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The largest occupied castle in the world, Windsor Castle has been a royal home for over 900 years, since William the Conqueror chose the site in around 1070 for its commanding position above a bend in the River Thames. Today it's still a working palace, used regularly by King Charles III, and one of the easiest day trips you can take from London.
This guide covers what's actually inside the castle walls, what else there is to do in Windsor, why so many tours pair it with Stonehenge, and the practical question of how to get there.
Windsor Castle
The castle covers 13 acres and dates, in its original form, to the late 11th century. William the Conqueror built it as one of a ring of fortresses guarding the western approach to London, and the basic shape (a Norman motte with two baileys on either side) is still visible from the air. Henry II rebuilt it in stone in the 12th century, Edward III remodelled it as a Gothic palace in the 14th, and successive monarchs have added, demolished, and refurbished pieces of it ever since. The result is a working palace that's also a near-complete history of British architecture across nine centuries.
For visitors there are three main attractions inside the walls: the State Apartments, St George's Chapel, and Queen Mary's Dolls' House.
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The State Apartments The working ceremonial rooms of the castle, used today for state visits and royal banquets. They were extensively redesigned in the early 19th century by the architect Jeffry Wyatville, who was instructed by George IV to make the interiors rival Versailles. The walls carry paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, Canaletto, and Holbein, drawn from the Royal Collection (the largest private art collection in the world, owned by the monarch in trust for the nation). The Waterloo Chamber, the Grand Reception Room, and the Garter Throne Room are the showpieces. A serious fire in 1992 destroyed nine of the principal rooms, including St George's Hall. The five-year restoration that followed is now itself a piece of the castle's history, with the new green oak hammerbeam ceiling in St George's Hall the largest of its kind built in Britain in the 20th century. St George's Chapel The spiritual heart of the castle and one of the great pieces of late Gothic architecture in Europe. Begun in 1475 under Edward IV and completed by Henry VIII in 1528, it's the chapel of the Order of the Garter (the senior order of British chivalry, founded by Edward III in 1348) and the burial place of eleven British monarchs. Henry VIII is buried beneath the choir, in a vault he shares with Jane Seymour and the executed Charles I. The most recent royal burial was Queen Elizabeth II, interred in the King George VI Memorial Chapel in September 2022, alongside Prince Philip. The chapel was also the setting for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. Closed to visitors on Sundays, when services are held throughout the day. Worshippers are welcome to attend. Queen Mary's Dolls' House One of the more unexpected things in the castle. Built between 1921 and 1924 to a 1:12 scale by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens (the same Lutyens who designed New Delhi and the Cenotaph in Whitehall), it's a working miniature country house with electric lights, running water, flushing lavatories, and a wine cellar stocked with real, drinkable wine in tiny bottles. The library contains miniature books written specifically for the project by Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, J.M. Barrie, and other major writers of the day. A serious piece of craftsmanship that takes about 15 minutes to view properly. |
The Changing of the Guard
Windsor has its own Changing of the Guard ceremony, which on most days is more pleasant to watch than the Buckingham Palace version because the crowds are smaller and you can stand much closer. The Windsor Castle Guard change takes place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays (weather permitting, starting at 11am). Always check the official Royal Family schedule before going, as the ceremony is suspended in poor weather and during state events.
The town of Windsor
Most visitors come for the castle and overlook the town, which is a mistake. Windsor itself is a handsome riverside town with cobbled streets, a Victorian railway station that has been converted into a covered shopping arcade, and a long pedestrianised high street running uphill from the river to the castle gates.
The Long Walk is the obvious thing to do if you have a spare hour. It's a three-mile straight avenue running from the south face of the castle to a copper statue of George III on horseback at the end. Laid out by Charles II in the 1680s, the route was originally lined with a double avenue of elm trees. After Dutch Elm Disease devastated the originals, they were replaced in the mid-1940s with the London plane and horse chestnut trees you see today. You don't have to walk the whole thing. Ten minutes down the avenue gives you the view that appears on every Windsor postcard, looking back at the castle.
Just across the river is Eton, home to Eton College, founded by Henry VI in 1440 and one of the most famous schools in the world. The bridge linking the two towns is closed to traffic and makes for a pleasant walk. Eton High Street has bookshops, antique shops, and a sense of unhurried Englishness that has largely vanished from the rest of the southeast.
