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Royal Edinburgh

Holyrood Palace

At the foot of the Royal Mile stands the King's official residence in Scotland, the palace where Mary, Queen of Scots lived and Bonnie Prince Charlie held court.

Here's how to get tickets, which days it opens, what to see inside, and which ticket to buy.

Written by local guidesUpdated 29 October 2026

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The Palace of Holyroodhouse and its garden from above, with the Old Town behind
Tickets
From £22
Adult, in advance
Open Thu to Mon
From 9:30
Until late May 2027
Time needed
1 to 2 hours
Where
Royal Mile
At the foot

Holyrood Palace tickets and prices

Palace tickets cost less in advance than on the day. Visit just the palace, or make the most of Edinburgh with the Royal Edinburgh Ticket.

Palace entry

£22per adult in advance, £26 on the day

18 to 24 £14, children 5 to 17 £11, under-5s free

  • The multimedia guide is included, in ten languages and British Sign Language. It takes about an hour.
  • Come back free for a year by turning your ticket into a 1-Year Pass: sign it before you leave.

Palace prices from its website, checked 28 October 2026; 2027 prices rise by up to £1. Disabled visitors pay £11 and a companion goes free.

Book palace tickets

Best value

Royal Edinburgh Ticket

£81per adult, 48 hours

£96.40 bought separately

Save £15.40 per adult

Four of Edinburgh's top attractions in one ticket:

  • The Palace of Holyroodhouse, on any day it opens, even after your 48 hours are up.
  • Edinburgh Castle, with your time slot booked for you, even on days the castle is sold out online.
  • The Royal Yacht Britannia, the royal family's yacht for 43 years.
  • Unlimited hop-on hop-off buses for 48 hours, on all three sightseeing routes.
Choose your date

Visiting on a Tuesday or Wednesday? Until late May 2027 the palace is closed to visitors on those days. With the Royal Edinburgh Ticket that's no problem: the palace accepts it after your 48 hours are up, so spend Tuesday and Wednesday on the castle, Britannia and the buses, and see the palace on Thursday or later.

Choose your date

Pick the day your 48 hours start. The palace accepts your ticket on any day it opens, even after them.

Calendar not loading? Open the booking page instead.

The Royal Edinburgh Ticket: palace, castle, Britannia and sightseeing buses

  • One pass for Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Yacht Britannia and 48 hours of hop-on hop-off buses. The buses as often as you like, each sight once.
  • £81 per adult, £76 for seniors, £43 for children. Under-5s go free.
  • Book online, swap in Edinburgh. Your voucher arrives by email; take it to the first sightseeing bus stop (until 30 November 2026, Stop GG on George Street, opposite the Assembly Rooms, because of roadworks; from 1 December, Waterloo Place) for your bus and attraction tickets.
  • No palace booking needed. Show your ticket at the palace and join the next entry.
  • The 48 hours start the first time your ticket is scanned, and the palace still accepts it after they end.

Holyrood Palace opening times and the best time to go

Open Thursday to Monday until late May 2027. As a working royal palace it also closes when the King is in residence, sometimes at short notice. Allow one to two hours.

Opening times

SeasonOpenLast entry
1 April to 31 October9:30 to 18:0016:30
1 November to 31 March9:30 to 16:3015:15

Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays until late May 2027, from 24 to 26 December 2026, and for about a week around the end of June, when the King stays for Holyrood Week. Check the opening times the day before you go.

The best time to go

11:00
After the morning rush. The palace's own advice: the entrance is busiest from opening and through the morning.
13:00
After the castle. Take the castle's first slot, then walk down the Royal Mile with lunch on the way. Until late May 2027, keep Tuesday and Wednesday for the castle or Britannia.
15:00
Late, then into the park. Holyrood Park starts at the palace gates, so finish with a walk below Salisbury Crags. In winter, with last entry at 15:15, arrive by 14:00.

What to see in Holyrood Palace and Abbey, room by room

The visit follows a one-way route, with the multimedia guide in your hand: across the courtyard, up to the royal rooms, into Mary, Queen of Scots' tower, and out to the abbey ruins and the garden.

  1. The palace's inner courtyard, with its lawn and arcades, seen through an archway

    The Quadrangle

    Past the forecourt fountain, the entrance leads into the courtyard at the heart of the palace. Charles II had it rebuilt from 1671 by his architect Sir William Bruce, and its columns change style floor by floor, as the classical orders rise one above the other.

