Visiting the Houses of Parliament
One entrance, one security queue and two opening patterns that depend on whether the Commons is sitting. Everything below is what changes a visit rather than what decorates it.
Where you go in: the Cromwell Green entrance
Every visitor enters at Cromwell Green, on St Margaret Street, postcode SW1A 0AA. It is the gated ramp on the western side of the building, below the statue of Oliver Cromwell, and it is step-free with a handrail on both sides and enough width for a motorised wheelchair. Westminster Underground station sits directly across the road on the Jubilee, Circle and District lines. Take Exit 4 for Parliament Square, where most guided trips gather, and Exit 2 for Victoria Embankment if your meeting point is the Boadicea statue.
The George V statue on Abingdon Street, opposite the entrance, is where the timed entry ticket meets its host. Give yourself ten minutes to find it; Abingdon Street is the continuation of St Margaret Street heading south, and the statue stands on the garden side.
Security: what the queue is really like
Screening is airport style. Everyone and everything goes through an x-ray, and the published average wait is up to thirty minutes, rising to around forty-five on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons when the building is at its busiest. Arrive twenty minutes before your slot and you will not be rushed.
Bags larger than 60 by 40 centimetres are refused and there is no storage on site, so if you are visiting between trains use a left-luggage office at the mainline station. Bring photo identification. Once through, you are given a visitor badge to wear for the whole visit.
When the building is open, and why it moves
This is not a museum with fixed hours. Tours run on Saturdays throughout the year, and Monday to Saturday only when the Commons is in recess and the chambers are empty. That makes the parliamentary calendar the opening-hours page for this building, and it is the single most common reason a planned visit does not happen.
In 2026 the recess windows are 17 July to 31 August, 16 September to 11 October, and 18 December to 3 January 2027. Outside those, Saturday is your day. The full calendar, including what happens on a sitting Wednesday, is on when Parliament sits.
What a visit costs
Parliament sells its own tickets and so do the operators listed here, and the two are not the same product. The building's audio tour starts at £31 for an adult and admits one child free with every full-paying adult. Its guided tour, led by an in-house guide, is £34. Among the bookable trips, the cheapest way through the door is $42 with a host at the meeting point and a second audio walk outside, and the most thorough is $165 with a Blue Badge guide in both chambers and Westminster Abbey included.
| Way in | Adult price | Length | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official audio tour | from £31, one child free per adult | 90 minutes | Handset, 12 languages plus BSL |
| Official guided tour | £34 adult | 90 minutes | In-house guide |
| Free tour via your MP | no charge, UK residents | about 75 minutes | In-house guide |
| Public gallery | no charge, everyone | as long as you like | None — you watch a debate |
| Listed entry ticket | from $42 | 2 hours inside | Audio, 9 languages |
| Listed guided combination | from $75 | up to 4 hours | Live guide, both buildings |
Official prices are set by Parliament and were checked in August 2026; the listed fares are the operators' own starting prices and move with demand.
Ready to pick a way in?
Some of the bookable trips go through the door and the rest see the building from the street. The comparison sets them side by side on hours inside, guide, group cap and fare.
What you can and cannot take photographs of
Photography is allowed in Westminster Hall, St Stephen's Hall and New Palace Yard, and nowhere else. The chambers, Central Lobby and the corridors between them are camera-free on official and listed tours alike. Put the phone away at the top of the Westminster Hall steps and you will not be corrected. Sketching is permitted throughout, which surprises people.
Getting the most out of two hours
The standard route runs Westminster Hall, St Stephen's Hall, Central Lobby, the House of Lords and then the House of Commons, with about fifteen stops in total. If you have a live guide, ask your questions in Westminster Hall where there is room to stand and the acoustics are kind. If you have a handset, slow down in the Lords chamber: it is the most decorated room in the building and the audio runs shorter than the room deserves.
Bring a layer. The stone halls hold their temperature and are cool even in August, while the queue outside is in full sun. Comfortable shoes matter more than anything you will wear.
If you are travelling with a wheelchair or a pushchair
Most of the route is step-free, with a lift bypassing the steps at either end of St Stephen's Hall, and wheelchairs can be borrowed on the day. Thirty induction loops and twelve audio devices carrying British Sign Language and subtitles are held for visitors. Pushchairs are a different question: several listed trips do not admit them, so check before booking. The detail, tour by tour, is on accessible visits.
Nearby, and worth the walk
Westminster Abbey is ninety seconds across Parliament Square and the Churchill War Rooms are five minutes up King Charles Street. Both take two hours or more of their own, which is why a Westminster day usually means two buildings rather than three. If you are choosing, the Parliament or Westminster Abbey comparison lays out what each morning actually looks like.
For what is inside each room on the route, London Parliament Tours keeps a section-by-section walk-through at what you actually see, and the history of the Palace covers how a medieval hall ended up inside a Victorian building.