Home

Welcome to SM4!

Worship & Music

St Paul’s Cathedral has been here for over 1,400 years. It has been built and rebuilt five times, and always its main purpose has been as a place of worship and prayer.

Visit Us

St Paul's, with its world-famous dome, is an iconic feature of the London skyline. Step inside and you can enjoy the Cathedral's awe-inspiring interior, and uncover fascinating stories about its history.

Learning & Faith

Lifelong learning is a core part of the our work, delivered through a variety of events by St Paul's Institute, and the Cathedral's Adult Learning and Schools & Family Learning departments.

History & Collections

For more than 1,400 years, a Cathedral dedicated to St Paul has stood at the highest point in the City. The present Cathedral is the masterpiece of Britain's most famous architect Sir Christopher Wren.

Support Us

Behind the scenes, the cost of caring for St Paul's and continuing to deliver our central ministry and work is enormous and the generosity of our supporters is critical.

Venue Bookings

Widely considered to be one of the world’s most beautiful buildings and a powerful symbol of the splendour of London, St Paul’s Cathedral is a breathtaking events venue.

Today at the Cathedral View More

Group Visits

Groups will find visiting St Paul’s an easy and rewarding experience which offers a unique presentation of the faith, architecture and history of the nation’s church.

In line with the national lockdown in England, the Cathedral is currently closed for sightseeing visits. We hope to reopen for sightseeing when it is safe to do so. This will be no earlier than 17th May 2021 as per government guidelines.
More information and COVID-19 updates can be found here.

Sightseeing admission includes access to all of the Cathedral Floor, Crypt and the Stone Gallery. Multimedia guides in 9 languages are included. Most visitors use these extremely popular and easy to use devices on a self-guided basis.

Group tickets in quantities of 10-30 tickets are available again. Group organisers must ensure that they know and keep a record of the name and contact details for each member of their group should this be required for the NHS Test and Trace service. From 2 December, in line with the London COVID alert level, group organisers must ensure each party booking within their group is from one household or support bubble. Each party must enter the Cathedral separately. Group organisers must make their group members know that from arrival please respect 2 metre physical distancing (approximately 4 Cathedral floor tiles) between their household and other visitors, including others within their party, and that face coverings are now mandatory in places of worship. We may ask that commercial tour operators provide us with a copy of their COVID-19 risk assessment before visiting

Guiding (external guides) - We are now able to welcome back guides to the Cathedral. London Blue Badge Guides and City of London Guides (who have passed the St Paul's Cathedral Accredited Course) are very welcome. These guides, as well as teachers or lecturers are permitted to guide inside the Cathedral, up to a maximum total tour size of 30 people. From 2 December, in line with the London COVID alert level, guides must ensure each party within their tour is from one household or support bubble. Guides must take additional care that they and their tour members follow 2 metre physical distancing between households and other visitors, including others within the tour, and not stop to deliver commentary in any area that impedes other visitors. Face coverings are now mandatory in places of worship but guides must take further mitigating measures to ensure that they do not raise their voice above normal conversational levels. Measures may include a further reduction in the number of people each guide communicates to; bringing wireless audio devices such as Vox or Whisper etc, or using the Cathedral’s in-house version (the Group Tour System). We may ask that guides provide us with a copy of their COVID-19 risk assessment before visiting.

Please note that the Whispering Gallery remains closed to the public until further notice. The Golden Gallery is currently closed due to current physical distancing guidelines. The Stone Gallery is open.

London Blue Badge Guides and City of London Guides (who have passed the St Paul's Cathedral Accredited Course) are very welcome – these guides, as well as teachers or lecturers are permitted to guide their groups inside the cathedral.

Group leaders or guides with different qualifications may use our free Group Tour System equipment to keep their group together and share our audio commentary along with their own comments or instructions.

English speaking groups (10+) could supplement a visit by pre-booking a Group Guided Tour led by our St Paul’s guides. A small additional charge per person applies. *we are not yet offering our Group Guided Tours but are working on bringing these back soon*

Prices and free place policy:

2021 group (10+) admission rates. Save 15% off walk-up individual tickets.

