How Much Do Tickets Cost To Visit The Tower Of London And The Crown Jewels?
Tower of London ticket prices for adults and children, what the ticket covers including the Crown Jewels, how long to allow, and how it compares with Kensington Palace and Hampton Court.
By James Whitfield, London Museums And Travel Writer
The Tower of London charges GBP 37 for a standard adult ticket, GBP 18.50 for children aged 5 to 15, and nothing at all for under-5s. That single ticket includes the Crown Jewels, the White Tower, the medieval palace rooms and the Yeoman Warder talks, with no separate Jewel House charge. Booking platforms list the same entry from $79.93, which bundles extras a door ticket does not. Timed entry is required, so the date and time slot matter as much as the price.
How Much Do Tickets Cost To Visit The Tower Of London And The Crown Jewels?
A standard adult ticket to the Tower of London costs GBP 37 bought at the gate, with children aged 5 to 15 at GBP 18.50 and under-5s free. The Crown Jewels are inside that ticket: there is no separate Jewel House fee and no pay-extra counter at the display. Reseller bundles start from $79.93 and add skip-the-line entry, which the door ticket does not include. Timed entry applies to every ticket type.
The GBP 37 figure is the Tower's own standard adult price, the one you pay at the ticket office on Tower Hill. Like every UK charity-run venue, the Tower also displays a higher Gift Aid price beside the standard one, because it includes a voluntary donation. The standard price is the honest baseline, and it is the number to plan around. Anyone comparing prices across websites should watch for this: some third-party pages quote the Gift Aid figure as if it were the admission price, which makes the Tower look a pound or two more expensive than it actually is.
Children's pricing is simple here. Ages 5 to 15 pay GBP 18.50, which is exactly half the adult rate, and under-5s enter free with no ticket needed. A family of two adults and two school-age children therefore pays two adult tickets plus two child tickets at the gate, a sum worth working out before you queue, because the ticket office does not display family totals prominently. If your group has teenagers, note that 15 is the cutoff: a 16-year-old pays the full adult rate.
The reseller route is a different product, not the same ticket at a markup. The $79.93 from-price on the operator's live listing reflects a timed-entry bundle with mobile ticketing and priority access, rated 4.5 across 1789 reviews. It suits visitors who want a guaranteed slot during peak weeks; the door price suits anyone flexible on timing. The two prices are not interchangeable, and this site never presents one as the other: the GBP figure is what the Tower charges at its own door, the USD figure is what a booking platform charges for its bundle.
| Ticket type | Price at the Tower's own gate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | GBP 37 | Standard price, not the Gift Aid figure |
| Child, 5 to 15 | GBP 18.50 | Half the adult rate |
| Under 5 | Free | No ticket required |
| Reseller bundle | From $79.93 | Timed entry, mobile ticket, rated 4.5 across 1789 reviews |
If you are weighing the Tower against the rest of a London week, the headline fact on London Museums is that 20 of the 48 museums on this site cost nothing to enter. The Tower is not one of them, and it is also one of the few where the paid experience genuinely justifies the gap. The British Museum, the National Gallery, Tate Modern and the Imperial War Museum all cost nothing, so a visitor can spend one paid day at the Tower and fill every other day free.
What Does The Tower Of London Ticket Actually Include?
One Tower of London ticket covers the whole site: the Crown Jewels in the Jewel House, the White Tower's royal armouries, the Bloody Tower, the medieval palace interiors, the famous ravens and the Yeoman Warder tours, all with no additional charges inside. Only the gift shops and food kiosks take extra money. The ticket is a full-site pass, not a highlights pass.
The inclusion most visitors ask about is the Crown Jewels. They are inside the standard ticket, which is the whole point of the question. There is no upgrade, no premium Jewel House time slot and no separate queue fee. A dedicated article on whether you pay extra to see the Crown Jewels walks through the display itself, but the short version is that the GBP 37 door price already covers it. The regalia on show include the coronation crowns, the sceptres and the orbs used in British coronation ceremonies, all still used by a reigning monarchy, which is what separates this collection from every other jewellery display in Europe.
The Yeoman Warder tours, included with entry, are the best free commentary in the building. The warders, all former senior military with long service records, walk groups through the execution site, the Traitors' Gate story and the raven legend with a dry delivery you cannot book separately. Turning up and joining the next tour is all it takes. Tour times are posted at the site, and on busy days the groups fill quickly, so arriving at the meeting point ahead of the start is the only tactic needed.
The White Tower holds the Royal Armouries collection, including Henry VIII's tournament armour, and the medieval palace rooms on the ground floor show where kings actually slept when the Tower was a working residence rather than a prison. The Bloody Tower, the Beauchamp Tower graffiti carved by imprisoned nobles and the Green Tower scaffold site round out the circuit. None of these carry a surcharge, and none require a separate booking once you are through the gates.
