🏛️ 528 Steps to the best view of London: a guide to St Paul's Cathedral

The climb to the dome of St Paul's Cathedral takes 528 steps. From the top you can see the entire eastern part of London, and the staircase is included in the standard admission ticket (as of 09/2026, official website). The catch is something else: the galleries close to visitors at 4:15 PM, on Sundays you cannot go inside, and in summer the security line stretches to half an hour.

Below is practical information for your visit: opening hours, ticket prices, the three dome levels, and the main things to see inside, from the crypt with the tomb of architect Christopher Wren to the tower with the Great Paul bell.

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What to know before your visit

💡 In short:

Visiting runs Monday through Saturday from 8:30 AM, last entry is usually at 4:00 PM.
The dome galleries open at 9:30 AM, last entry at 4:15 PM (as of 09/2026, opening hours).
On Sundays the cathedral is open only for services, tourists are not admitted.
Prices and opening hours: 09/2026, verified on the official website

The address is short: St Paul's Churchyard, EC4M 8AD.

On weekdays before 10 AM the nave is almost empty, so you can climb to the galleries without crowds. On Wednesdays the cathedral opens later, at 10:00 AM, due to morning service. Aim for a Tuesday or Thursday morning and check the cathedral calendar in advance: hours change (as of 09/2026, visit page).

The cathedral is an active place of worship. Leave shorts and bare shoulders for the park, and bags are checked at the entrance: suitcases and large backpacks are not allowed. Bring cash or a card for the gift shop, which operates near the exit.

Tickets and prices (as of 09/2026)

Ticket	Price	What's included
Adult	£27	Cathedral, crypt, multimedia guide
Children 6-17	£10.50	Cathedral, crypt, guide
Family, 2 adults and 2-3 children	from £37.50	Cathedral, crypt, guide
Dome galleries	included	528 steps to the Golden Gallery

Prices verified on the cathedral tickets page. The ticket is valid all day: you can leave for lunch and come back. The dome, crypt, and audio guide are already included in the price, no extra charge for the climb.

Time slots for specific entry times sell out quickly, especially Saturdays from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Fast-track entry ticket to St Paul's Cathedral on GetYourGuide helps you skip the general line.

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History: four cathedrals on one site

The first church here was built in 604, when the Anglo-Saxon king Saebert was baptized. It was wooden, stood on the bank of the Thames, and burned down in 675. The church was rebuilt twice, and both times fire destroyed the structure, in 962 and 1087 (cathedral history).

The Normans began building again in 1087. This is how Old St Paul's Cathedral came to be: construction went on for decades, the unfinished building suffered damage in the fire of 1136, and work was completed only by 1240. During that time the Romanesque style gave way to Gothic.

By 1314 the cathedral stretched to 178 meters and became the second tallest structure in England, its spire rising to 149 meters. Engravers sketched its silhouette, because the exact location of the old building remained a mystery for a long time. Excavations in 1878 showed that the present cathedral stands on the foundations of the old one, but with an offset. The remains of Old St Paul's were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 (timeline per the cathedral archive).

How the modern cathedral was built

During the Reformation, in the second quarter of the 16th century, services in Old St Paul's ceased. The royal treasury seized the abbey's property, the furnishings were destroyed, and the plate was looted. Lightning struck the spire in 1561, and Londoners took it as a sign from above. The Catholic cathedral fell into decay and was dismantled for the construction of the Duke of Somerset's palace.

The Church of England needed a new symbol of faith. A classical west front was added to the half-ruined nave, and the mathematician Christopher Wren caught the attention of the bishops. In July 1668 he submitted his first design, intended to "raise the glory of the city and the nation," but the proposal was rejected. Only the third design, from 1675, was approved (stages per reconstruction data).

The authorities introduced a coal tax to pay for the construction and hired workers to quarry stone on the Isle of Portland off the north coast of the English Channel. The causeway between the island and Britain was turned into a rubble breakwater, along which the strongest limestone of the British Isles was transported. Portland stone was used for capitals, column shafts, window openings, niches, architrave beams, and foundation blocks. It was also used for cladding and for carving most of the sculptures you see on the facades today.

The last piece of masonry was laid in October 1708, and full completion of the building was declared three years later. The installation of the parapet sculptures in the 1720s is considered the final stage of the exterior work, while the interior decoration continued for another two centuries.

The names of the craftsmen survive. Francis Bird carved the pediment relief, the font, and the sculptures of saints and angels; Grinling Gibbons worked on the wooden choir stalls; James Thornhill painted the dome; Jean Tijou did the ironwork; Sir William Richmond designed the mosaic of the "sails" between the arches; and the altar and chandeliers were made by Stephen Bower and Godfrey Allen.

Structure and style: Wren's engineering challenge

The cathedral dome rises to 111 meters and remained a landmark for all of London until the 1960s (height data per sources on the cathedral). It was the Church of England's answer to Catholic Rome, where St. Peter's Basilica stands. Building the way Michelangelo did was not yet possible in England at the time, but the scale proved comparable.

