Windsor Castle is £32 booked ahead, the Long Walk costs nothing and the Guildhall museum £5. Eleven things to do across the borough, prices checked this week.

Windsor is a day out that can cost £32 a head or nothing at all, depending entirely on which side of the castle wall you stay. Below are eleven things to do across the Royal Borough, from the castle itself to a Spitfire simulator in a Maidenhead side street, with every price and opening time read off the venue’s own site on 10 August 2026.

The castle, and the free version of it

Windsor Castle

The oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, and the reason most people come. Adult admission is £32 booked in advance or £36 on the day, so booking saves £4 a head. Guided extras cost more: castle admission with the Great Kitchen tour is £40 in advance, and with the Conquer the Tower tour £42.

Book at rct.uk/visit/windsor-castle. Check opening days before travelling, because the castle closes at short notice for royal and state occasions.

The Long Walk and Windsor Great Park

Free. The Long Walk runs three miles from the castle’s George IV Gate to the Copper Horse statue on Snow Hill, and the view back down it is the one on the postcards. Windsor Great Park charges for car parking, for entry to the Savill Garden and for Adventure Play tickets, and for nothing else, so walking in from the town costs you nothing.

Start at the bottom of Park Street in Windsor and you are on it within five minutes of the castle.

The Savill Garden

Thirty-five acres of designed garden at the Englefield Green end of the Great Park. Adult admission is £13.50 booked in advance online up to 9am on the day, or £17.50 if you turn up and pay, a £4 penalty for spontaneity. Children aged 5 to 15 are £6 in advance and £7 on the day, toddlers aged 2 to 4 are free and carers are free. Car parking is free for the day with paid garden entry, but you have to get the ticket validated by staff before you leave.

Museums and galleries

Windsor Guildhall Museum

The borough’s own museum, on the ground floor of the Guildhall on the High Street, and the visit includes a self-guided tour of the upstairs rooms, among them the room where King Charles III and Queen Camilla were married. The collection runs from a 100,000-year-old mammoth tusk to a model of the Hawker Hurricane, designed by Windsor-born Sydney Camm.

Adults £5. Under 16s free. RBWM Advantage Card holders and carers free. Open Sunday 11am to 2pm, Tuesday and Wednesday 10am to 4pm. The gallery notes one change for this week: it opens on Monday 10 August 2026 instead of Tuesday 11 August. Audio guides run in seven languages and you will need your own phone and headphones.

Maidenhead Heritage Centre, and the Spitfire

The best value hour in the borough. The centre at 18 Park Street, Maidenhead SL6 1SL holds the national collection of the Air Transport Auxiliary, the wartime ferry pilots, a quarter of whom were women, who flew new aircraft from factory to squadron.

Adults 16 to 65 £4, concessions £3, children 11 to 16 £3, under 10s free. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm. There is a live offer worth knowing about: free admission for Royal Borough residents with proof of address until the end of August 2026.

Then there is the Spitfire flight simulator, a full-size cockpit you actually fly. £35 for 30 minutes or £60 for 60 minutes, and the price includes admission for the pilot and two spectators. Book ahead on 01628 780555.

Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham

A converted Methodist chapel in the village Spencer painted for most of his life, holding the largest collection of his work anywhere. Adults £9, or £10 including the voluntary donation. Aged 18 to 25, Art Fund members and RBWM Advantage Card holders £4.50. Under 18s and carers free.

Open every day 10.30am to 4.30pm until 4 November 2026, last entry 4pm, then Thursday to Sunday 11am to 4.30pm through the winter. The current exhibition, Love and Landscape: Stanley Spencer in Suffolk, runs to 1 November 2026. High Street, Cookham SL6 9SJ, a ten-minute level walk from Cookham station, with free two-hour on-street parking and a free car park nearby.

Racing, theatre and the river

What things to do in and around Windsor cost for one adult: the Long Walk free, Windsor Guildhall Museum £5, Maidenhead Heritage Centre £4, Stanley Spencer Gallery £9, Savill Garden £13.50 in advance, Ascot Racecourse from £19, Royal Windsor Racecourse from £21, Legoland from £34.13 online, Windsor Castle £32 in advance
One adult, cheapest published price, checked 10 August 2026.

