Windsor

The world's oldest inhabited royal castle and the town that grew around it

Windsor sits on the south bank of the Thames in Berkshire, about 22 miles west of central London and reachable in under an hour by direct train from London Waterloo or Paddington. For international visitors — whether arriving into Heathrow, which is just 8 miles away, or travelling from central London — Windsor is the most accessible introduction to living British royal history outside the capital itself. It is also, unlike many heritage destinations, genuinely alive: a working town with a royal residence at its centre that continues to function as the institutional heart of the British monarchy.

Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. Founded by William the Conqueror shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and expanded by almost every subsequent monarch, it has been a royal residence for nearly a thousand years without interruption. It is not a museum, a ruin or a reconstruction: it is an active royal palace where the King holds court, receives visiting heads of state and spends significant portions of the year in residence. When the Royal Standard flies above the Round Tower, the King is home — a detail that gives every visit a quality of immediacy that no amount of museum curation can replicate.

For visitors arriving from the United States, Australia, Canada or other countries with their own complex relationships to the British Crown, Windsor offers something more layered than simple heritage tourism. The castle is a physical record of a thousand years of British history, from the medieval foundations laid by a Norman duke who had just conquered England to the Victorian apartments furnished by Queen Victoria and the twentieth-century additions made by monarchs who presided over the dissolution of the empire that Windsor helped to symbolise.

Windsor Castle

The castle divides into three main areas for visitors. The State Apartments contain one of the greatest royal art collections in the world: paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, Canaletto, Holbein and Gainsborough hang alongside suits of armour, Sèvres porcelain and furniture accumulated by the Crown over centuries. The display is not curated in the manner of a public gallery — these rooms are still used for state occasions — which gives them a quality of inhabited grandeur absent from most museum collections.

St George's Chapel, built in the fifteenth century in the Perpendicular Gothic style that is one of England's most distinctive architectural contributions to world heritage, is widely considered among the finest examples of medieval ecclesiastical architecture in existence. It is the burial place of ten monarchs, including Henry VIII and his third wife Jane Seymour, King George VI — the father of Queen Elizabeth II — and Queen Elizabeth II herself, who was interred here in September 2022. The chapel is also the spiritual home of the Order of the Garter, Britain's oldest and most senior order of chivalry, founded by Edward III in 1348. The annual Garter Ceremony in June, when new knights are installed in a procession through the castle grounds, is one of the most visually spectacular ceremonial events in the British calendar.

Queen Mary's Dolls' House, built in the 1920s to a scale of 1:12 with contributions from the leading artists and craftsmen of the day, is among the most surprising attractions in the castle. The miniature palace has working lifts, running water, electricity and a library stocked with books written specifically for it by major authors of the period including Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle and M. Barrie. For visitors from countries with their own traditions of intricate miniature craft — Japan, the Netherlands, Scandinavia — it provides a point of unexpected connection.

The Long Walk and Windsor Great Park

Beyond the castle walls extends one of the largest royal parks in Europe. Windsor Great Park covers more than 5,000 acres of woodland, meadow and formal garden stretching south from the town. The Long Walk is the tree-lined avenue nearly three miles long that connects the castle's George IV Gate to the equestrian statue of King George III — known locally as the Copper Horse — on the summit of Snow Hill, offering one of the most stately formal vistas in England. The perspective from the statue back toward the castle, with the Round Tower rising above the treeline, is the view that appears on more postcards, calendars and television establishing shots of Windsor than any other.

The park also contains the Savill Garden, regarded as one of the finest ornamental gardens in Britain, with exceptional collections of rhododendrons, roses and woodland planting across 35 acres. The Valley Gardens, less formally maintained and more expansive, offer miles of walking through azalea-covered hillsides that in late spring produce one of the most spectacular natural colour displays in southern England.

Eton and the Thames

A short walk across a footbridge over the Thames brings visitors to Eton, a village entirely dominated by the complex of Eton College. Founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as a charity school for poor scholars, Eton has educated twenty British Prime Ministers — including Wellington, Gladstone, Macmillan, Blair and Cameron — as well as princes, foreign heads of state and generations of figures who have shaped British and global culture in every field from literature to finance. Walking through Eton's streets — with students in their distinctive tailcoats moving between medieval and Renaissance buildings — is one of the most characteristically English scenes available to any visitor anywhere in the country.

