Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle: Still Working, Still Worth the Trip

Windsor Castle is not a ruin or a museum in the conventional sense. It is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, and the Royal Family uses it regularly, which creates a planning headache visitors often underestimate. The State Apartments close when the King is in residence, which happens without much advance notice. Check the official Royal Collection Trust website the day before you visit, not a week before.

Getting There

Thirty-five minutes by train from London Paddington with a change at Slough, or forty minutes direct from London Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside. The Waterloo route is marginally more convenient as it deposits you slightly closer to the castle. Return train tickets from London run around GBP 12 to 15 depending on time of day. There is no realistic need to drive; parking in Windsor town centre costs roughly GBP 4 per hour and the roads into town from the M4 are frequently congested on weekends.

What to See Inside

The State Apartments are the headline attraction. The rooms are genuinely impressive in scale, decorated with paintings from the Royal Collection including works by Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and Canaletto. The Grand Reception Room is a theatrical piece of 19th-century gilded excess that is worth seeing even if that sort of thing is not usually your preference.

St George’s Chapel is architecturally the best thing in the complex. Built in the late 15th century in Perpendicular Gothic style, it contains the tombs of ten monarchs including Henry VIII and George VI. The wooden choir stalls with their heraldic banners above are specific and moving in a way that the more general grandeur of the apartments is not. The chapel closes on Sundays to general visitors before 2pm because services are held; plan accordingly.

Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House sounds like it should be for children. It is not really for children. Built in the 1920s to 1:12 scale by architect Edwin Lutyens, it has running hot and cold water, working lifts, and miniature books written specifically for it by authors including Rudyard Kipling. It is genuinely strange and meticulous and most adults find it more interesting than they expected.

What You Might Miss

The Long Walk, the three-mile straight avenue stretching south from the castle towards the Copper Horse statue of George III, is free and open daily. Most visitors turn around after a few hundred metres. If you walk the whole thing, the view back toward the castle from the statue is the best photograph you will take in Windsor, far better than anything from the town side.

Windsor Great Park covers around 5,000 acres. The Savill Garden within it charges a separate entry (around GBP 16) and is worth it in spring when the rhododendrons are flowering. Valley Gardens, a short walk from Savill, is free and less visited.

Changing the Guard

The ceremony happens at 11am, typically on alternating days but the schedule varies. Check the castle website for the current month. The key viewing spot is on Castle Hill in front of the Henry VIII Gate. Arrive by 10:30am to get a reasonable position; by 11:05am the crowds behind you will be four or five deep. The ceremony itself lasts around forty-five minutes.

Where to Eat

The Two Brewers on Park Street is a proper pub with low ceilings and reasonable food, reliably less hectic than the tourist-trap restaurants directly below the castle walls. A main course runs GBP 14 to 18.

Bel and The Dragon on Thames Street is more upscale, in a converted 15th-century building, with a menu that leans toward English classics done well. The bill reflects the real estate.

For lunch on a budget, Eton High Street (a ten-minute walk across Windsor Bridge) has a Waitrose and several independent sandwich shops that cost half what the Windsor town centre restaurants charge for approximately the same thing.

The Fat Duck by Heston Blumenthal is in nearby Bray, not Windsor, and requires booking months ahead. Worth mentioning only to prevent confusion.

Practical Notes

  • Adult admission to Windsor Castle is GBP 30 as of 2024. Buy online in advance; the queue to buy on the day can take twenty minutes.
  • Wear comfortable shoes. The castle grounds involve significant walking, and the cobblestones in the lower ward are uneven.
  • Photography is allowed in most areas; tripods are not.
  • The castle shop is surprisingly well-stocked with items that are not cheap tat, if you are looking for a specific souvenir.

The single most common mistake is treating Windsor as a half-day trip from London and arriving at 1pm. Give it a full day. St George’s Chapel alone justifies the journey.