VerdictDestinations 🛡️ Independent — no pay-to-rank🔎 Graded for who you are✓ Verified 2026-06-17How we grade → The verdict
Who it's worth it for
Great for
- Families with kids
- Couples
- History & culture buffs
Depends
- Travellers on a budget
- If you've only got a day
- Solo travellers
- Photographers
Worth it for families with kids, couples and history & culture buffs.
Why we say this
Insider secrets & local vibes
Changing the Guard is free, ceremonial and unmistakably British pageantry.
Not independently verified — estimatedYou'll stand in a large crowd straining to see over heads, and the ceremony doesn't run every day.
Not independently verified — estimatedThe grand State Rooms only open for roughly ten weeks in summer, so most of the year there's little to actually enter.
Not independently verified — estimatedWhat it feels like
Reading the room, traveller by traveller
First-timers
A free box-tick of royal ceremony, best combined with a stroll through St James's Park.
With kids
The bands and bearskins entertain briefly, but the long standing wait can lose younger children.
Multigenerational
Easy and free to watch, though arrive early and expect to stand without seating.
Good to know
Before you go
Cost
Free (State Rooms ~£32, summer only)
- Best time
- Arrive about 45 minutes before the ceremony; check the official schedule as days vary.
- Getting there
- Green Park, St James's Park or Victoria Tube, all a short walk.
- Booking
- Free to watch the guard; summer State Rooms are separately ticketed and should be booked ahead.
Alternatives
If it's not your thing, try
Was this helpful?
Make the most of it
Book through our partner — we may earn a commission, and it never changes the verdict.
🛡️ Independent — no pay-to-rank🔎 Graded for who you are✓ Verified 2026-06-17How we grade →