  2. Tapestries, a harp and a chandelier in one of the palace's royal rooms

    The State Apartments and the Great Gallery

    The Great Stair climbs to the rooms the King still uses for receptions and investitures: the Royal Dining Room, the Throne Room and the drawing rooms hung with tapestries. The Great Gallery, the palace's largest room, is lined with portraits of every Scottish monarch, real and legendary, painted by Jacob de Wet in the 1680s.

  3. A round corner tower of the palace with a conical slate roof against a blue sky

    Mary, Queen of Scots' chambers

    The oldest part of the palace is the tower James V built in the 1530s. A narrow spiral stair leads to the rooms his daughter Mary lived in from 1561 to 1567: her bedchamber, and beside it the small supper room where her secretary David Rizzio was murdered in front of her.

  4. The roofless nave of Holyrood Abbey, with its great east window open to the sky

    Holyrood Abbey and the palace garden

    The route ends in the ruins of the abbey David I founded in 1128, the reason the palace is here at all. Kings were married and buried in it, until its roof fell in 1768. Outside lies the garden, in use since 1503, where Queen Mary's Sundial has told the time since 1633.

Tales from the palace

A legend, a murder and a prince: three stories from Holyrood's 900 years.

Paul Sandby's 1750 etching of Arthur's Seat rising over a wooded river valley, with a bare tree in front

A legend, 1128

The stag and the Holy Rood

On Holy Rood Day in 1128, the story goes, King David I went hunting in the forest below Arthur's Seat. A great stag charged him, threw him from his horse and was about to gore him when a cross, a rood, appeared between its antlers, and the stag fled.

In thanks, David founded an abbey on the spot and named it after the Holy Rood. The kings who stayed at its guesthouse later turned it into a palace, and the stag with a cross between its antlers is still the emblem of the Canongate, the street that leads to it.

Painting of Rizzio being stabbed while Mary, Queen of Scots is held back

History, 1566

Murder in the supper room

On the evening of 9 March 1566, Mary, six months pregnant, was having supper in her tower with a few friends, among them her Italian secretary, David Rizzio. Her husband, Lord Darnley, jealous of Rizzio's influence, came up the private stair from his own rooms below, followed by armed nobles.

They dragged Rizzio from the queen's side and stabbed him dozens of times. A plaque marks where his body is said to have fallen, and for centuries guides pointed to a dark stain on the floorboards. Less than a year later, Darnley himself was dead.

Painting of Bonnie Prince Charlie in tartan entering the ballroom at Holyroodhouse

History, 1745

Bonnie Prince Charlie's six weeks at court

In September 1745 Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of the last Stuart king, took Edinburgh for his father without a fight and moved into Holyrood. For six weeks the palace had a court again, with dinners and balls in the Great Gallery, beneath the portraits of the kings he claimed to descend from.

At the end of October he marched south to take the crown of Great Britain. He reached Derby before turning back, his cause was lost at Culloden the next spring, and he never saw Holyrood again.

Good to know before you visit

What to bring and what to leave at the hotel, who goes free, and the days it closes.

  • Bags, food and photos

    Bags are checked at the entrance and there is no cloakroom, so anything larger than 45 × 20 × 30 cm stays outside (Waverley Station has left luggage). No food inside, only bottled water, and no photos in the State Apartments.

  • The multimedia guide

    Free, about an hour, in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Gaelic, Japanese, Mandarin and Russian, and in British Sign Language with subtitles.

  • With children

    Under-5s go free. A family guide for ages 7 to 11 sends children hunting for hidden unicorns and lions. Pushchairs can go in except at busy times, when they're left at the entrance.

  • Accessibility

    Most of the palace is accessible, but Mary, Queen of Scots' rooms are up a narrow spiral stair. Disabled visitors pay a reduced price and a companion goes free. Accessible parking is on Horse Wynd, beside the palace.

  • Closed days

    Tuesdays and Wednesdays until late May 2027, 24 to 26 December 2026, and about a week around the end of June for Holyrood Week. Royal visits can close it at short notice.

  • Rain

    Almost all of the visit is indoors. Only the abbey ruins and the garden are open to the sky, and they come at the end of the route, so you can cut them short if it pours.

How to get to Holyrood Palace

The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile, opposite the Scottish Parliament, at Canongate, EH8 8DX. Holyrood Park and Arthur's Seat rise right behind it.

