The Golden Gallery at the very top of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral is now open on Saturdays and later this month, school holidays, for people with a good head for heights to visit.
550 steps up, and back down again, through parts of the Cathedral that were never intended to be seen by the public, and then at the very top, a narrow walkway around the outside of the Dome.
For those who are wary of heights, there is the Stone Gallery about halfway up which is much easier to get to and still offers good views across London.
The climb to the top of the Dome is part of the main entry ticket to the Cathedral, which is currently open from 12pm to 4:30pm Mon-Sat.
If you want to climb the Dome, best to arrive early after lunch as it takes a decent amount of time to get up, and back down again, and due to covid crowd controls, the already limited number of people able to climb up at once are further restricted. You don’t want to be stuck in a queue.
The Dome is currently open on Saturdays but will also be open during the week for the summer school holidays (24th July to 4th September 2021).
You need to book tickets in advance, from here.
Entry is: adults £17, Concessions £15, Children (6-17) £7.20, Families (2 adults) £41.20 and Families (1 adult) £29.
However, if you want repeat visits, then it can make more sense to join the Friends, which gives you unlimited repeat visits as well as other goodies for just £30. Details here.
As a child, I was taken up beyond the Golden Gallery to a vertical ladder, at the top of which one was directly underneath the Golden Ball and Cross. I don’t think there has been public access to this for years.
I went with my brother. Probably about 11 then, up a ladder to peer into the golden ball. Nobody believed me until I saw this.
Is the whispering gallery the same as the dome? Can you still climb to the top? I’m a bit confused about what we will be able to do when we visit first week of June 2022.