Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle Self-Guided Tour with Coach
Description
Visit Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle on this unescorted tour! Meet your Golden Tours representative from 9:45am outside King's Gallery in Victoria, you will then be escorted to enter Buckingham Palace (5 min walk). Buckingham Palace – Special Timed Entry With Audio Guide. Special timed entry ensures a breathtaking visit to the official residence of Britain’s sovereigns since 1837. By 12.45pm please make your own way to Bullied Way in Victoria for the Windsor Castle tour departing at 1:00pm. Departing from central London, Your driver will take you straight to Windsor Castle for an extended visit at the historical site. Steeped in history, Windsor Castle perches proudly on a lush wooded hill overlooking the Thames. Dating back to Norman times, with sweeping landscaped gardens and round tower, it’s easy to see why it’s the King’s favourite weekend residence. This tour is unescorted.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Meet your tour representative in Victoria, London. They will escort you to Buckingham Palace (10 min walk), special timed entry ensures a breath-taking visit to the official residence of Britain’s sovereigns since 1837. Open for just 8 weeks a year, viewing the State rooms is an opportunity not to be missed! Marvel at the splendour of the rooms, used on official occasions by The King to entertain her guests. Be dazzled by the beautiful ballroom and throne room, before ending your royal tour with a walk through the stunning South Garden. At 1:30pm make your own way to the original meeting point in Victoria for the Windsor Castle tour departing at 1:45pm.
Departing from Central London, your driver will take you straight to Windsor Castle for an extended visit. Upon arrival at Windsor Castle audio guides are available in different languages. Steeped in history, Windsor Castle perches proudly on a lush wooded hill overlooking the Thames. Dating back to Norman times, with sweeping landscaped gardens and turreted Round Tower, it’s easy to see why it’s the King’s favourite weekend residence. Enjoy a fascinating through–the–keyhole peek at the lavish State Apartments, home to priceless artworks by Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci, and visit St. George’s Chapel, the atmospheric final resting place of former monarchs including Henry VIII. You can visit Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House, a truly incredible structure complete with working lifts, running water, electricity, and wine bottles, all in miniature! This tour finishes at approximately 5:30pm in Kensington. Please note: this tour is unescorted
Visit St. George’s Chapel, the atmospheric final resting place of former monarchs including Henry VIII. You can visit Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House, a truly incredible structure complete with working lifts, running water, electricity, and wine bottles, all in miniature! Please note: St. George’s Chapel is closed for visitors on Sundays.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Once booked, this tour cannot be cancelled
- You must meet the Golden Tours representative outside King's Gallery to be able to enter Buckingham Palace.
- To join the Windsor Castle tour you must go to Bus Stop 1 Bulleid Way in Victoria.
- St. George’s Chapel is also closed to visitors on Sundays as services are held throughout the day. Worshippers are welcome to attend the services.
- During peak periods, additional vehicles without Wi-Fi may be used.
- Buckingham Palace tickets purchased from Golden Tours cannot be converted into a 1-Year Pass.
- For safety reasons, pushchairs are not permitted in the State Rooms. They must be checked in and reclaimed at the exit. Baby-carriers are available for loan.
- A one-way system operates along the entire visitor route for safety reasons.
- Please note: the tour itinerary and order may change.
- Clients that require mobility access must book directly with Buckingham Palace on (+44) (0)303 123 7324
- Use of mobile phones are permitted in the Palace garden. Mobile phones must be switched off elsewhere on the visitor route.
- 25 and 26 December – Castle completely closed.
- Photography is not permitted inside Buckingham Palace.
- Clients that require mobility access must book directly with Buckingham Palace.
- Our vehicles are modern, comfortable, and kept to the highest standards of cleanliness, including a deep clean every day.
- Windsor Castle is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. A walking tour of the town will take place instead
Reviews(15)
We had a wonderful experience on this tour of England. Our driver, Charles, was very professional, punctual, and always drove very safely, making the trip very comfortable. Our guide, Pedrito, was exceptional: very kind, attentive, fun, and with great knowledge of the history and places we visited. He was always willing to answer our questions and ensure that everyone enjoyed the experience. Without a doubt, I recommend this tour 100%. Thank you, Charles and Pedrito, for making our trip an unforgettable memory! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you for your wonderful review! We are delighted to hear you had such a memorable experience exploring England with us. It is great to know that Charles provided safe and comfortable travel throughout the journey, and that Pedrito’s friendliness, attention, and deep knowledge of history helped make the tour so enjoyable. We will be sure to pass your kind words on to them both. Thank you for your recommendation, and we hope to welcome you on another tour soon!