  • On foot, it's about 25 minutes downhill from the castle along the Royal Mile, or 15 minutes from Waverley Station. The walk back up takes a little longer.
  • By bus, Lothian Buses route 35 stops on the Canongate and by the Scottish Parliament, a few minutes' walk from the gates. The hop-on hop-off buses included in the Royal Edinburgh Ticket stop near the palace too.
  • By car, there is no visitor car park. The only spaces are the accessible ones on Horse Wynd, first come, first served.

Holyrood Palace: your questions answered

What visitors ask us most about tickets and the visit.

Do I need to book Holyrood Palace tickets in advance?

It's not required, but it's cheaper: an adult ticket costs £22 in advance and £26 on the day. The entrance is busiest in the morning and in August, so booking also saves you the ticket queue.

If you buy the Royal Edinburgh Ticket, you don't need to book the palace at all: you get your palace ticket when you swap your voucher, and you can use it on any day the palace opens.

How much are Holyrood Palace tickets?

In advance, an adult ticket is £22, a young person's (18 to 24) £14, and a child's (5 to 17) £11. Under-5s go free. On the day each costs £2 to £4 more. There is no senior concession.

The Royal Edinburgh Ticket costs £81 per adult and includes the palace, Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Yacht Britannia and 48 hours of hop-on hop-off buses, which together cost at least £96.40 bought separately.

Is Holyrood Palace open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays?

Not until late May 2027: the palace opens Thursday to Monday.

If your 48 hours with the Royal Edinburgh Ticket start on a Tuesday or Wednesday, you don't lose the palace: it accepts the ticket after the 48 hours are up, so you can visit on Thursday or later.

Can I take a guided tour of Holyrood Palace?

Yes. The Exclusive Guided Tour takes you round the State Apartments with an expert guide while the palace is closed to other visitors: by day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, in the evening on Fridays and Sundays. It costs £55 a person, includes a guidebook, and is booked by phone on +44 303 123 7324.

The King's private apartments are never open to visitors. On an ordinary visit, the free multimedia guide does the guiding.

Is there a combined ticket for Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle?

Not from the palace or the castle themselves, which are run by different organisations. The Royal Edinburgh Ticket is the one ticket that covers both, along with the Royal Yacht Britannia and the sightseeing buses between them.

Can I visit Holyrood with the Royal Edinburgh Ticket after the 48 hours?

Yes. The 48 hours are for the buses; the palace accepts your ticket after they end, so you can save it for a day that suits you. Each sight can be visited once.

How long does it take to visit Holyrood Palace?

The multimedia guide lasts about an hour. Allow 1 to 2 hours with the abbey ruins and the garden, and more if you stop at the café or go on to the King's Gallery next door, which has its own ticket.

How do I get back to the city centre from Holyrood?

Walk back up the Royal Mile: it's uphill all the way, about 15 minutes to the Tron Kirk and North Bridge, and about half an hour to the castle.

Or take Lothian Buses route 35 from the Canongate or the Scottish Parliament, or the hop-on hop-off bus if you have the Royal Edinburgh Ticket.

Holyrood Palace or Edinburgh Castle: which should I visit?

If you only have time for one, the castle is the bigger day out and has the views. Holyrood is quieter and more intimate, and the place to go for Mary, Queen of Scots. The two are a mile apart at either end of the Royal Mile, so most visitors do both. See our Edinburgh Castle guide.

Does the King live at Holyrood Palace?

It's his official residence in Scotland, but he only stays for part of the year, above all for Holyrood Week around the end of June, when he holds investitures and a garden party. The palace closes to visitors while he is there.

Is Holyrood Palace wheelchair accessible?

Largely. Most of the visitor route is accessible to wheelchair users and people with reduced mobility, but Mary, Queen of Scots' rooms are up a narrow spiral stair and can't be reached. Disabled visitors pay a reduced price and a companion goes free.

Is Holyrood Palace a good plan for a rainy day?

Yes. Apart from the abbey ruins and the garden, the whole visit is indoors, so it's one of the best rainy-day plans in Edinburgh.

The palace is one of four

The Royal Edinburgh Ticket covers the palace, Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Yacht Britannia and 48 hours of hop-on hop-off buses between them. Explore Edinburgh's other top attractions with the same ticket.

Choose your date