How to get to St Paul’s Cathedral

The approach I would choose

Come over the Millennium Bridge. Everyone else pops up out of the Central line and meets the building side-on; the bridge lines you up with the west front from across the river and the dome grows as you walk. It takes ten minutes from Tate Modern and costs nothing. If the weather is against you, St Paul’s station on the Central line is the shortest walk of any of them, and Blackfriars and City Thameslink both put you a few minutes south of the churchyard.

Arriving, entering, timing

Doors open at 8.30am Monday to Saturday and the last sightseeing entry is usually 4pm, so the useful window is narrower than a normal attraction day — see the opening hours. Book online rather than joining the queue in the churchyard. Bags over 45cm × 30cm × 25cm cannot come in and there is no left luggage, which matters if you are arriving from a station with a case; the rest of the rules are on the photography and rules page. Guided walks that end inside the cathedral meet elsewhere in London — the private option meets at the National Firefighters Memorial on Carter Lane at Peter’s Hill, a minute from the south side. See private tours.

Frequently asked questions