The Thames at Windsor has a particular quality: broad, unhurried, lined with Victorian riverside properties and water meadows that have changed little in appearance since Jerome K. Jerome described similar stretches in Three Men in a Boat in 1889. Boat hire is available from the Windsor riverside in summer, and the journey upstream toward Boveney Lock or downstream toward Datchet offers views of the castle from the water that are unavailable from any road or footpath.

Windsor's greatest strengths

Windsor's appeal to international visitors rests on a combination that is unique in England. The castle provides access to living royal history at a depth impossible to find elsewhere — not Buckingham Palace's ceremonial facade but a residence that has accumulated a thousand years of architectural, artistic and political history in layers that are still visibly readable. The art collection in the State Apartments alone would justify a visit from anywhere in the world.

The Changing of the Guard at Windsor has a character distinct from the more famous ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The procession moves through the town's streets — past shops, cafes and ordinary street life — before entering the castle, which gives it an intimacy and accessibility that the London version, observed from behind crowd-control barriers in a large open space, cannot match. For visitors from North America or Australia who have seen the Buckingham Palace ceremony on television, Windsor's version often comes as a more genuinely engaging experience.

Windsor's location makes it a natural hub for the surrounding region. Heathrow Airport is 8 miles away, making Windsor a logical first or last stop for international itineraries that begin or end with a transatlantic or long-haul flight. Hampton Court Palace, the Tudor royal residence built by Cardinal Wolsey and seized by Henry VIII, is about 12 miles away along the Thames and reachable by river boat in summer. Legoland Windsor, one of the most visited theme parks in the UK, is 2 miles from the town centre and makes Windsor an obvious choice for families travelling with children.

When to visit Windsor

Spring (March–May)

Spring is one of the best seasons to visit Windsor from overseas. Transatlantic and long-haul fares into Heathrow tend to be lower than in summer, the castle is less crowded than during the peak tourist months and the Great Park reaches its most spectacular in April and May when the Valley Gardens' azaleas and rhododendrons are in full bloom. The weather is mild and the long evenings of May make it possible to explore both the town and the park in a single day without feeling rushed.

Summer (June–August)

Summer is peak season, and Windsor earns it. The Royal Ascot race meeting in June — held at Ascot Racecourse just 6 miles from Windsor — brings a wave of visitors dressed in formal attire and transforms the entire area for five days into one of the most glamorous events in the British social calendar. The Garter Ceremony in June is the most significant annual royal event at Windsor and worth timing a visit around if the spectacle of living monarchy is part of the appeal. Queues at the castle can be substantial in July and August; timed entry booking in advance is strongly recommended.

Autumn (September–November)

September and October offer a Windsor that is quieter, cheaper and in many ways more rewarding than the summer peak. The autumn colours in the Great Park — particularly along the Long Walk and through the Valley Gardens — are among the finest in southern England. Hotel rates drop, the castle queues shorten and the town takes on a more authentic rhythm less dominated by tourist traffic. November is quieter still, with the castle's interiors particularly atmospheric in the low light of the season.

Winter (December–February)

Windsor at Christmas has a specific appeal. The castle illuminated against a winter sky, the Christmas market in the town centre and the stillness of the Great Park on a frosty morning offer an experience entirely different from the summer version of the city. January and February are the quietest months of the year, with minimal queues at the castle and the lowest accommodation prices — a practical consideration for visitors combining Windsor with a broader British winter itinerary that includes London.

Average temperatures in Windsor by season

Winter (December–February): temperatures range from 2°C (36°F) to 7°C (45°F). Frost is possible, rain is frequent and days are short. Layered, waterproof clothing is recommended.

Spring (March–May): temperatures rise steadily from around 7°C (45°F) to 15°C (59°F). April and May bring longer days and increasing sunshine, with occasional showers.

Summer (June–August): average temperatures range from 17°C (63°F) to 23°C (73°F), occasionally reaching 28°C (82°F) or above during warm spells. Conditions are generally pleasant and sunny.

Autumn (September–November): temperatures fall from around 17°C (63°F) in September to 7°C (45°F) by November. Rainfall increases from October; a compact umbrella is advisable.