with armour linked to Henry VIII and Charles I.
• Basement: the torture chamber, with an execution block and axe.

The battlements, Traitor’s Gate and the ravens

The southern ramparts look out over the Thames. Below them, Traitor’s Gate sits beneath St Thomas’s Tower.

Traitor’s Gate.

The Tower keeps at least six ravens, cared for by the Ravenmaster.

A resident raven, on the South Lawn.

Other ways to visit

Historic Royal Palaces sells a few ways to see more than standard admission covers, each booked through its ticket page:

• Keys Club — a small-group upgrade with a Yeoman Warder, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• The Ravens experience — an early-morning session with the ravens, on Wednesdays and Fridays.
• The Opening Ceremony ticket — entry before the Crown Jewels open to other visitors.
• The official River Tour combination — Tower admission combined with a river tour.

The Ceremony of the Keys

The Ceremony of the Keys is the formal locking of the Tower’s gates, held every night without interruption for more than 700 years.

It runs from 21:30 to 22:05: visitors are let into the closed fortress under torchlight to watch the Chief Yeoman Warder and the military escort lock the Middle and Byward Towers, followed by the Last Post.

⚠️ There’s no door sale. Tickets are booked online only, always in advance, through HRP’s Ceremony of the Keys page — you cannot buy one at the gate on the night.

It’s pay-what-you-choose: Historic Royal Palaces suggests £30 a ticket, and you can pick anywhere from £10 to £50. Tickets for a given month go on sale at 13:00 on the first working day of the month before — December dates release on the first working day of November, for instance — moving to the following Monday at 13:00 if that first working day falls on a Friday. HRP members book on their own separate dates.

Practical information

Getting there

• Tube: Tower Hill (District and Circle lines), five minutes’ walk, step-free to street level.
• DLR: Tower Gateway, seven minutes’ walk, connecting from Docklands and Canary Wharf.
• River bus: Tower Pier sits outside the riverside wharf gates; Uber Boat by Thames Clippers calls every 20 minutes from Westminster, Embankment and Greenwich. See our guide to London river boats for piers and fares.
• Mainline: Fenchurch Street, six minutes’ walk; London Bridge, a ten-minute walk.

Bag rules and accessibility

There’s no cloakroom or luggage locker inside the Tower, and oversized bags aren’t permitted through security. Leave large luggage before you arrive — see our luggage storage in London guide for points near Tower Hill and London Bridge.

The grounds are cobbled, with steep ramps and narrow spiral stairs. The Jewel House and lower grounds are reachable by lift; the upper levels of the White Tower and the Medieval Palace battlements are not wheelchair accessible.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Buying on the day. Book online in advance, not queuing at the ticket booths.
• Paying a third party for an “exclusive” Beefeater tour. Every standard ticket already includes the official Yeoman Warder tour.
• Allowing less than two to three hours for the Crown Jewels, the White Tower and a Yeoman Warder tour.

Continue planning your London trip

• 🌉 Tower Bridge Guide — the glass floor, the Engine Rooms and bridge lift times, next door.
• ⛪ St Paul’s Cathedral Guide — the dome climb, the crypt and free Evensong, a walk west through the City.
• 👻 Jack the Ripper and Ghost Tours — the London Walks Ripper walk starts at Tower Hill station, and a ghost walk leaves from All Hallows by the Tower.
• 🏛️ City of London Area Guide — Roman ruins, Leadenhall Market, and historic pubs surrounding the Tower.
• 🗺️ Three Days in London Itinerary — where the Tower fits into an efficient Zone 1 walking plan.
• 🎟️ The London Pass Guide — when the pass saves money on Tower admission and when it does not.
• 🎖️ Churchill War Rooms Guide — Churchill’s underground wartime bunker, a short trip away near Westminster.
• 💷 London on a Budget — free sights and booking hacks across Central London.
• 🚤 How to Use London River Boats — scenic boat routes from Tower Pier to Greenwich and Westminster.
• 👑 Hampton Court Palace Guide — Historic Royal Palaces’ other big ticket, Henry VIII’s palace upriver in Zone 6.
• 🗓️ Things to Do in London in December — Carols by Candlelight in the Chapel Royal and Christmas at the Tower.
• 🗓️ Things to Do in London in January — Christmas at the Tower’s last day, Sunday 3 January.
• ♿ Step-Free London — what is reachable at the Tower without stairs, and how to get there step-free.