The Royal Observatory in Greenwich closed on 2 November 2026 for a rebuilding project, and the whole site is shut: you cannot stand on the Prime Meridian line or visit the planetarium on the hill. Almost everything else in Greenwich is open, two of the four museums are free, and the planetarium shows now run down the hill inside the National Maritime Museum.
Royal Museums Greenwich, which runs the Observatory, calls the project First Light. It began in autumn 2025, and the museum says the building work is due to be complete by spring 2028. That is the end of construction, not an announced reopening. The only part with a published return is the Meridian Courtyard, where the famous line is set into the ground, which is due back in summer 2027.
This page is for anyone planning a Greenwich day while that work goes on. For the Observatory itself, its history and what it held, see our guide to the Royal Observatory and Cutty Sark; for the area as a whole, the Greenwich neighbourhood guide. Here we cover what is open, where the astronomy went, what a day costs, and what to check before you travel.
Greenwich during the Observatory closure
- Royal Observatory
- Closed, whole site, since 2 November 2026. No reopening date for the whole site
- Meridian Courtyard
- Due to reopen in summer 2027; the museum says tickets go on sale in January (checked November 2026)
- National Maritime Museum
- Free, daily 10am-5pm
- Queen's House
- Free, daily 10am-5pm, some rooms close on scheduled dates
- Cutty Sark
- Adult £22, child £11, under-4s free; daily 10am-5pm, last entry 4.15pm (November 2026)
- Planetarium shows
- At the National Maritime Museum: experience plus show £18 adult, £16 child; experience only £8 (November 2026)
- Painted Hall
- Adult £19, children 16 and under free (up to four per paying adult); daily 10am-5pm. Closed all day 16-19 November 2026 (checked November 2026)
- Greenwich Park
- Free. Pedestrian gates 6am-6pm in November 2026; hours change with the season
What exactly is shut, and what is not
The closed area is the Observatory's walled site at the top of Greenwich Park. That covers the Meridian Courtyard, Flamsteed House, the galleries with John Harrison's sea clocks, the Great Equatorial Telescope and the Peter Harrison Planetarium. The planetarium had already been closed for refurbishment before the rest of the site followed.
Outside those walls, nothing has changed. The park is run by the Royal Parks, not the museum, and it stays open: the slope, the terrace by the General Wolfe statue with the view across the river, the Flower Garden and the deer enclosure. Our Greenwich Park guide walks through it. Down the hill, the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House and the Cutty Sark are all open daily, and so are the Painted Hall and Chapel at the Old Royal Naval College, which is a separate charity.
Some Royal Museums Greenwich pages still read as if the Observatory were open. In November 2026 the project page still said the site was open "until 2 November 2026", and the Astronomers Take Over page still suggested visiting the Observatory and the museum together. The opening-times page is the one that was correct: it lists the Royal Observatory as temporarily closed. Trust that page, and ignore any combined ticket that claims to include the Observatory until the museum says otherwise.
Photo: Acabashi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized
Where the planetarium shows went
While the Observatory is closed, the museum runs its astronomy programme inside the National Maritime Museum under the name Astronomers Take Over. It is a staffed, hands-on space on the lower floor, divided into zones: a lounge where you can talk to the Observatory's own astronomers, a Mars zone where you aim a lander at a crater, a Moon room, a "galaxy box" you walk through, a spectroscope you can look through, a scavenger hunt for objects that astronauts took into space, and a small planetarium.
The planetarium is the part that replaces the dome on the hill. The museum describes it as a "more intimate space", and the shows last 30 minutes, presented by an astronomer. Each show has its own age rule, which matters if you are travelling with children of different ages.
| Planetarium show (November 2026) | Who it is for |
|---|---|
| Animals in Space! | Under-5s with an adult; adults without children are not admitted |
| Solar System Sightseeing | Over-5s; younger children are not admitted |
| The Night Sky | Over-7s; a live guide to the sky on the day of your visit |
| Cosmic Journey | Over-11s |
Tickets are either the experience alone, at £8 for any age, or the experience with a planetarium show, at £18 for an adult and £16 for a child. Members get 25 per cent off. Dates and times vary, so the booking calendar is the only reliable guide. Our page on the National Maritime Museum covers the rest of the building and how long it takes.
The same building also carries most of the Observatory's other public work during the closure: the evening astronomy courses, the Flamsteed Astronomy Society lectures and the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition, which in November 2026 cost £12 for an adult and £6 for a child.
A free Greenwich day without the meridian
The honest summary is that Greenwich lost its most photographed spot but kept most of what fills a day. If you spend nothing at all, you still get two national museums, a royal park and one of the best views in London.
- Morning: the National Maritime Museum. Open at 10am. The free galleries take one to two hours; with children, the play areas can double that.
- Late morning: the Queen's House. Two minutes away across the lawn, free, with the Tulip Stairs and the Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I. Our Queen's House guide lists what to look for.
- Lunch: the covered market in the town centre is the obvious choice; our guide to Greenwich Market explains which days it is fullest.
- Afternoon: up the hill. The climb to the terrace takes about 15 minutes from the museum. The Observatory buildings are behind a wall, but the view is from the park side, so you lose nothing by it.
- Before dark: the river. Walk back down to the Cutty Sark, look at the ship from outside, and if you have time, walk under the Thames through the Greenwich foot tunnel for the view back from Island Gardens.
