Visitor access

Kensington Palace welcomes all visitors and hopes to make everyone's day out enjoyable. However, as Kensington Palace is a historical building, there are some areas with difficult stairs and areas where wheelchair access is limited.

 

The entrance to Kensington Palace

Detailed access around the palace

The State Apartments at Kensington Palace are on the first floor and unfortunately there is no lift available. Access to the State Apartments is by a shallow flight of 30 steps.

Most areas of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection are on a level access, as is the Orangery restaurant, which has a ramp.

There is limited access to the exhibition The last debutantes.

There are adapted toilet facilities next to the gift shop and on the basement level.

The audio guide scripts are available in written form for visitors with hearing difficulties.

Visitors with disabilities are admitted at a concessionary rate and their companion is given free entry. Please notify the admissions staff when purchasing your tickets.

Manual wheelchairs are available for use within the palace. Chairs are provided on a first come, first served basis. They cannot be booked in advance.

For more information about visitor access, please click here for an access guide.

Further information

There is limited disabled parking next to the Orangery. As space is restricted, it is necessary to book in advance. Please telephone +44 (0)20 3166 6199

Please note - during winter months cars need to be off site by 4.00pm due to park closure.


British Sign Language tours

A BSL interpreter will be at Kensington Palace at 2pm on the following dates to interpret a specific guided tour of the palace, beginning at 2 o'clock and lasting about two hours. There is no additional charge - this is included in normal admission tickets. Please note, some of the dates have changed from the original listing.

Thursday 19 February 2009
Thursday 19 March 
Friday 17 April
Friday 22 May
Friday 19 June
Thursday 16 July
Friday 21 August
Thursday 17 September
Thursday 15 October
Thursday 19 November
Friday 18 December 2009

Pre-booking is required. 

How to book
Telephone (18001) 0844 482 7777 with details of your preferred date or email kensingtontours@hrp.org.uk.


Describer escorted visits

New for 2009! Kensington Palace now offers an escorted description service to take blind or partially sighted visitors around the palace.  Click here for more information.


Downloadable Resources

Some files are provided in PDF format - you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files.

  1. Click here to download Acrobat Reader
  2. Alternatively, Adobe offers a service for converting PDFs into HTML or plain text. Access this service here


    Access to Kensington Palace
    (Adobe PDF, 105KB)