Why Windsor and Stonehenge are often paired
Windsor sits roughly halfway between London and Stonehenge on the M4 corridor, which is why the two are so often combined into a single day trip. Stonehenge is around 90 miles west of London on Salisbury Plain, and Windsor is 21 miles west, so adding Windsor to a Stonehenge trip costs you very little driving time but doubles the day's interest. You get a 5,000-year-old Neolithic monument and a 1,000-year-old royal palace in the same trip.
The pairing also works thematically. Both are sites of long-standing British significance that have been used and reused across centuries: Stonehenge as a ritual landscape from the Neolithic through the Bronze Age, Windsor as a stronghold and palace from the Norman conquest to the present day. Visiting them on the same day puts five millennia of British history in conversation in a way that no individual site can.
How to visit Windsor from London
Windsor is one of the easiest places to reach from central London. There are three main options.
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Train Two direct routes serve Windsor from central London. From Paddington, take a train to Slough and change for Windsor & Eton Central; total journey time is around 35 minutes. From Waterloo, there's a direct train to Windsor & Eton Riverside, taking around 55 minutes. Both stations are a short walk from the castle gates. Trains run frequently throughout the day. This is the easiest option if you're only visiting Windsor. Self-drive Windsor is a one-hour drive from central London via the M4 in clear traffic, longer at peak times. Parking in the town is well signposted but fills up at weekends. A car gives you the flexibility to combine Windsor with Stonehenge, Hampton Court, or other Thames Valley sites in a single day, but you'll need to plan around castle opening hours and parking. Guided tour If you'd rather not drive yourself, particularly if you want to combine Windsor with Stonehenge in a single day, a guided tour handles the logistics and timings (which matter when sites have specific entry windows). Our Stonehenge and Windsor tour from London is a small-group day trip covering both, with a knowledgeable driver-guide and a more relaxed pace than the large coach operators. |
Frequently asked questions
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How to get to Windsor Castle from London? By train, take the GWR service from Paddington (changing at Slough) or the South Western Railway service from Waterloo (direct to Windsor & Eton Riverside). Both options take 35 to 55 minutes. By car, the M4 takes around an hour. By guided tour, most operators depart central London between 8am and 9am. How far is Windsor Castle from London? Windsor is 21 miles west of central London. By road, allow an hour each way in normal traffic, longer at peak times. Is Windsor Castle open to the public? Yes, with limitations. The castle is open most days but closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays year-round. St George's Chapel is closed to visitors on Sundays. The State Apartments may also close at short notice for state events. Always check the official schedule before booking transport, particularly if your visit hinges on getting inside the castle. Can you visit Windsor and Stonehenge in one day? Yes, comfortably. Windsor sits between London and Stonehenge on the M4, so the geography works in your favour. A typical itinerary departs London around 8am, spends two to three hours at Windsor, drives to Stonehenge for an hour or so on site, and returns to London by early evening. Self-drive or guided tour both work; train is impractical for combining the two in a single day. Best way to visit Windsor from London? For Windsor alone, take the train. It's quick, frequent, and drops you near the castle gates. For Windsor combined with Stonehenge or other sites, a guided tour or hire car is more practical. The mass-market coach operators tend to rush the Windsor portion, so smaller-group tours with longer dwell times are usually the better experience if budget allows. Do you need to book Windsor Castle tickets in advance? Yes, especially in peak season (May to September) and at weekends. Tickets are timed, and walk-up availability is unreliable. Book through the Royal Collection Trust website or, if going on a tour, confirm whether castle entry is included in the tour price. |
Final thoughts
Windsor is unusual among major British heritage sites in being both genuinely historic and still genuinely in use. The castle isn't a museum dressed up as a working palace; it's a working palace that the public is allowed into when it isn't being used. That makes the visit feel different from, say, the Tower of London or Hampton Court. You're walking through rooms where, on some days of the year, banquets are held for visiting heads of state. The art on the walls belongs to the monarch. The flag flies when the King is in residence. For a country whose monarchy is often discussed in abstract terms, Windsor is one of the few places where it remains a tangible, ongoing thing.
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