Royal Windsor Racecourse

Flat racing on an island in the Thames, a mile from the town centre, and the Monday Night Racing series is the local institution. Early bird general admission starts from £21, and the course has confirmed 26 fixtures for 2026.

August is busy: the 80s Racenight on Monday 10 August has gates at 15.45 and the first race at 17.45, Madness play live after racing on Thursday 13 August, then Five Live on 14 August, Summertime Live on 15 August, an Elton John tribute racenight on 17 August and the Summer Saturdays closing party on 29 August. A Peter Pan drone light show follows on 3 October.

Ascot Racecourse

Six miles south, and open long after Royal Ascot has packed up. Advance admission starts from £19 for the Big Ascot Food and Wine racedays on 4 and 5 September and the BetMGM Autumn Friday raceday on 2 October, rising to £24 on 3 October and £34 for Qatar British Champions Day on 17 October. The Fireworks Spectacular family raceday on 31 October is from £29, and the Ladbrokes November Friday raceday on 20 November is listed from free.

Theatre Royal Windsor

A 1910 producing theatre on Thames Street, a hundred yards from the castle, running drama, comedy, dance and one of the better regional pantomimes, plus backstage tours. Programme and booking at theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk, box office 01753 853 888.

A boat on the Thames

French Brothers has run passenger boats from The Promenade at Windsor since 1974 and operates two public round trips from the town: a 40-minute circuit and a two-hour run. Sailing times vary by season, so check frenchbrothers.co.uk or call 01753 851900 before you walk down.

Legoland Windsor Resort

Two miles out on the Winkfield Road, and the borough’s biggest single visitor draw after the castle. The online saver ticket is from £34.13, against a £39 standard price, for visits between 25 June and 1 September 2026 with the summer VAT saving applied. Children under 90cm go free. Book at legoland.co.uk, because the gate price is higher and peak days sell out.

Doing it cheaply

If you want a full day in Windsor for under a tenner a head, the order is: walk the Long Walk from Park Street to the Copper Horse and back, which is a two-hour round trip and free; stop at the Guildhall Museum for £5; then walk to the bridge and across into Eton, which is also free and where the High Street is the best bit of window shopping in the borough.

Add the Maidenhead Heritage Centre at £4 on another day, free for Royal Borough residents until the end of August, and you have covered the two best local museums for £9.

Frequently asked questions

How much is Windsor Castle?

£32 for an adult booked in advance, £36 on the day. Adding the Great Kitchen tour takes it to £40 in advance, and the Conquer the Tower tour to £42.

What is there to do in Windsor for free?

The Long Walk and the wider Windsor Great Park are free to walk; the park only charges for parking, the Savill Garden and Adventure Play. Crossing the bridge into Eton is free. Under 16s get into the Guildhall Museum free, as do RBWM Advantage Card holders.

Is the Savill Garden cheaper if you book ahead?

Yes, by £4. £13.50 in advance against £17.50 on the day for an adult, and parking is free for the day once you have paid to go in.

What can you do in Windsor when it rains?

The castle, the Guildhall Museum, Theatre Royal Windsor, the Maidenhead Heritage Centre and its Spitfire simulator, and the Stanley Spencer Gallery at Cookham are all indoors.

How much is racing at Windsor?

Early bird general admission to Monday Night Racing starts from £21. Ascot, six miles away, starts from £19 for its September and October Friday fixtures.

What is there to do with children?

Legoland from £34.13 online with under 90cm free; Adventure Play in Windsor Great Park; the Spitfire simulator at Maidenhead, which takes a pilot plus two spectators for £35; the boat trips from The Promenade; and the Long Walk, where the deer are usually visible from the path.

Sources

Every price and opening time above was read from the venue’s own site on 10 August 2026. Venues change prices and close for events, so confirm before you travel, especially for the castle.

Driving in? Windsor roadworks and parking has every council car park tariff, including why River Street costs £30 a day and Alexandra Gardens £19.