The tour guide is knowledgeable, drive is smooth
Thank you for your lovely review. We are delighted to hear you had a great experience and that the tour guide was knowledgeable and the journey was smooth throughout. Thank you for choosing Golden Tours, and we hope to welcome you again soon.
Great experience on the tour, The guide Armando is good and entertained us all
Thank you for your great review! We’re delighted you enjoyed the tour and that Armando helped make the experience entertaining. We really appreciate your feedback and hope to see you again soon!
I had a wonderful time on this tour. Tish was an exceptional guide…knowledgeable, engaging, and very personable. The tour was both informative and enjoyable, and I would gladly take it again on my next visit to London.
Thank you for your fantastic review! We’re thrilled to hear that Tish made your tour both informative and enjoyable with her knowledge, engaging style, and personable approach. It’s wonderful to know you’d happily take the tour again on your next visit to London. We look forward to welcoming you back soon!
Disorganized. Guide late. Uninformed. Poor guidance to second part. Missed it entirely. Could not find meeting point. Don’t bother with this group. Just go on your own buying tickets upon arrival. Book your own transportation. It was a waste of good money. Their service is rated zero in my book. Advise against using them.
We’re very sorry to hear about your disappointing experience and apologise for the inconvenience you encountered. The voucher provided does include all the necessary instructions for the tour, but if anything was unclear, we completely understand your frustration. If you’d like us to look into this further, please don’t hesitate to contact us at customerservices@goldentours.com and our team will be happy to investigate.
The visits themselves went well, were the q expected, maybe the castle of Windsor larger and better q the expected. The problem was with the driver who took us and brought us from Windsor, arrived in Windsor and literally unleashed running from the truck park to the entrance of the castle with everyone trying to follow him to not get lost, a group of several old people and a lady in a wheelchair! And hundreds of people on the street blocking us through... Did not give us the only truly important information: that the chapel of St George closes 45m before the royal rooms and House of dolls. When I made him this observation said q also didn't know. Extraordinary. The duration of the visit (less than 3h since it would be from 14-17 but there is still q count on the routes to and from the truck park) is very short to see the 3 attractions (exterior castle and royal accommodation, doll house and chapel) and there is q make choices even more q there is always a line for the House of the dolls. I chose to see the chapel at the expense of the doll house and when I got to the entrance it was already closed. With the time I lost to confirm this fact, plus the journey time up there and in line, I would no longer have time for the House of the Dolls. I ended up not seeing the two, and I could have seen one of them, or go first to the chapel or have seen the doll house immediately before or after the royal rooms. A waste for total lack of training of the escort to Windsor. I know they will tell me that the visit was not accompanied but this basic information could be given during the London Windsor route without any problem and the lack of preparation of the driver to accompany the group to the castle cries to the skies.
Absolutely impressive what our guide Marc knew all about on our Changing of the Guard tour at Buckingham Palace. We were in the right place at all times and so we were able to watch the entire spectacle several times. Thank you very much and gladly again!
We did the Golden Tours Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle self-guided walking tour. Golden Tours provided very specific instructions where to meet for the Buckingham Palace portion of the tour. Once the guide checked us in and the specific entrance time arrived, we could enter, get the audio guide and take the tour at our own pace paying attention to the departure time to Windsor Castle. Golden Tours provided the departure time and address for Windsor Castle and you are left to navigate to the location for departure. This proved somewhat challenging and took longer than was expected. Golden Tours needs to provide a map or precise instructions to get to the bus terminal. We have taken other tours that provided a map and very clear instructions which Golden Tours could learn from. The bus transportation was really good except about half of the seat back monitors were broken and did not work which is a huge negative, but the driver was excellent and got us to and from without incident. We really enjoyed seeing how the Kings/Queens lived throughout history. It should be noted that both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle are huge, so bring your walking shoes.
Fantastic tours! Jim, our tour guide, was wonderful! Self guided tours we had plenty of time to see the sights, highly recommend!!
Dear J.D, Thank you for taking the time to leave this great review! We are pleased to hear you enjoyed the tour. Wishing you all the best. Sincerely, Golden Tours
Jim gave us many insights and historical features of the Royals, their homes and English culture. Very enjoyable.
