The Old Royal Naval College

Published 20 September 2026 · By the Guide to London editorial team · Editor: Terje Moy

The Old Royal Naval College is the pair of domed baroque buildings on the river at Greenwich, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The grounds are free and open daily from 8am to 11pm. A £19 adult ticket gets you into the Painted Hall and the Chapel, includes every guided talk and tour on the day, and converts into a year's pass at no extra cost.

The Painted Hall is the reason most people come. Sir James Thornhill spent 19 years covering its ceiling and walls with more than 200 figures, and the room is the most ambitious painted interior in Britain. It was built as the dining hall of a naval hospital for injured and retired seamen, which is why the grandest baroque room in the country was made for pensioners rather than royalty.

The site sits inside the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, next to the Royal Observatory and Cutty Sark and Greenwich Park. Our guide to Greenwich covers the whole day; this page is about the College itself and, in particular, what you get for the ticket and what you do not need to pay for.

What the £19 ticket includes, and why it is better value than it looks

The headline price is not the whole story, because a great deal is bundled into it:

• The Painted Hall and the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul.
• Painted Hall Talks, run by the College's guides every 30 minutes from 11am to 4pm, every day.
• The 600 Years of History Tour, a guided tour running hourly from 11am to 3pm, every day.
• A multimedia guide, free to borrow, in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin, with a British Sign Language version.
• The Discover Greenwich museum, the Nelson Room, the remains of Greenwich Palace and the Victorian Skittle Alley.
• Free family activities.

Then there is the part that surprises people: your admission ticket can be converted into an Annual Pass for nothing extra, giving unlimited entry for a year. If there is any chance you will be in London again within twelve months, or if you are staying for several weeks, ask about it when you buy.

Two adults and two children aged 16 or under pay £38 in total, because children go free with a paying adult, up to four per adult. For a building of this quality that is unusually reasonable; compare it with the prices in our guide to free museums in London and the paid cathedrals.

The Painted Hall, and how to look at it

Thornhill's ceiling is enormous and impossible to take in standing up. The College provides seating and the sensible approach is to lie back or sit and work through it slowly with the multimedia guide, which is designed for exactly that. Rushing the room in ten minutes is the commonest mistake.

The hall was completed 300 years ago and the College has been marking the anniversary with a dedicated programme. It also employs conservators year-round; over 10,000 hours of conservation work is carried out on the site annually, so you may see the team working.

The Chapel opposite is a separate pleasure and a complete change of key: a pale neo-classical interior with an altarpiece by Benjamin West. It is open daily to everybody, and there is a choir.

The free parts, which are considerable

The grounds are open from 8am to 11pm daily and cost nothing. That includes the great riverside lawn between the two colonnades, the view up to the Queen's House and the Observatory on the hill, and the gap between the twin domes that produces the photograph everyone takes from the Thames Path.

Going in the evening is the better idea. The buildings are lit, the day visitors have gone, and the riverside is quiet. You cannot get into the Painted Hall after 5pm, but the outdoor architecture is the half of the site most photographs are of anyway. For other evenings that cost nothing, see London without spending money.

The Chapel is described as open daily to all, and the Discover Greenwich museum can be visited on its own for £3 if you do not want the full ticket.

The two paid extras

Two tours cost more than general admission and are booked separately.

The Film Tour, titled "Wigs, Weddings, Powder and Palaces", runs on Fridays and Saturdays at 1.30pm and 3.30pm. The College describes itself as the most filmed heritage location in the United Kingdom, and the tour covers a century of film and television shot here, including Bridgerton. If somebody in your group recognises the colonnades from television, this is the ticket to buy.

The Secret Dome Tour takes six people at a time up into Wren's dome, into spaces that are rarely opened. Six is a very small number, so book well ahead. Prices for both are on the College's talks and tours page.

Things in the ticket that nobody mentions

The Skittle Alley is the one to seek out. It was installed in 1873, the first year of the Royal Naval College, for officers in training, and it still works: you can roll the wooden balls yourself. It opens daily from noon to 3pm, and it is free with your ticket. With children, this is the thing they will remember rather than the ceiling, so hold it back until they have run out of patience upstairs; see London with kids.

The Nelson Room is where Nelson's body lay in state after Trafalgar. The remains of Greenwich Palace, the Tudor palace that stood on this site, are visible in part: Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I were all born here. And the College offers a free digital guide through the Bloomberg Connects app, in more than 40 languages, which you can use before you arrive or from home.

