St Paul's Cathedral Tickets and Tours: How to Visit in 2026

St Paul's is a working cathedral, and sightseeing fits around worship. It's open to visitors Monday to Saturday from 8:30am, usually with last entry at 4pm; the Dome Galleries open at 9:30am, with last entry at 4:15pm. It isn't open for sightseeing on Sundays.

Outside the summer period, the cathedral lists Monday-to-Saturday prices of £27 for adults, £24 for seniors (65+) and students, and £10.50 for children aged 6 to 17. Children up to 5 go free, and there are family tickets. One ticket covers:

• the Cathedral Floor and the Crypt
• the Whispering, Stone and Golden Galleries in the dome
• multimedia guides
• free guided tours on the day, if places are available: a 20-to-30-minute Highlights tour and a roughly 90-minute Cathedral Floor and Crypt tour, booked at the Guiding Desk

Attending a service is free and doesn't need a sightseeing ticket, but services aren't a way to tour the building. Book sightseeing tickets on the cathedral's own site.

For most people, no. The ticket includes multimedia guides and free on-the-day tours, which cover what a first visit needs. A paid tour earns its fee in two situations.

• You want a private guide inside. UK Tours & Activites's private tour includes skip-the-line cathedral and dome tickets and a licensed guide, in English or eight other languages. Longer options add hotel transfers or a City walk to London Bridge and the Tower. It's new on Viator with only a couple of reviews, so treat it as promising rather than proven.
• You want the City's story, not just the cathedral. A walking tour puts St Paul's in context: Roman London, the Great Fire of 1666 and the Blitz. These walks don't include entry, so buy your cathedral ticket separately.

Two highly rated walks cover the City of London on foot. Neither goes inside the cathedral.

• Sandemans Tours: Tower of London to St Paul's. It starts at Tower Hill by the Roman wall and passes the Tower, Tower Bridge, the Monument and Leadenhall Market. Then it heads through the financial heart of the City (the Royal Exchange, the Bank of England, Mansion House and Guildhall) and finishes outside St Paul's. Time your cathedral ticket for just after it ends.
• Historic London Tours: Roman Ruins to Blitz Bombings. The best-reviewed walk here, limited to 15 people aged 13 and up. It runs about 2.5 miles from Tower Hill to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street, covering 2,000 years from Roman Londinium to the Blitz. Its itinerary doesn't list St Paul's as a stop, so book it for the City's history rather than the cathedral.

• The Cathedral Floor. The nave, the quire and the space under the dome, Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece.
• The Dome Galleries. It's 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery, 376 to the Stone Gallery, and 528 in all to the Golden Gallery at the top. There's no lift, and the cathedral advises people with medical conditions, mobility difficulties or a fear of heights or confined spaces not to climb. At busy times, Golden Gallery entry is subject to availability.
• The Crypt. Wren lies under a simple stone with the epitaph "Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you." Nelson's sarcophagus was originally made for Cardinal Wolsey, and Wellington rests in a casket of Cornish granite.

• Worship comes first. No sightseeing on Sundays, and parts of the building can close for services and events. Choral Evensong is free and held most days at 5pm (3pm on Sundays), lasting about 45 minutes.
• Climb early. The galleries open at 9:30am. Do the dome before your legs have done a day of sightseeing.
• Photos. Non-flash personal photos are allowed during sightseeing hours, but not on the Whispering Gallery, in St Dunstan's Chapel or during services. No tripods or selfie sticks.
• Dress and bags. There's no formal dress code, but dress for a place of worship. Bags must be no larger than 45 × 30 × 25cm, and there's no cloakroom.
• Accessibility. The North Transept entrance has ramped access, and a lift serves the Crypt. The dome is stairs only.
• Christmas. The cathedral hadn't published December 2026 sightseeing hours when we checked; look on stpauls.co.uk before visiting in late December.

St Paul's anchors a good City day. Cross the Millennium Bridge, the classic view of the dome, to Tate Modern on the South Bank. Or head east to the Tower of London: our Tower of London tours guide compares early access and Beefeater tours, and our tips for seeing the Crown Jewels without the queue.

For the dome from the water, take a Thames cruise between Westminster and the Tower. Comparing London's great churches? Westminster Abbey is covered in our Westminster tours guide.