London Tickets
Kensington Palace

State Apartments Tickets

Included with Kensington Palace tickets

Timings

RECOMMENDED DURATION

3 hours

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Quick overview

  • Access: Included with Kensington Palace Tickets
  • Separate ticket: Not required
  • When you'll see it: Early to midway through the palace route
  • Visit duration: 30–60 mins
  • Best time: Opening hours on weekdays for a quieter experience
  • Restrictions: Large bags, suitcases, and rolling luggage are not permitted inside the palace.
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Kensington Palace State Apartments are included with all valid Kensington Palace Tickets. No separate ticket is needed. They sit near the start of the palace route, and most visitors reach the King’s and Queen’s apartments in the first half of the visit before moving on to exhibitions and the gardens. Book a standard timed-entry ticket with the included audioguide, or use a city pass or combo if Kensington Palace is one stop on a bigger London plan.

How to best experience Kensington Palace State Apartments

Best time to visit

Take the first weekday entry slot, or arrive in the last 90 minutes of the day. Late morning through early afternoon is usually busiest, especially in summer and on school-break dates. Choose the edges of the day if you want clearer sightlines on the staircase paintings and gallery walls.

Timings

How long to spend

Allow 45–60 minutes if you’re moving independently, or 60–75 minutes with the audioguide. That gives you time to stop in the King’s Staircase, King’s Gallery, Cupola Room, and Queen’s rooms without skimming. If you rush, the apartments can feel like a corridor instead of the palace’s main story.

Where it fits in your itinerary

Most visitors reach the State Apartments soon after ticket scan, and they anchor the first half of the indoor route. Plan your freshest attention here, then continue to Victoria’s rooms, temporary displays, and the gardens. Don’t treat them as a quick pass-through on the way elsewhere.

Plan your visit

Crowd patterns

The narrowest pinch points are the staircase, gallery doorways, and smaller chamber entrances. Weekends, holidays, and late-morning arrival windows feel busiest, with slower movement between rooms. When the flow thickens, keep moving once through the route, then pause in the wider rooms to look closely.

What to prioritize if time is short

If you only have 20 minutes, focus on the King’s Staircase, the King’s Gallery, and the Cupola Room, then give 1 careful pass through the Queen’s rooms. These spaces explain the palace’s public image and private rhythm. Skip long label-reading elsewhere, not these rooms.

Common mistakes to avoid

Most visitors look only at furniture height and miss the ceilings, painted walls, and room-to-room sightlines. Look up as soon as you enter, then turn back once in each doorway. Also, don’t arrive carrying bulky luggage, because bag restrictions can slow or disrupt your visit.

Best tickets to experience Kensington Palace State Apartments

Ticket typeWhy choose it
Standard palace entry

Best if the State Apartments are your main focus. Explore the King's and Queen's State Apartments at your own pace while discovering the palace's collections, architecture, and historic interiors.

Combo ticket

Best for pairing the State Apartments with another major London attraction, such as the Tower of London, London Eye, Kew Gardens, or Frameless, while saving on individual admission costs.

3 Palace Pass

Best for visitors planning to explore several London attractions or royal residences. These passes include Kensington Palace as part of a broader sightseeing itinerary, offering flexibility and value.

Afternoon tea experience

Best for those looking to complement their palace visit with a quintessentially British experience. Enjoy a guided walk through Kensington Gardens followed by afternoon tea in a royal setting.

Why it’s worth seeing

The State Apartments are the clearest expression of how Kensington Palace turned royalty into daily theater. Most visitors don’t realize these rooms were designed not just for living, but for being seen — staircase, gallery, doorway, and ceiling all work together to stage rank and access. If you know where to pause, the route stops feeling like a sequence of pretty rooms and starts reading like court politics in architectural form.

The King’s Staircase

Start looking before you reach the top landing. The painted walls and figures on the staircase were designed to flood your approach with court life, so don’t treat it as a passageway. Pause halfway up, then again at the top, and look back down the stairwell to see how the room controls your arrival.

The King’s Gallery and Cupola Room

Move slowly through the long King’s Gallery, where the windows pull your eye toward the gardens while portraits and decoration keep the court story indoors. At the end, stop in the Cupola Room and look up before you look around. Its ceiling and carved detail are easy to miss if you enter talking or following the crowd.

The Queen’s State Apartments

These rooms feel smaller and quieter for a reason. As you move through them, notice how the atmosphere shifts from public display to more private royal life through lower ceilings, closer room proportions, and more intimate furnishing layouts. This is where the palace becomes easier to imagine as a home, not only a ceremonial backdrop.

Historical & cultural significance

The State Apartments were built to project monarchy as much as house it. After William III and Mary II moved to Kensington in 1689, Christopher Wren transformed an earlier mansion into ceremonial rooms that signaled rank, stability, and access at court. Later royal generations, including Queen Victoria, gave the palace a more personal layer, so these rooms now connect public performance with private royal life inside a still-relevant royal estate.

​👉 About Kensington Palace

Notable figures

William III | King and patron

Moved court to Kensington and made the palace a political stage.

View Wikipedia

Mary II | Queen and resident

Favored the more private side of palace life and shaped its domestic character.

View Wikipedia

Sir Christopher Wren | Architect

Reworked the Jacobean house into a Baroque royal residence after 1689.

View Wikipedia

Queen Victoria | Royal resident

Grew up at Kensington, linking the palace’s ceremonial rooms to later personal royal history.

View Wikipedia

Know before you go

  • Open: Wednesday–Sunday, 10am–6pm on most standard opening days.
  • Last entry: 5pm.
  • Closed: Usually Monday and Tuesday, plus December 24–26.
  • Entry system: Timed-entry booking is standard, and you’ll usually choose a 30-minute arrival window.
  • Official site: Check the latest opening calendar before visiting: Historic Royal Palaces – Kensington Palace

Address: Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, London W8 4PX.

  • Nearest metro: High Street Kensington, around a 5–7 minute walk; Queensway, around a 10-minute walk.
  • Bus routes: 70, 94, 148, and 390 stop near the palace approach.
  • Entry point: Use the main visitor entrance on the south side of the palace.
  • Position in route: The State Apartments are reached in the first half of the indoor visit.
  • Direct access: No separate entrance exists; you must enter through Kensington Palace first.
  • Wheelchair access: Public visitor floors are wheelchair accessible, with lift access through the palace.
  • Prams/strollers: The palace route is pram/stroller accessible.
  • Carer policy: Disabled visitors can bring an accompanying carer free of charge.
  • Assistance dogs: Guide dogs are welcome.
  • Low lighting: Many rooms use low-level lighting, which may be difficult for some visitors with visual impairments.
  • Audioguide: Audio guide support includes British Sign Language, and devices are available from the Hub next to the ticket scanning desk.
  • Food and drink: Food, beverages, and alcohol are not allowed inside the palace rooms.
  • Large items: Suitcases, large bags, and rolling luggage are not permitted.
  • Photography: Personal photography is generally allowed unless room signage or a temporary exhibition states otherwise.
  • Audioguide pickup: Physical audioguide handout is first-come, first-served and closes at 3pm.
  • Facilities: Free Wi-Fi, restrooms, and a café are available on-site.

Frequently asked questions about Kensington Palace State Apartments tickets

Yes. Entry to the State Apartments is included with every valid Kensington Palace ticket. No separate ticket exists.

More reads

Kensington Palace Tickets

Plan your visit

Inside Kensington Palace