What UK castles cost
The short version
We hold a standard adult ticket price for 173 of the 257 castles listed here. The middle price is £10.90. The cheapest paid ticket is £4.40 and the dearest is £39. A further 78 castles are free to enter, listed on the free castles page.
Prices are the standard adult ticket on the day, without any voluntary donation. Some operators charge less when you book online, and members of an operator's own scheme, such as English Heritage or Cadw, go in free at that operator's castles. Each castle page shows its own prices, the season they apply to and the date we checked them. Some prices are still being checked, and those pages say so.
By operator
| Operator | Castles priced | Cheapest | Median | Dearest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Heritage | 49 | £5 | £10 | £29 |
| Historic Environment Scotland | 34 | £4.50 | £8.50 | £26 |
| Private owner | 21 | £10 | £19.50 | £39 |
| Cadw | 18 | £5.60 | £10.40 | £14.90 |
| National Trust | 12 | £11 | £15 | £20 |
| National Trust for Scotland | 11 | £9.50 | £18 | £22 |
| Charity or trust | 9 | £12 | £13.65 | £38.50 |
| Local council | 7 | £4.40 | £16.50 | £18 |
| NI Historic Environment Division | 3 | £6 | £6 | £6.50 |
| Other | 3 | £9 | £9 | £9.50 |
Operators with fewer than three priced castles are left out.
By nation
| Nation | Castles priced | Cheapest | Median | Dearest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 93 | £4.40 | £12 | £39 |
| Scotland | 54 | £4.50 | £9.48 | £26 |
| Wales | 23 | £5.60 | £10.40 | £19 |
| Northern Ireland | 3 | £6 | £6 | £6.50 |
The ten dearest adult tickets
| Castle | County | Adult |
|---|---|---|
| Warwick Castle | Warwickshire | £39 |
| Leeds Castle | Kent | £38.50 |
| Tower of London | Greater London | £38 |
| Windsor Castle | Berkshire | £36 |
| Pockerley pele tower | County Durham | £35 |
| Hampton Court Palace | Greater London | £30 |
| Arundel Castle | West Sussex | £29 |
| Dover Castle | Kent | £29 |
| Hever Castle | Kent | £28.40 |
| Edinburgh Castle | City of Edinburgh | £26 |
The ten cheapest paid adult tickets
| Castle | County | Adult |
|---|---|---|
| Knaresborough Castle | North Yorkshire | £4.40 |
| MacLellan's Castle | Dumfries and Galloway | £4.50 |
| Dirleton Castle | East Lothian | £4.50 |
| Bothwell Castle | South Lanarkshire | £4.50 |
| Longthorpe Tower | Cambridgeshire | £5 |
| Weobley Castle | Swansea | £5.60 |
| Dunluce Castle | County Antrim | £6 |
| Castle Rising Castle | Norfolk | £6 |
| Carrickfergus Castle | County Antrim | £6 |
| Calshot Castle | Hampshire | £6 |
Use the data
The table behind this page is a CSV with one row per castle: operator, entry prices, dog policy, parking and the date each was last checked. Download the castle data (CSV) .
You are welcome to use the figures. Please link to this page when you do. How we collect and check the data is on How we check our data.