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Royal Edinburgh

The Royal Yacht Britannia

For 44 years Queen Elizabeth II's floating palace, Britannia is now moored in Leith, Edinburgh's port, just as the royal family left her.

Here's how to get tickets, what to see on board, how to get to Leith, and which ticket to buy.

Written by local guidesUpdated 29 October 2026

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The Royal Yacht Britannia moored in Leith, dressed with flags
Tickets
From £23
Adult, online
Open daily
From 9:30
10:00 from Nov to Mar
Time needed
About 2 hours
Where
Leith
Ocean Terminal

Royal Yacht Britannia tickets and prices

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

Britannia entry

£23per adult online, £25 on the day

16 to 21 and children 7 to 15 £11.50, under-7s free

  • The audio guide is included, in more than 30 languages, with a children's version in five of them.
  • Come back free for a year with the Annual Pass, which you claim online after your visit.

Sold by Britannia itself, online or at its ticket desk. Prices from its website, checked 29 October 2026, valid until 21 March 2027. There is no senior concession, and carers go free.

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 Royal Yacht Britannia, with no time to book: show your ticket and go on board.
  • Edinburgh Castle, with your time slot booked for you, even on days the castle is sold out online.
  • The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the King's official residence in Scotland.
  • Unlimited hop-on hop-off buses for 48 hours, including the blue Regal Tour, which takes you to Britannia.
Choose your date

Britannia is outside the city centre. She is moored in Leith, about 2 miles north of Princes Street. With the Royal Edinburgh Ticket the ride there is included: the blue Regal Tour bus runs to Britannia every 20 minutes in summer and every 30 in winter.

Choose your date

Pick the day your 48 hours start, and plan Britannia within them.

Calendar not loading? Open the booking page instead.

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

  • One pass for the Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace 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 Britannia booking needed. Show your ticket at the entrance and join the next tour.
  • The 48 hours start the first time your ticket is scanned, and the blue Regal Tour bus to Leith is part of them.

Royal Yacht Britannia opening times and the best time to go

Open every day except 25 December and 1 January. Tickets are for the time you go on board, and you can stay until closing, two hours after last entry. Allow about two hours.

Opening times

SeasonOpenLast entry
1 April to 31 October9:30 to 18:0016:00
1 November to 31 March10:00 to 17:0015:00

Closed on 25 December and 1 January. Last entry is earlier on 24 December, at 14:30, and on a few days in August, at 15:00.

The best time to go

10:00
Then lunch in Leith. Go on board early, then walk along the water to the Shore, Leith's old harbour, lined with pubs and restaurants.
12:00
Lunch on board. Time your visit so you reach the Royal Deck Tearoom around midday, for soup, sandwiches or scones with a view of the harbour.
14:00
After the castle. Take the castle's first slot, then the tram or the bus to Leith. In winter, with last entry at 15:00, be on board by then: you can stay until 17:00.

What to see on board, deck by deck

The visit starts in the visitor centre at Ocean Terminal. Then, with the audio guide in your hand, you work your way down Britannia's five decks, from the Bridge, where her officers navigated, to the Engine Room.

  1. The State Drawing Room on Britannia, with floral sofas around a fireplace

    The State Apartments

    The rooms where the Queen entertained the world. Guests gathered in the Drawing Room before dinner, and Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Ronald Reagan dined in the State Dining Room next door, at a table that seats 56, beneath gifts from the countries she visited.

  2. The Sun Lounge on Britannia, with teak walls, cane chairs and a floral sofa

    The Royal Apartments and the Sun Lounge

    The family's private rooms are surprisingly simple: the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had separate bedrooms with single beds. The Sun Lounge, all teak and cane chairs, is said to have been the Queen's favourite room on board.

  3. The Verge Inn, the crew's bar on Britannia, with beer taps and a pint on the counter

    The crew's quarters

    Forward of the funnel, more than 200 Royal Yachtsmen and officers lived in far tighter quarters. You pass their mess decks, the laundry, the sick bay with its operating theatre, and their own bar, the Verge Inn.

  4. Britannia's Engine Room, with white lagged pipes, gauges and the high-pressure turbine

    The Engine Room

    The tour ends deep in the hull, where the turbines drove Britannia more than a million nautical miles. Its pipes, gauges and brass are as spotless as in her working days.

Tales from the yacht

Honeymoons, a rescue and a farewell: three stories from Britannia's 44 years at sea.

Ronald and Nancy Reagan with Queen Elizabeth II on board Britannia in 1983

History, 1960 to 1986

Four honeymoons and an anniversary

The Queen called Britannia the one place she could truly relax, and four royal couples spent their honeymoons on board: Princess Margaret in 1960, Princess Anne in 1973, Prince Charles and Diana in 1981, sailing from Gibraltar to Egypt, and Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson in 1986.

Guests celebrated on board too. In March 1983, during her visit to California, the Queen gave a dinner on Britannia for Ronald and Nancy Reagan's 31st wedding anniversary.

Britannia sailing up the Brisbane River in 1963, surrounded by small boats

History, 1986

The rescue at Aden

In January 1986, on her way to a royal tour of Australia and New Zealand, Britannia was off the coast of Yemen when civil war broke out in Aden. With no royals on board, she turned towards the fighting.

