Inside the Houses of Parliament
Fifteen stops, about ninety minutes of walking, and five rooms that do almost all of the work. This is what is behind the door, in the order you meet it.
The route, stop by stop, with realistic minutes
Every visit — the official audio tour, the official guided tour, the free tour a UK resident books through their MP, and the guided trips sold by operators — follows essentially the same line through the building. The order is set by the architecture: you come in at the medieval end and walk towards the modern chambers.
| Stop | What it is | Typical time | Photographs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westminster Hall | The surviving medieval hall of 1097, roofed 1393–1402 | 12–15 min | Allowed |
| St Stephen's Hall | The site of the old Commons chamber, now murals and statues | 8–10 min | Allowed |
| Central Lobby | The octagonal crossing where constituents wait for their MP | 8–10 min | No |
| Members' Lobby | The ante-room to the Commons, with its four bronze statues | 5 min | No |
| House of Commons chamber | Green benches, despatch boxes, the two red lines | 15–20 min | No |
| Peers' corridors | Pugin's decorated route between the two houses | 8 min | No |
| House of Lords chamber | The Sovereign's Throne, the Woolsack, the gilded canopy | 15–20 min | No |
| Robing Room and Royal Gallery | The King's route on State Opening day | 10 min | No |
Times are what a comfortable visit takes rather than a schedule; a live guide spends longer in the chambers, a handset lets you linger wherever you like.
Why the tour starts in a medieval hall
The fire of 16 October 1834 destroyed almost all of the old Palace. Westminster Hall survived, along with the Undercroft Chapel, the cloisters and chapter house of St Stephen's and the Jewel Tower, and the new building was designed around them. So the first room you stand in is nine hundred years older than the corridor you leave it by, and the contrast is the point.
The four rooms worth reading about first
Each of these has its own page, because each carries a story a visitor asks about by name. Read whichever one you are going for; the rest will make more sense when you are standing in them.
Westminster Hall: begun in 1097, roofed with an eighteen-metre hammerbeam span between 1393 and 1402, and the room where Thomas More, Guy Fawkes and Charles I were tried.
The House of Commons: destroyed by bombing on 10–11 May 1941, rebuilt by Giles Gilbert Scott and reopened on 26 October 1950. Green benches, and two red lines two sword lengths apart.
The House of Lords: Pugin's most decorated room, with the Sovereign's Throne at one end and the Woolsack in front of it. The Commons met here for nine years after the bombing.
The Elizabeth Tower: ninety-six metres, four dials of 324 opal panes each, a clock that started on 31 May 1859. You see it from outside on every visit; going up is a separate ticket.
What you will not see, and why
The route does not include the Elizabeth Tower, which is sold separately and climbed on foot. It does not include the offices, committee rooms or libraries, which are working spaces. And on a sitting day it does not include the chambers themselves, because the members are in them — which is precisely why tours run on Saturdays and in recess.
Where photographs are allowed
Three places: Westminster Hall, St Stephen's Hall and New Palace Yard. That is why almost every interior photograph of this building shows the same hammerbeam roof or the same murals. Central Lobby, both chambers and the corridors between them are camera-free, and staff will ask you to put a phone away. Sketching, oddly, is fine anywhere.
How long to allow altogether
Ninety minutes inside, twenty minutes for security before it, and a few more to find your meeting point. Two hours door to door is realistic for the official tours; the guided combinations that add Westminster Abbey run to nearly four. If you are pairing this with anything else in Westminster, that is the number to plan around.
Take the official virtual tour before you come
Parliament publishes 360-degree virtual tours of these rooms, free and without booking, at its own virtual tour site. Twenty minutes with those before you travel makes the real visit noticeably better, because you already know which room is which and can spend your time looking rather than orienting.
When you are ready to book, London Parliament Tours sets every bookable way in side by side. Visitor information covers the entrance and the security queue, when Parliament sits has the dates the building opens on a weekday, and accessible visits sets out the step-free route.
Tours that walk this route
The trips that take you along the line described above, from the medieval hall to the two chambers.