For a second free view without crowds, Point Hill is a short walk west, and Blackheath sits on the far side of the park if you want to leave by a different station.
A paid day, and what it costs a family
If you want to fill the gap the Observatory left, three paid things are open: the Cutty Sark, the Painted Hall and the astronomy experience. They are all within ten minutes' walk of each other, and they make a full day.
| Two adults and two children aged 10 and 12 (prices read November 2026) | Cost |
|---|---|
| National Maritime Museum and Queen's House | Free |
| Astronomers Take Over with a planetarium show (2 × £18, 2 × £16) | £68 |
| Cutty Sark (2 × £22, 2 × £11) | £66 |
| Painted Hall (2 × £19, children free) | £38 |
| All three paid sites | £172 |
That is more than most families will want to spend in one day, and it does not need to be done in one. The cheapest way to cut it is to drop the planetarium and take the experience alone, at £8 each, which saves £36 for this family. The Painted Hall ticket can be converted into an annual pass at no extra cost, which helps if you might come back after the Meridian Courtyard reopens.
Of the three, we would put the Painted Hall first for adults: it is the most remarkable interior in Greenwich, and our guide to the Old Royal Naval College explains why. For children under about ten, Astronomers Take Over is the better spend, because it is built around talking and touching rather than reading. The ship is the one to choose if the family wants a single big ticket; the Cutty Sark guide covers what is inside.
Children under 17 see the Painted Hall free. The Old Royal Naval College lets up to four children aged 16 and under in with each paying adult, so for a family it costs the same as for a couple.
If the meridian was the reason for your trip
Be clear with yourself about this before you travel. The marked line, the classic photograph of standing with one foot in each hemisphere, is inside the closed courtyard. There is no publicly accessible replacement on the Observatory site, and we would not cross London expecting one.
If the meridian matters more than anything else, wait for the Meridian Courtyard. The museum's published plan is that it returns in summer 2027, with tickets going on sale in January. Until those tickets are actually on sale, treat the date as a plan rather than a booking.
If you are in London now and astronomy is the draw, Astronomers Take Over is a real alternative rather than a consolation. You meet and question the astronomers who work for the Observatory, and the museum's evening courses run through the winter and spring of 2027.
What to check before you go
Greenwich is a place where things close at short notice for events and repairs, and this closure makes the planning more fragile. Four checks cover most of it.
- The Royal Museums Greenwich opening-times page, which lists the status of all four sites and links to the closure lists for each. Rooms in the Queen's House close on scheduled dates.
- The Astronomers Take Over booking calendar, because show times and ages vary from day to day.
- The Old Royal Naval College closure list. In November 2026 it showed the Painted Hall shut all day from 16 to 19 November and from 3pm on 24 November, and the Chapel shut on 26 November.
- The Royal Parks page for Greenwich Park, for gate times and closures inside the park, such as the Rose Garden, which was closed for works from 10 to 23 November 2026.
For the journey, the DLR to Cutty Sark, the train to Greenwich or Maze Hill, and the river boat to Greenwich Pier all still work as before. Our guides to the DLR and London Overground and to the Thames Clippers boats compare them.
Is Greenwich still worth it, or should you go elsewhere?
Yes, for most visitors. The two free museums, the park and the riverside are the larger part of what Greenwich offers, and they are unchanged. The day is shorter without the Observatory, which some visitors will welcome.
The case for going elsewhere is narrow: if you have one day in London's outer areas and the meridian was the whole point, you will be disappointed. In that case our comparison of Greenwich and Richmond for a day out sets out the alternative.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Royal Observatory Greenwich open?
No. The whole Royal Observatory site has been closed since 2 November 2026 for the First Light rebuilding project. Royal Museums Greenwich has given no reopening date for the whole site; only the Meridian Courtyard has a published return, due in summer 2027.
Can I still stand on the Prime Meridian line?
Not while the Meridian Courtyard is closed, because the marked line is inside it. The museum plans to reopen the courtyard in summer 2027 and says tickets will go on sale in January. Check the Royal Museums Greenwich site for confirmed dates before booking travel around it.
Where is the Greenwich planetarium now?
The planetarium shows are running inside the National Maritime Museum as part of Astronomers Take Over, not at the Observatory. A ticket with a show costs £18 for an adult and £16 for a child, and each show has its own minimum or maximum age.
Is the National Maritime Museum open during the closure?
Yes. The National Maritime Museum and the Queen's House are both open daily from 10am to 5pm and both are free. Only special exhibitions and Astronomers Take Over are charged.
When will the Royal Observatory fully reopen?
No date has been published. The museum says building work is due to be complete by spring 2028, but that is the end of construction, not a reopening announcement. Watch the Royal Museums Greenwich site for news.
Sources
- Royal Museums Greenwich - First Light: Transforming the Royal Observatory (checked November 2026)
- Royal Museums Greenwich - Opening times (checked November 2026)
- Royal Museums Greenwich - Tickets and prices (checked November 2026)
- Royal Museums Greenwich - Astronomers Take Over (checked November 2026)
- Royal Museums Greenwich - Royal Observatory (checked November 2026)
- Old Royal Naval College - Opening times and closures (checked November 2026)
- Old Royal Naval College - Plan a visit and ticket prices (checked November 2026)
- The Royal Parks - Greenwich Park (checked November 2026)