Buckingham Palace

One of the most famous buildings in the entire world is Buckingham Palace.  We visited and toured Buckingham Palace in November of 2024.  I have toured the White House in Washington DC a couple times, and I must say that the splendor of Buckingham Palace definitely trumps the White House - no pun intended!  It is more fancy than the Palace of Versailles, or any other palace that I have ever toured.  We were very lucky to tour at a time when there was very little traffic, and we were the last tour of the night, so we weren't rushed through the tour, and the ropes were down so that we could get close and personal to the artwork and furniture.  We were just told not to sit in the thrones!  :)

We weren't allowed to take any photos inside Buckingham Palace, which was disappointing not to be able to show the world what a beautiful place it is, but I took lots of photos outside, and you can see photos of the interior on their official website here:  Buckingham Palace 

In order to get tickets for our tour, which I very highly recommend, I joined their email list about a year in advance of our trip.  That way I would receive an email as soon as tickets for the winter season went on sale.  Once I received the email that tickets were for sale, I purchased them immediately.  There is not parking at Buckingham Palace, so be careful that you allow enough time to find parking and walk to the entrance.  The tour entrance is at The King's Gallery.  We reserved parking at Q-Park, Victoria, which is a 15 minute walk to the palace.  Their official website is here:  Q-Park  Reserve and pay for your parking ahead of time so that the lot doesn't fill up.  I'd recommend paying for more parking than you think you will need.  You are supposed to arrive at your tour a half hour early, so reserve parking at least an hour before your tour time.

Route from Q-Park Victoria to The King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace

During the summer, standard admission to the Palace is 35 pounds.  A guided tour is 100 pounds.  I very, very highly recommend the guided tour.  I learned so much from the tour guide that I would have totally missed if I'd just wandered around through a few of the rooms.  Our tour guide showed us a secret entrance in one of the rooms that is used by the royal family to move throughout the house.  She said that on occasion, King Charles and Queen Camilla will come and greet unsuspecting tour visitors by sneaking through that door.  We weren't lucky enough to have any surprise visitors during our tour.

Buckingham Palace is located at London SW1A 1AA, United Kingdom.  Without tickets you can go take photos outside the famous gates of Buckingham Palace.  Since tickets to go inside are so expensive, the outside is how most people view Buckingham Palace.  

Buckingham House was built in 1703 as a townhouse for the Duke of Buckingham.  In 1761 King George III acquired it for Queen Charlotte, but it didn't become the official home of the monarchy until 1837.  It had undergone major renovations between that time.  English monarchs who ruled from Buckingham Palace included Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, and Queen Elizabeth II.  Currently Buckingham Palace is under renovations and will be until 2027, so King Charles III lives in the nearby Clarence House instead of Buckingham Palace currently.  

One of the days we were in London, we walked from Big Ben & Westminster to Buckingham Palace along Bird Cage Walk.  We passed through the Australia Gate, which is where Bird Cage Walk crosses Buckingham Palace Road.  On the way back, we walked through St. James Park and then back in the direction of Big Ben to where we'd parked our car across the river. It is not the most direct route to walk through St. James Park, but it is beautiful and you don't want to miss the pink pelicans there!  We walked along the Princess Diana of Wales Memorial Walkway on The Mall when we left Buckingham Palace.  There were a lot of other people walking, sight-seeing, and relaxing.  There was even a little place to buy snacks in the park.  

The walk takes about 30 minutes and is very picturesque

Birdcage Walk towards Buckingham Palace

pink pelicans at St James Park

Street markers

approaching the gates to Buckingham Palace grounds

The Australia Gate is one of the Dominion Gates surrounding the Queen Victoria memorial and was a gift from the people of Australia

ornate lantern on the Australia gate

The Queen Victoria Memorial unveiled in 1911 in honor of Queen Victoria after her death 

The Queen Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace

Heading toward Buckingham Palace

The Buckingham Palace gates

I attempted to take photos of the interior through the bars of the fence

You can watch the changing of the guard on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 11 a.m.

When we went back for our tour, it was dark outside, so we didn't get any photos then.  I wish that I could have taken photos of the amazing tour, but the only photos I took inside the palace were these:

Buckingham Palace has very fancy public restrooms.  While we waited for our tour to begin, we sat together in a room until the tour time was to begin.  We went and used the bathroom before the tour started.  I was very impressed with how nice, and how clean, the public restrooms were.

The Palace was decorated for Christmas, which made the tour even more special.  This Christmas Tree was right outside the gift shop, by where we checked in for our tour.