Your £19 ticket becomes a year’s unlimited entry, and it costs nothing extra to make the swap.
“Purchase a General Admission ticket to the Painted Hall for £19. Convert it to an Annual Pass for no extra cost to give you unlimited entry for a whole year.”
No upgrade fee, no second transaction, no higher tier. The same £19, converted, covers the Painted Hall, the tours and the exhibitions for twelve months.
Which makes the only wrong move not asking. If you buy the ticket and walk away without converting it, you have paid the same money for one visit.
£2 if you claim Universal Credit
Among the cheapest access rates in London, and it sits in a plain list on the visit page.
Adults: £19.
Students, National Art Pass holders, and Armed Forces serving personnel and veterans: £9.50.
Universal Credit Day Ticket: £2.
Discover Greenwich Museum only: £3.
And free entry for:
Children aged 16 and under, up to four children per paying adult.
Royal Navy serving personnel and veterans.
Personal assistants and carers accompanying a person with a disability.
Proof of eligibility may be required for the concessions and the free tickets.
Four children free per adult is unusually generous, and it means a family of two adults and four children pays £38 for a year.
The lift to the Painted Hall is out of order
Checked on 6 October 2026, and it changes whether the visit is possible.
“Please note that lift to access the Painted Hall is currently out of order due to a technical fault.”
The steps involved, which the college lists:
7 steps to the King William Undercroft. 20 steps to the Lower Vestibule. 16 steps to the Main Vestibule.
That is 36 steps to reach the Painted Hall itself while the lift is down. If step-free access matters, check whether it has been repaired before travelling.
They publish the days it will be shut
More useful than almost anything else on their site, and almost nobody looks.
The Painted Hall closes for events, and the dates are listed in advance. Checked on 6 October 2026:
Sunday 11 October, all day.
Thursday 22 October, from 4pm.
Monday 26 October, from 1pm.
Wednesday 4 November, from 3pm.
Wednesday 16 to Saturday 19 November, all day.
Monday 8 to Thursday 11 February 2027, all day.
The Chapel has its own list: closed all day from Monday 26 to Friday 30 October, and all day on Thursday 26 November.
Note the overlap in late October, when the Chapel is shut for a week and the Painted Hall closes early twice. Check the list for your date.
The grounds are free and open fifteen hours a day
The split that makes this a free visit if you want it to be.
Painted Hall, Chapel and Visitor Centre: daily 10am to 5pm, last entry 4.30pm.
Grounds: daily 8am to 11pm.
Fifteen hours against seven, at no charge. The grounds are the riverside set-piece of Maritime Greenwich, and walking through them costs nothing at eight in the morning or ten at night.
The ticketed half has a 30 minute gap between last entry and closing, which is tight for a room people stand still in.
Everything is included once you are in
The ticket is better value than it first appears because nothing inside is extra.
600 Years of History Tours: daily, hourly from 11am to 3pm.
Painted Hall Talks: daily, every 30 minutes from 11am to 4pm.
Both are included and you join on the day, subject to availability. There are also accessible tours on selected dates.
Multimedia guides are included, and the college gives the language count as seven in one place and eight, including British Sign Language, in another. Either way it is unusually broad.
For children: a free activity booklet and Explorer Backpacks filled with sensory objects to borrow. The Skittle Alley and the Discover Greenwich museum are also covered.
Britain’s Sistine Chapel
The claim is the college’s own and the numbers behind it are real.
Designed by Sir James Thornhill and painted between 1707 and 1726, the Painted Hall covers more than 3,700 square metres of Baroque walls and ceilings with around 200 figures, including kings, queens and mythological creatures.
It was built as a dining room for the Greenwich Pensioners who lived at what was then the Royal Hospital, and became a tourist attraction so quickly that they ate there only on special occasions.
It reopened in 2019 after a two year, award-winning conservation project, which is why it looks the way it does now.
Eight minutes from London Bridge
The college sits in the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the train is faster than most people expect.
Eight minutes by train from London Bridge. Cutty Sark on the DLR is the other approach, and the river boats stop at Greenwich Pier.
That puts it a few minutes from Greenwich Market, the Cutty Sark and Greenwich Park, which is the obvious shape of a day here.