She anchored off the beaches and her crew ferried evacuees out in the ship's boats. By the end, Britannia had carried more than 1,000 people of over 50 nationalities to safety.

The gilded binnacle and the ship's bell, dated 1953, on Britannia's deck

History, 1997

The clocks that stopped at 3:01

In the summer of 1997 Britannia sailed out of Hong Kong with Prince Charles and the last British governor on board, as the colony was handed back to China. It was her last voyage overseas.

She was decommissioned in Portsmouth on 11 December 1997, and the Queen was seen to shed a tear. The clocks on board were stopped at 3:01 in the afternoon, the moment she last stepped ashore, and they still show it.

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 and shoes

    Leave luggage at the handset desk before you board. There is no dress code, but you'll climb up and down five decks, so wear flat shoes. Photos are allowed.

  • The audio guide

    Free, in more than 30 languages, with a children's version in English, Spanish, French, Italian and German. Tablets in British and American Sign Language and a Braille script are free too. Bring your own headphones if you like.

  • With children

    Under-7s go free. Pushchairs can go on board if they are no wider than 67 cm, which most are, and there are baby changing rooms in the visitor centre and on the ship.

  • Accessibility

    Lifts reach all five decks, and VisitScotland rates Britannia in its top category for wheelchair access. Wheelchairs up to 67 cm wide can do the whole tour; you can borrow one free at the ticket desk. Carers go free.

  • Closed days

    Only 25 December and 1 January. Last entry is earlier on 24 December and on a few days in August, when the festivals fill the city.

  • Rain

    Almost all of the visit is indoors. Only the open decks are outside, and you can skip them if it pours.

How to get to the Royal Yacht Britannia

Britannia is moored in Leith, about 2 miles north of the city centre, beside the Ocean Terminal shopping centre, Ocean Drive, EH6 6JJ. The entrance is on the second floor of Ocean Terminal.

  • By tram, get off at Ocean Terminal, on the line from the airport and Princes Street to Newhaven.
  • By bus, Lothian Buses routes 10, 16, 34 and 35 run from the city centre. Route 35 also stops by Holyrood Palace. The blue Regal Tour bus included in the Royal Edinburgh Ticket stops at Britannia too.
  • By car, Ocean Terminal has a free multi-storey car park, with a 2 m height limit. Levels C and E lead straight into the shopping centre.
  • On foot, it's about an hour from Princes Street, down Leith Walk.

Royal Yacht Britannia: your questions answered

What visitors ask us most about tickets and the visit.

Do I need to book Royal Yacht Britannia tickets in advance?

It's not required, but it's cheaper: an adult ticket costs £23 online until the day before, and £25 on the day. Tickets are for the time you go on board, and if you arrive early or late you are let on as soon as possible.

If you buy the Royal Edinburgh Ticket, you don't need to book Britannia at all: you get your Britannia ticket when you swap your voucher, and you join the next tour.

How much are Royal Yacht Britannia tickets?

Online in advance, an adult ticket is £23, and a young person's (16 to 21) or a child's (7 to 15) £11.50. Under-7s go free. On the day each costs £1 to £2 more. There is no senior concession.

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

How long does it take to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia?

About two hours on average, more if you stop at the Royal Deck Tearoom. Once on board you can stay as long as you like, until closing.

Is the Royal Yacht Britannia included in the Royal Edinburgh Ticket?

Yes. The Royal Edinburgh Ticket includes one visit to Britannia, with no time to book, along with Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse and 48 hours of hop-on hop-off buses. The blue Regal Tour bus, one of the three included, takes you to Britannia.

How do I get to Britannia from the city centre?

Take the tram to the Ocean Terminal stop, or Lothian Buses route 10, 16, 34 or 35. With the Royal Edinburgh Ticket, the blue Regal Tour bus takes you there. Walking takes about an hour.

Can I visit Britannia from a cruise ship?

Yes. If your ship berths in Leith or sends its tenders to Newhaven, Britannia is close by: Newhaven is the next tram stop after Ocean Terminal. Ships that anchor off South Queensferry are about 11 miles away, so allow plenty of time to get there and back.

Can I see Britannia, the castle and Holyrood Palace in one day?

It's possible, but rushed: the castle takes two to three hours, Holyrood one to two and Britannia two, and Britannia's last entry is at 16:00, or 15:00 in winter. The 48 hours of the Royal Edinburgh Ticket let you split them over two days instead, for example the castle and Britannia one day and Holyrood the next. See our Holyrood Palace guide for the days it closes.

Can I eat on board Britannia?

Yes. The Royal Deck Tearoom serves soup, sandwiches, cakes and scones, with a view of the harbour. It's first come, first served, and you need a Britannia ticket to reach it.

Is the Royal Yacht Britannia wheelchair accessible?

Yes. Lifts reach all five decks, and wheelchairs up to 67 cm wide can do the whole tour. You can borrow a wheelchair free at the ticket desk, and carers go free.

Is Britannia a good plan for a rainy day?

Yes. Apart from the open decks, the whole visit is indoors, so it's one of the best rainy-day plans in Edinburgh.

Britannia is one of four

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

Choose your date