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How to Get Tickets to the Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace

Where: Buckingham Palace, London, United Kingdom
August 3, 2011 at 1:43 PM | by | Comments (3)


The back of the Palace, facing the Palace Gardens.

A little riddle for you: What costs $30 per person, doesn't allow you to take photographs, and is gold all over? Ding ding ding—the State Rooms at London's Buckingham Palace, which opened last week for their annual round of public tours. Travelers to London are clamoring to get in, not only to tread on the Queen's lush carpets and gawk at the royal family's heirlooms, but also to spend some quality time with Kate Middleton's Alexander McQueen wedding dress, which has pride of place on display in the palace's ballroom.

Tickets are understandably rare for walk-ups—we heard "fully committed" said quite a bit while passing the ushers at the entrance to the visitor's area, so going online for tix is the best route. Here's how to do it:


Ticket? check.

· Go HERE and choose an available day and time of visit.
· If you can manage it, we suggest opting for the final entrance at 4:15pm. It's what we did, and the reason we loved it was because we weren't rushed at all and every time we left a room, we could look back to see it almost completely empty. Sometimes, we enjoyed grand staircases completely to ourselves while the final group moved on.
· Double check that you're buying tickets for the State Rooms, not the Queen's Gallery or the Royal Mews. Those are different things.
· Pay the £17.50 plus £1.25 booking fee, for a total of £18.75 ($30.80).
· Show up a little early for your allotted visit time, in order to pick up your ticket. The visitor's entrance is on Buckingham Palace Road, on the Palace's south side.


Some royal china you can buy from the Palace's gift shop

Do go for the audio tour! It surprisingly didn't suck and was extremely easy to use (and fast forward). Otherwise enjoy, but still do bring your camera because you are allowed to take photos once the tour finishes outside in the Palace Gardens and Cafe.

[Photos: Jaunted]

Comments (3)

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photos

is it just the dress and stuff you can't photograph, or absolutely everything? i want me some facebook pics in buck house.
juliab on August 3, 2011 at 1:51 PM #Permalink

photos

You can't photography ANYTHING inside. Yeah, we overheard a mom complaining that she wanted pics of her four children in front of the throne, but wouldnt the royal family have something to say about that? It's actually nice though; no stopping to take pics and no getting out of people's way for photos. Just moseying around.
JetSetCD on August 3, 2011 at 2:27 PM #Permalink

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I actually don't mind the no photography rule, I think it adds a little something to the whole experience. This still sounds like a great exhibit. Inside they'll also have a replica of the cake and her bouquet, and the tiara the Queen lent Kate. You can check out some more details here http://ow.ly/5WZ42
travelingtara on August 7, 2011 at 12:29 AM #Permalink

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