How to plan it
Convert the £19 ticket to an Annual Pass. It costs nothing and you have to ask.
On Universal Credit: £2.
Children 16 and under free, up to four per paying adult.
Check the closure dates before you travel. They are published well ahead.
Step-free access: the lift is out. 36 steps to the Painted Hall while it stays that way.
Last entry 4.30pm, half an hour before closing.
Free visit: the grounds, 8am to 11pm.
Join a talk, every 30 minutes from 11am, included.
Old Royal Naval College
- Address
- Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London SE10, in the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Nearest
- Cutty Sark on the DLR, Greenwich rail eight minutes from London Bridge, and Greenwich Pier for the river boats
- Hours
- Painted Hall, Chapel and Visitor Centre daily 10am to 5pm, last entry 4.30pm. Grounds daily 8am to 11pm. Painted Hall and Chapel close on published dates for events
- Booking
- Online or on arrival. Talks and tours are included and joined on the day, subject to availability
- Price
- Adults 19 pounds, convertible to an Annual Pass at no extra cost. Students, National Art Pass holders and Armed Forces personnel and veterans 9.50. Universal Credit day ticket 2 pounds. Discover Greenwich Museum only 3 pounds. Free for under 16s up to four per paying adult, Royal Navy personnel and veterans, and carers
- Standing
- The Painted Hall, painted by Sir James Thornhill between 1707 and 1726 across more than 3,700 square metres with around 200 figures, reopened in 2019 after a two year conservation project, plus the Chapel, Skittle Alley and Discover Greenwich museum
How to get in
A 19 pound general admission ticket converts to an Annual Pass for no extra cost, giving a year of unlimited entry, but you have to ask. A Universal Credit day ticket is 2 pounds and up to four children aged 16 and under go free per paying adult. Checked 6 October 2026 the lift to the Painted Hall is out of order, leaving 36 steps to reach it. The college publishes its event closure dates well in advance, including whole days in October, November and February 2027. The grounds are free and open 8am to 11pm.
Where to go next
Greenwich covers the rest of the day, and the Cutty Sark and Greenwich Market are both minutes away.
Greenwich Park runs up the hill behind it, and free things to do covers what else costs nothing.
Questions we get asked
How much is the Old Royal Naval College?
£19 for an adult, which converts to an Annual Pass at no extra cost for a year of unlimited entry. Students, National Art Pass holders and Armed Forces serving personnel and veterans pay £9.50, and there is a £2 Universal Credit day ticket. Children aged 16 and under go free, up to four per paying adult, as do Royal Navy personnel and veterans and carers.
Can you turn an Old Royal Naval College ticket into an annual pass?
Yes, and for no extra cost. The college states that a £19 General Admission ticket to the Painted Hall can be converted to an Annual Pass giving unlimited entry for a whole year, covering tours and exhibitions too. You have to ask for the conversion, so buying and leaving means paying the same money for one visit.
Is the Painted Hall wheelchair accessible?
Not currently. Checked on 6 October 2026 the lift to the Painted Hall is out of order due to a technical fault. The college lists 7 steps to the King William Undercroft, 20 to the Lower Vestibule and 16 to the Main Vestibule, so 36 steps in total while the lift is down. Check before travelling.
When is the Painted Hall closed?
It closes for events on published dates. Checked on 6 October 2026 those were Sunday 11 October all day, Thursday 22 October from 4pm, Monday 26 October from 1pm, Wednesday 4 November from 3pm, Wednesday 16 to Saturday 19 November all day, and Monday 8 to Thursday 11 February 2027 all day. The Chapel closes separately, including all day from 26 to 30 October.
Are the Old Royal Naval College grounds free?
Yes, and they are open daily from 8am to 11pm, fifteen hours a day, against the ticketed buildings' 10am to 5pm. The riverside grounds are the set-piece of Maritime Greenwich and cost nothing to walk through.
Are tours included at the Old Royal Naval College?
Yes, all of them. The 600 Years of History Tours run hourly from 11am to 3pm and Painted Hall Talks every 30 minutes from 11am to 4pm, all included in the ticket and joined on the day subject to availability. Multimedia guides are included too, with accessible tours on selected dates.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 365 in the guide.
Last checked 6 October 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