Adult (18yrs+)	£17.00
Concession (student 18yrs+ / senior 60yrs+)	£15.00
Child (6-17yrs)	£7.20
Complimentary entry can be granted to a disabled visitor and an accompanying carer or necessary companion. Please request these tickets on arrival.

If eligible, a free place policy will follow one of two scenarios:

One free place is offered per group of at least 10 paying visitors and can be assigned to a group organiser / leader / driver.
For groups of children, one free supervising adult place is granted per ten paying children.

The two scenarios cannot be combined. Blue Badge and City of London guides always receive free entry and do not need a free place assigned by the free place policy.

Book a group visit online.

The Cathedral is currently closed for sightseeing and dated tickets are unavailable. When we re-open we strongly recommend that you pre-book your group tickets to guarantee entry. Please read our section keeping your visit safe and please note the information in that section overrides the general information below.

Frequently asked questions:

What is included in a visit?

Admission to St Paul’s includes access to the Cathedral Floor and Crypt as well as the Dome Galleries. Multimedia guides or our Group Tour System are included. Visitors will also be able to view any short or long term art installations or exhibitions within the cathedral.

Do we need to pre-book a group visit?

No. St Paul’s Cathedral does not operate timed arrival slots and we do not sell out of tickets. Group visits (10+) for admission only can easily be paid on arrival by credit / debit card or in cash (Pounds Sterling only). But do check our calendar for any variations to our opening hours before visiting. Please note that opening hours can change so do check the calendar a few times as we only populate the forthcoming 3-4 months of opening hour variations.

However we do recommend that group organisers use our Online Group Bookings so as to receive your tickets in advance as E-tickets. This saves time on arrival as you can use the fast track entrance and be scanned straight in. Online bookings allow bookings up to 90 days in the future. There is no need to hold space before making a booking, we don't sell out, and you can wait until you have your group numbers all confirmed before making your order. Please note that bookings need to be made before 8.30am of the day you wish to visit on; after that group tickets can only be bought on arrival at the Cathedral.

Do we need to pre-book an arrival time?

No. Even when booking your group visit online you do not need to specify an arrival time. If you are making any additional reservations or arrangements in advance with the Sales and Admissions team you may be asked to keep to specific times.

Is there a minimum or maximum group size?

Group admission rates are for parties of at least 10 chargeable visitors. Parties of fewer than 10 can use our standard online ticketing to pre-order tickets at the same prices as the group rates.

There is no maximum group size for group admission but we do ask for groups of over 100 visitors to let us know of their visit plans in advance. This does not mean pre-payment is compulsory, but is so that we can discuss arrangements together such as reservation of multimedia guide equipment and possible staggering of arrival.

How long should we plan to spend at St Paul’s and when is best to visit?

The average visit length is just over two hours. The Cathedral usually opens for sightseeing at 8.30am **10.00am from 5th October**, and closes for sightseeing at 4.30pm (last admission 4pm). It is busiest around mid-afternoon and is quietest in the morning before 10am. But whenever your arrival you will not find long wait times to enter.

Where do we enter?

All visitors enter at the entrance at the west end of the Cathedral. A separate step free entrance is available in the South Churchyard. For the safety and security of all our visitors, security staff perform bag checks for all visitors before entering the Cathedral. Thereafter E-ticket holders should look out for the fast track signs and have their E-tickets ready for scanning. Groups paying on arrival should use the ticket sales desks only.

General visit information

Do we need to stay together?

Groups of adults or concessions who are self-guiding with our multimedia guides can separate once inside if they wish. Groups of children should stay together throughout their visit. For children aged 6-12 a minimum ratio of 1 adult per 10 children will be required; for children aged 13-17 a minimum ratio of 1 adult per 20 children will be required.

Contact us

If you have any questions about visiting as a group please email us on admissions@stpaulscathedral.org.uk or telephone +44 (0) 20 7246 8357 (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 8am – 2.45pm).

UK schools should visit the Learning and Faith pages for relevant product information, prices and booking procedures.