Aerial view of St Paul's Cathedral with dome and towers

Christopher Wren brought together all the construction achievements of his era in one building. He took flying buttresses from Gothic architecture but hid them behind sheer walls. The triple-layered dome repeats Brunelleschi's idea, whose dome had two shells, hence the visible ribbing of the sphere. Wren's lead roof is supported by a frame that rests on the intermediate masonry and carries the molded lead.

The crypt was made extremely strong around the entire perimeter, with a margin for groundwater in the shifting sands of the London riverbank. The frequent fluting, meaning the grooves and their returns, does not reach down to the drum of the dome, and this places the building in the Baroque style. The round windows of the bell towers, the balustrades along the rooflines, the arched niches, the ressauts, and the twelve-sided plans of the towers also belong to that style.

In the decoration Wren used non-canonical pea pods, sunflowers, and corn cobs. The interior reveals a commitment to Romanesque and Byzantine styles. The creator of English Baroque was the first to be buried in the crypt, and his tombstone reads: "Look around, everywhere I am."

The dome from outside and the three galleries

The giant dome rests on a peristyle that reads from a distance as a light rotunda. The effect comes from paired pilasters and false windows, while the "Stone Gallery" masks the ring of flying buttresses, which cannot be walked through.

Dome of St Paul's Cathedral against the London skyline

Three levels lead upward (as of 09/2026, gallery data). The internal Whispering Gallery is at the 257th step, the external Stone Gallery at the 376th, and the Golden Gallery at the 528th. The higher you go, the narrower and steeper the steps become, and the whole climb takes about an hour. The climb is not suitable for people with limited mobility or small children, but you get a view over the whole City.

Small windows above the balustrade light the built-in brick cone, and light from the circular openings falls on eight internal windows. The dome is crowned by a lantern with the Golden Gallery level and the Golden Cross.

The dome from inside: painting and light

Eight ceiling windows gather light into a beam that travels to the floor and symbolizes the Holy Spirit. The dome painting is also divided into eight parts, executed in grisaille, meaning without color.

The subject depicts the life of the Apostle Paul. Paul the Pharisee is blinded for his unbelief; after meeting Christ and being baptized, he is healed, preaches in the synagogue, travels to Cyprus, and converts the proconsul Sergius. In the final painting Paul dies at the hands of the Romans. The gilded ornaments of the dome ring continue the decoration of the nave, and the blue mosaics blend with the azure of the sky in the windows, making the dome seem to float.

West facade and two towers

The design did not include towers on the west facade; the idea came up during construction. One tower is decorated with a clock, and until 1969 its mechanism was wound by hand. Hidden here too is a geometric staircase to the library, not a spiral one, which leads up to the Chapel of All Souls.

West front of the cathedral with two towers in the evening

The classical portico of the west facade is unusual for its two tiers. Paired columns make the facade visually lighter: with the same mass, it is filled with light and the play of shadows. Garlands above the windows echo the figures of the pediment and the niches with bas-reliefs. Statues of the apostles, bowls by the turrets, and cornices with the rhythm of triglyphs create a recognizable silhouette.

Interior: nave, mosaics, and organ

Nave of St Paul's Cathedral with checkered floor

In the first bay stands a granite font by the 18th-century sculptor F. Bird, a reminder of baptism by water. By tradition, only the Lord Mayor of the city may enter through the main door. On either side of the bowl are two chapels: the left one, St Dunstan's, for private services, and the right one named after Saints Michael and George.

The Venetian mosaics are monumental and interpret biblical figures in an unconventional way. Alongside characters from the Old and New Testaments, birds, beasts, fish, and mollusks appear in a naive style, so you find yourself studying not only the scene but also the details.

The sound in the cathedral is arranged cleverly: the organ pipes stand on two sides, so the choir and music can be heard while the instrument at the end of the hall remains out of sight. The stream of light from the apse stained-glass window works as a participant in the service. Near the crossing rises the pulpit, and opposite it is the organist's place. Four bays of the nave lead right up to the dome, and the same number to the apse. Openwork gates replace the usual iconostasis, and in the north part of the transept Holman Hunt's painting "The Light of the World" is displayed.

Apse and the American Memorial Chapel

In the apse, the face of Christ appears three times: on the mosaic panel among the archangels, on the stained-glass window, and on the altar canopy. The Messiah is not standing but walking toward the congregation across the silver dome of the altar. In the fresco, the Almighty is shown as God the Son and God the Father in one person, and there is no sculpture of the crucifixion here.

Evening panorama of London with Tower Bridge

Just behind the altar is the American Memorial Chapel. It is dedicated to the US service members who died for England in World War II.

Monuments and memorials

Wellington's tomb in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral

Monuments to distinguished Britons stand on both sides of the main nave, in the side aisles. On the left rises the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, honored for the victory at Waterloo, and in the north transept is the Middlesex Regiment Chapel. Further in, near the altar, stands Henry Moore's sculpture "Mother and Child."

