Houses of Parliament Opening Hours and Visitor Guide

There are no fixed Houses of Parliament opening hours, because the Palace of Westminster is a working building: the official audio tour page says tours run on Saturdays throughout the year and Monday to Saturday during recess, and the public galleries open for debates on sitting days. Google Maps lists no hours. If you want to go inside with a ticket, my Houses of Parliament tickets page compares the options, and this guide covers when, where and how.

Houses of Parliament Opening Hours

The Houses of Parliament opening hours depend on what you want to do. Tours of the building run on the days below, according to the official audio tour page, and the galleries open for debates on sitting days, according to the official debates page. Google Maps shows no opening hours for the Houses of Parliament, so the official pages are the only source I trust. Today is Saturday 7 November 2026, and I did not check whether Parliament is in recess today, so look at the calendar before you travel.

Day	Tours	Debates in the public galleries
Monday	Recess only	Sitting days
Tuesday	Recess only	Sitting days
Wednesday	Recess only	Sitting days
Thursday	Recess only	Sitting days
Friday	Recess only	Some Fridays
Saturday	Every Saturday of the year	None listed
Sunday	None listed	None listed

The Houses of Parliament opening hours for tours are the times printed on your ticket, and the page does not publish a list of start times. The Vox City Walks listing shows why that matters: one reviewer’s tour moved from 4 pm to 3 pm at the last minute. The official page also warns that tours may be cancelled or routes changed at short notice, so the opening hours of the Houses of Parliament on a given day can differ from the pattern above.

Houses of Parliament London Tour

A Houses of Parliament London tour is the main reason people look up the Houses of Parliament opening hours. The official audio tour page says to allow 90 minutes and lists audio in English, British Sign Language, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and Welsh, plus an English version for children up to age 11. It states that Big Ben access is not included, which matches the Vox City Walks listing. On GetYourGuide the Vox City Walks audio tour lists 2 hours, and the Amigo Tours listing runs from 75 minutes to 4 hours because it adds Westminster Abbey.

Vox City Walks

London Houses of Parliament Ticket & Political Audio Tour

• ★ 4.5 (333 reviews)
• 2 hours
• Free cancellation

My pick: The ticket I'd book for most visitors: reserved entry and an audio guide through both chambers, $41, 4.5 from 333 reviews, free cancellation up to 2 days ahead.

What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say

Included

• ✓ Houses of Parliament reserved entry ticket
• ✓ Houses of Parliament audio guide in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, British Sign Language, Welsh, and Brazilian Portuguese
• ✓ Political London’ audio guide app in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Chinese
• ✓ Host at the meeting point
• ✓ Any applicable fees and taxes

Not included / not suitable

• ✕ Guided tour
• ✕ Headset and mobile device (for Political London audio guide app)
• ✕ Big Ben ticket

Meeting point: Meet your host at the George V Statue, located at Abingdon St, London SW1P 3JY (opposite the Cromwell Green entrance at the Houses of Parliament). Your host will be wearing a dark blue ‘VoxCity’ uniform. Please arrive 10 minutes early if possible. Bring photo ID, and have your ticket downloaded and ready to show Abingdon St, London SW1P 3JY, UK

Languages: English

Duration: 2 hours

Cancellation: Cancel up to 2 days in advance for a full refund

“This was an excellent insight to the workings of parliament. Very well organized and no waiting around. Bought this ad a present fir my husbands 75th birthday and he loved it.” – GetYourGuide review

from

$41

Check availability

Can You Visit the Houses of Parliament for Free?

Yes, if you go to a debate. The official debates page says watching is free for UK residents and overseas visitors, that general debates need no ticket and that on most days you can turn up and wait for entry. There is usually a queue for the public galleries, and the Visitor Assistants can tell you how long it is likely to be. For the Lords, the page says the queue opens an hour before business in the chamber begins. Prime Minister’s Questions needs a ticket, and Ministerial Question Time tickets can be requested in advance.

You hand in bags and phones before entering the galleries, so you cannot photograph or record inside. The galleries are open Monday to Thursday and some Fridays, and the sitting pattern can change at short notice. That makes the free visit a good fit for a weekday and the paid tour a good fit for a Saturday. Check the Houses of Parliament opening hours for your date before you book either.

How to Visit the Houses of Parliament London

To visit the Houses of Parliament in London, check the Houses of Parliament opening hours, then pick the type of visit first, then the day. For a tour, book a time slot on the official ticket page or on GetYourGuide, and arrive at least 20 minutes before it. For a debate, join the queue on a sitting day. For both, plan for airport-style security, which the official site describes for all visitors.

If you book the Vox City Walks listing, bring photo ID and a downloaded ticket, and look for the host in a dark blue VoxCity uniform at the statue of George V. One reviewer said they were not asked for ID, but the listing says to bring it, so I would. If you would rather combine the Abbey and Parliament, the Amigo Tours listing meets outside the Westminster Abbey shop at Dean’s Yard instead.

Houses of Parliament Entrance

The Houses of Parliament entrance for visitors is Cromwell Green, on the west side of the building facing Parliament Square, according to the official debates page. The Vox City Walks meeting point, the statue of George V on Abingdon Street, is opposite it. The Westminster Abbey and Parliament tour does not start here; the guide waits outside the Abbey shop and takes you across afterwards.

The Elizabeth Tower, the home of Big Ben, is a separate visit with its own booking. I keep that on its own page, Big Ben tickets, because the Parliament tickets I compared do not include it.

Best Time to Visit the Houses of Parliament

Within the Houses of Parliament opening hours, the best time to visit the Houses of Parliament is a quiet Saturday for a tour or an early weekday queue for a debate, though I can’t back that with an official crowd chart. What I can show is the weather. Open-Meteo data for 2025 puts London at 3 rainy days in March and April and 16 in November, with about 11 hours of sunshine a day in April and about 4 in November. The tour is indoors, so rain matters mainly for the queue at Cromwell Green and the walk from the station.

Sunset in November is about 4:11 pm, so a late Saturday slot within the Houses of Parliament opening hours ends in the dark, which is nice if you want to walk past the lit tower afterwards. The official audio tour page says seating is limited, so I’d book ahead for Saturdays rather than hoping for a slot on the day.

How to Get to the Houses of Parliament

Westminster Underground station is the closest, about 3 minutes on foot by my estimate from Google Maps coordinates, using a straight line multiplied by 1.3 at 4.8 km/h. St James’s Park station is about 10 minutes, Waterloo about 13, Embankment about 14 and Charing Cross about 16. The Transport for London site has the live status of lines.

From Westminster station you cross to Parliament Square and walk to the west side of the building. Big Ben is about 2 minutes from the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey is across the square, and the London Eye is about 9 minutes over Westminster Bridge. Buckingham Palace is a 20-minute walk through St James’s Park.

What to Know Before You Go

Whatever the Houses of Parliament opening hours on your day, everyone passes airport-style security, and the official audio tour page asks you to arrive at least 20 minutes before your ticket time. The Houses of Parliament opening hours are short on tour days and seating is limited, and tours may be cancelled or routes changed at short notice. Bags and phones are handed in before the public galleries. Photography is restricted in parts of the building, according to one reviewer of the Vox City Walks tour, so ask a member of staff before you take a picture.

The Jubilee Cafe, next to the Jubilee Shop off Westminster Hall, is open to visitors and lists a cream tea, per the official cafe page. I did not find a public afternoon tea booking, because the Terrace Pavilion is described as an event venue, so ask Parliament directly if you want one. For tickets and Saturdays, my every Houses of Parliament ticket I compared page has the full comparison, and the home page lists the other attractions I cover.