What the ticket does not cover is worth stating plainly. Food inside the walls is priced for a captive audience, the gift shops are extensive and expensive, and there is no cloakroom service worth relying on for large luggage. Visitors carrying suitcases between hotels should plan around that, because the Tower is a walking site with stairs, cobbles and narrow passages throughout.
How Long Should You Allow For A Tower Of London Visit?
Most visitors need two to three hours inside the Tower of London, with the Crown Jewels queue the single biggest variable in that estimate, and the full circuit of towers, walls and exhibitions filling the rest. A rushed visit covers the Jewels and little else, which wastes most of the ticket. Anyone wanting the Yeoman Warder tour plus the White Tower should treat three hours as the floor, not the ceiling.
The Crown Jewels queue is the pacing decision. At opening and late afternoon it can be a short walk-through; at midday in summer it stretches well past the Jewel House door, and the moving walkway inside limits how long anyone can linger at the regalia anyway. Visitors who want a quiet view aim for the first entry slot of the day. The display is designed for flow rather than contemplation, so even a quiet visit moves briskly.
The rest of the site rewards slowness. The walls walk alone, with its views over Tower Bridge and the Thames, takes a meaningful chunk of any visit without stopping, and the Yeoman Warder tour adds a scheduled block of its own. Families with children in the 5 to 15 bracket, who are paying GBP 18.50 each, usually get their money's worth from three hours or more because the armouries and the ravens hold attention in a way that picture galleries do not.
The Tower's own operator publishes suggested visit lengths and opening details on its official pages, and it is worth checking those before a peak-season trip because the last entry slot sits well before the published closing time. A visitor who arrives expecting a full afternoon sometimes finds the final slots already gone. This is the practical argument for booking a timed slot in advance rather than turning up on spec.
Planning a wider royal-palace day? The Tower sits by Tower Hill station, a short walk from the entrance, which makes it easy to pair with Greenwich downstream or the Churchill War Rooms across the river. The three-day London museum itinerary slots the Tower into day one for exactly this reason: it is the anchor attraction, and everything around it can flex.
Is It Cheaper To Buy Tower Of London Tickets Online?
Buying online through the Tower's own operator is usually slightly cheaper than the gate price, and reseller bundles from $79.93 cost more but add skip-the-line entry and guaranteed timed slots. The trade-off is between the lowest price and the least waiting. In peak summer weeks the reseller bundle saves more time than the direct route saves money.
The direct route means the operator's own ticketing page, where advance online prices sit below the walk-up GBP 37 and let you pick a timed slot. The catch is delivery and flexibility: door tickets can be bought same-day, while popular online slots for summer weekends sell out ahead. A fuller breakdown of whether Tower of London tickets are cheaper online compares the two routes line by line, including the child pricing on each.
The reseller route costs more per person but removes the queueing risk entirely. The from-price of $79.93 on the live listing reflects that guarantee, and the 4.5 rating across 1789 reviews suggests most buyers consider it fair. Families should note the child bundle price appears on the listing rather than being a fixed half-rate, so check it there before comparing totals. The same logic applies to cancellation: reseller listings typically carry free-cancellation terms up to a stated cutoff, which the operator's own tickets do not always match, so read the terms on whichever listing you are actually buying from.
One more comparison worth making before you buy: multi-attraction passes. The London Pass includes the Tower among its venues, and for visitors planning three or more paid attractions in a week it can undercut buying every ticket separately. The London Pass value guide runs the numbers against a realistic itinerary, and the London Pass versus other passes comparison covers the alternatives. For a one-attraction visit, none of them beat a single direct ticket.
How Does The Tower Of London Compare With Other Royal Palaces?
The Tower of London at GBP 37 is the most expensive of the three great royal-palace tickets in and near London: Kensington Palace costs GBP 24.7 for adults and Hampton Court Palace costs GBP 29. It is also the only one whose ticket includes a working crown-jewel display, which is why it anchors most itineraries despite the higher price.
Kensington Palace, in Kensington Gardens, is the gentler visit: state apartments, Diana's fashion collection and a palace still partly home to royals, with adult tickets at GBP 24.7 and children aged 5 to 15 at GBP 12.40. The reseller bundle there starts from $88.05, rated 4.3 across 33 reviews. It suits visitors who want interiors and gardens rather than armour and executions, and it pairs naturally with the free V&A, Science Museum and Natural History Museum across the park, which makes it the cheaper palace day out overall.