The statue of Viscount Nelson opens the memorial row on the right. At the entrance to the south wing of the transept stands the Turner Memorial, and next to it is a monument to the poet John Donne, one of the first deans of the cathedral. In one of the apses rest the ashes of General Charles Gordon. In all there are about 200 burials here, marked by granite slabs with inscriptions, and walking on the slabs is permitted. Along the walls there are 67 monuments.

Crypt and burials

The crypt holds the tombs of the Duke of Wellington, Admiral Nelson, the painter William Turner, and the architect Christopher Wren. Meetings of the chivalric Order of the British Empire, founded by King George in 1917, are also held here. Banquets and memorial meals can be booked in a separate hall.

Sarcophagus of Admiral Nelson in the cathedral crypt

Clock and bells

Clock on the west tower of St Paul's Cathedral

The clock was made and installed by Smith of Derby in 1893; the dial is 5.3 meters in diameter (bell details per cathedral information). The clock tower serves as the bell tower: the first bells were cast in 1717, and the heaviest weigh 600 and 1,500 kilograms and strike the quarter hours. In the twin tower opposite hang 12 smaller bells used for change ringing.

The largest bell was cast in 1881; it weighs 16.5 tons and is named Great Paul. It is the largest bell in the British Isles, and its job is to strike the first hour after noon. Its "sibling" Great Tom sounds every hour and at memorial services for members of the royal family. It was tolled on the day of the death of US President James Garfield and in 2002 for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

What to see near the cathedral

The cathedral stands in the center of the City, so London's main attractions are within walking distance or a couple of Tube stops away.

Tower of London and the Crown Jewels

The medieval fortress on the banks of the Thames served as both a royal residence and a prison. Today it displays the royal regalia and the arms collection in the White Tower. A Tower of London ticket on GetYourGuide includes separate entry without the general queue.

Tower of London from the River Thames on a sunny day

Tower Bridge

The Victorian bridge with two towers opened in the late 19th century, and the middle spans are raised for ships. Inside, there is an exhibition about its construction and panoramic walkways above the Thames. A Tower Bridge ticket gives you priority entry.

The London Eye observation wheel

The Ferris wheel on the south bank lifts its capsules to bird's-eye height and gives you a circular view of the city. A full rotation takes about half an hour. A London Eye ticket comes either for a standard time slot or with fast-track entry.

Panoramic view of London with the Thames and bridges from above

Westminster Abbey

The Gothic abbey in Westminster is tied to the coronations of British monarchs and the burial places of writers and scientists. The royal throne used for ceremonies also stands here. A ticket with an audio guide lets you walk through the interior on a self-guided route.

Where it is and how to get there

The cathedral stands about half a kilometer from Blackfriars Bridge. From City Thameslink station, walk east along Fleet Street, and from St Paul's Underground station the entrance is about 100 meters toward the Thames. Buses 4, 11, 15, 23, 25, 26, 100, and 242 go directly to the cathedral.

Below is a map: it shows that the cathedral is surrounded by stops on all sides, so you can approach from either bank of the Thames.

⁉️🤔 Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to enter St Paul's Cathedral?

An adult ticket costs about £27 (as of 09/2026, ticket page). Children aged 6-17 pay about £10.50, and a family ticket starts from £37.50 (as of 09/2026, ticket page). The price already includes the crypt, access to the dome galleries, and a multimedia guide, so you don't need to pay anything extra.

Is climbing the dome mandatory for a visit?

No, but it gives you the best view. The climb takes about an hour and is not suitable for people with limited mobility. If you don't have the energy for it, explore the cathedral from below: the nave, mosaics, and crypt are also included in the ticket.

Is the cathedral open on Sundays?

On Sundays the cathedral is open only for services, and tourist visits are not available. Tourists are admitted Monday through Saturday from 8:30, the last entry for sightseeing is usually at 16:00, and the dome galleries are open until 16:15 (as of 09/2026, cathedral schedule).

How to get to the cathedral by Tube?

The closest station is St Paul's on the Central line, it's a couple of minutes' walk from the exit to the cathedral.

When is the best time to come to avoid standing in line?

Go on a Tuesday or Thursday morning before 10 am: the nave is almost empty, and you can climb to the dome without the crowds. In summer and on Saturdays from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, time slots are the first to sell out, so buy a timed ticket online in advance.

Video: the history of building St Paul's Cathedral

The construction of the cathedral under the direction of Christopher Wren took several decades. This short video covers the construction timeline and explains how the triple-layered dome is built.

In short: what's worth booking

If you have one day in the City, get a fast-track ticket to the cathedral and climb to the dome in the morning while there's no line. Leave the Tower of London or a walk to Tower Bridge for the afternoon.

Want to combine several sights in one day? Compare London tickets and tours on GetYourGuide so you're not tied to a single time.

St Paul's Cathedral: tickets, dome and climbing to the viewing gallery