Closures: check before you travel

The College is used for filming and events, and it closes or shortens its hours more often than most attractions. Dates published for autumn 2026 included the Painted Hall closing from 3pm on Saturday 19 September, from 3.30pm on Saturday 26 September, all day on Sunday 11 October and from 4pm on Thursday 22 October. The Chapel was listed as closed all day from Monday 26 to Friday 30 October and on Thursday 26 November.

There is a second reason for short-notice changes. The historic buildings have no climate control, so the College monitors forecasts and may adjust hours or shut areas in high heat, severe cold or high winds. If you are visiting in a heatwave or a storm, check the website and the College's social media on the morning of your visit.

Getting there: five ways, and the best one

The river is the way to arrive if you can. Uber Boat by Thames Clippers runs every 20 minutes to Greenwich Pier, which is a couple of minutes from the College: about 20 minutes from Tower Pier, 25 from London Bridge Pier and 45 from the London Eye. Greenwich Pier has Europe's first Ramp Rider, which lets wheelchair users board at any state of the tide. See the river bus guide, and river bus or sightseeing cruise if you are choosing between the two.

The DLR is the quickest. Cutty Sark station is a few minutes' walk and the DLR connects at Bank, Tower Gateway, Canary Wharf and Stratford; see the DLR and Overground. A more entertaining variant is to stay on to Island Gardens and walk under the river through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, which brings you out beside the Visitor Centre, about ten minutes in total.

By train, Greenwich station is an 11-minute walk and Maze Hill 15 minutes, with direct services from London Bridge and Cannon Street; the College quotes eight minutes on the train from London Bridge. By Tube, take the Jubilee line to North Greenwich and then the 188 bus or the river boat one stop. Buses 129, 177, 188, 199, 286 and 386 all stop within a short walk.

There is no visitor car park. Blue Badge parking is in the Park Row car park opposite the East Gate, and there is paid parking at Park Row and Cutty Sark Gardens. Our guide to accessible London covers the wider position on parking and step-free routes.

Building a day around it

Give the College two to three hours with a tour, then decide. Greenwich Market is five minutes away for lunch, the park climbs behind it, and the river cruise back into town at the end of the afternoon is the natural way to finish.

One piece of timing to watch: the Royal Observatory at the top of the hill is open only until 2 November 2026, after which it closes for rebuilding, with the Meridian Courtyard due to reopen in summer 2027. If seeing the meridian line matters to you, do it before then.

For Wren elsewhere, St Paul's Cathedral is the obvious comparison, and the Monument is his and Hooke's together. If you want to stay in the area rather than commute to it, see staying in Greenwich.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the Old Royal Naval College cost?

General admission is £19 for an adult, which covers the Painted Hall, the Chapel, the Discover Greenwich museum, the daily talks and tours and the multimedia guide. Children aged 16 and under are free, up to four per paying adult. Concessions are £9.50 and a Universal Credit day ticket is £2. The grounds are free.

Is the Painted Hall free?

No, the Painted Hall needs a general admission ticket, which costs £19 for an adult. The grounds, the riverside lawn and the colonnades are free and open daily from 8am to 11pm, and the Chapel is described as open daily to all. The Discover Greenwich museum can be visited alone for £3.

How long do you need at the Old Royal Naval College?

Two to three hours is right if you take one of the included tours and use the multimedia guide in the Painted Hall. Allow longer if you are also doing the Skittle Alley, the Nelson Room and the Discover Greenwich museum, and remember that last entry is at 4.30pm.

Is the Old Royal Naval College wheelchair accessible?

Partly, and less than usual at the moment: the lift to the Painted Hall is out of order because of a technical fault, leaving several flights of steps to reach the hall. The grounds are level. Contact the College before travelling to check the current position and to arrange Blue Badge parking at Park Row.

How do you get to the Old Royal Naval College from central London?

The DLR to Cutty Sark is quickest, a few minutes' walk from the site. The river bus runs every 20 minutes and takes about 20 minutes from Tower Pier and 25 from London Bridge Pier. Trains from London Bridge and Cannon Street reach Greenwich station, an 11-minute walk away.

Sources

• Old Royal Naval College - Plan a visit and ticket prices (checked September 2026)
• Old Royal Naval College - Opening times and closures (checked September 2026)
• Old Royal Naval College - Talks and tours (checked September 2026)
• Old Royal Naval College - Explore what's here (checked September 2026)
• Old Royal Naval College - How to get here (checked September 2026)
• Royal Museums Greenwich - Plan your visit (checked September 2026)