Hampton Court Palace, out in Richmond upon Thames, is the Tower's closest rival for a full day. Henry VIII's kitchens, the Chapel Royal and the famous hedge maze come with an adult ticket of GBP 29, children aged 5 to 15 at GBP 14.50 off-peak or GBP 16 at peak times, and under-5s free. Its reseller price is on the listing rather than quoted here. Hampton Court needs the longest visit of the three and rewards a whole-day itinerary, while the Tower delivers its impact in a dense half-day.
| Palace | Adult price | Child price | Reseller from-price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tower of London | GBP 37 | GBP 18.50 (5-15) | $79.93 | 4.5 across 1789 reviews |
| Hampton Court Palace | GBP 29 | GBP 14.50 off-peak, GBP 16 peak (5-15) | Price on the listing | Not quoted |
| Kensington Palace | GBP 24.7 | GBP 12.40 (5-15) | $88.05 | 4.3 across 33 reviews |
For a deeper comparison of the pass options, is the London Pass worth it prices the Tower against multi-venue passes, and the day trips from London palaces guide covers Hampton Court and Windsor as out-of-town options. Windsor Castle itself charges GBP 32 for adults, for context, with children aged 5 to 17 at GBP 16 advance or GBP 18 on the day. Windsor is a genuine half-day trip rather than a London stop, so the fair comparison for most visitors is Tower versus Hampton Court, and the deciding factor is usually whether the Crown Jewels matter more than Henry VIII's kitchens.
Family budgets shift the comparison more than the headline prices suggest. A two-adult, two-child household pays GBP 111 at the Tower, GBP 87 at Hampton Court off-peak, and GBP 74.2 at Kensington, so the gap between the priciest and cheapest palace day widens to nearly GBP 37 once children are counted. Kensington's child threshold starts at age 5, while Windsor's runs to 17, which matters for families with teenagers: a 16-year-old is still charged at Windsor but walks in free at the other two palaces.
Timing also affects value. Hampton Court's peak child rate of GBP 16 applies on weekends and school holidays, so a weekday off-peak visit saves GBP 1.50 per child before any reseller discount. At the Tower, the reseller from-price of $79.93 undercuts the walk-up adult ticket, and its 4.5 rating across 1789 reviews is the strongest of the three, which helps justify the premium for visitors who only have time for one palace.
What Else Should You Know Before Booking?
The Tower of London requires timed entry for every ticket, so arriving with only a vague plan risks a long wait for the next available slot. Under-5s are free, the Crown Jewels close earlier than the rest of the site, and the best value comes from the first slot of the day. No ticket type changes what you see inside.
Timed entry is the operational detail that catches walk-ups. The Tower's operator manages flow through fixed slots, and the official Tower of London pages publish the slot calendar with live availability. Booking a slot in advance, direct or through a reseller, converts the visit from a queue into a schedule. On summer weekends the difference between the two experiences is the difference between a planned day and a reshuffled one.
The Crown Jewels themselves deserve the first-slot strategy more than any other part of the site. The Jewel House draws the day's heaviest footfall, and the palace operator's own guidance recommends early arrival for the regalia in peak season. Everything else, from the ravens to the walls, stays quiet by comparison. Visitors who take the first slot typically finish the Jewels before the mid-morning crowd builds, then have the rest of the site to themselves in reverse order.
Weather matters more here than at an indoor museum. The Tower is mostly open-air: the walls, the scaffold site, the raven enclosures and the queues are all outside, and the cobbles do not forgive light shoes in rain. The rainy day London museums guide is the right fallback if the forecast turns, because the free indoor collections stay comfortable whatever the sky does. The Tower in bad weather is still visitable, just less pleasant.
One last planning note: the Tower is a full-price attraction in a city where the national museums are free, so pair it wisely. The National Maritime Museum, the Imperial War Museum and the Wallace Collection all cost nothing, which means one Tower ticket plus a free museum makes a balanced two-stop day rather than an expensive one. That framing is the core budget insight this site exists to deliver: London's paid attractions are excellent, and its free ones are world-class, and a good itinerary uses both.
Common Questions About Tower Of London Tickets
How much do tickets cost to visit the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels?
A standard adult ticket costs GBP 37 at the gate, children aged 5 to 15 pay GBP 18.50, and under-5s enter free. The Crown Jewels are included in that ticket with no extra charge. Reseller bundles with timed entry start from $79.93.
Do you have to pay extra to see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London?
No. The Crown Jewels are included in the standard Tower of London admission ticket. There is no separate Jewel House ticket, no upgrade and no premium time slot.
Is it cheaper to buy Tower of London tickets online?
Usually, yes. Advance online prices through the operator's own page sit slightly below the GBP 37 walk-up rate, though reseller bundles cost more because they add skip-the-line entry and guaranteed slots.
How long does a visit to the Tower of London take?
Plan on two to three hours, with the Crown Jewels queue the biggest variable. The walls, White Tower, Yeoman Warder tours and other towers fill the rest of the visit.
Can children enter the Tower of London for free?
Children under 5 enter free. Children aged 5 to 15 pay GBP 18.50 at the gate, exactly half the adult rate.
Is the Tower of London more expensive than Hampton Court Palace?
Yes. The Tower charges GBP 37 for adults against Hampton Court's GBP 29, though the Tower's ticket includes the Crown Jewels, which Hampton Court has no equivalent of.