Windsor and Eton

• 🌍 Royal Windsor Information Centre, The Old Booking Hall, Windsor Royal Shopping, Thames St, Windsor, ☏ +44 1753 743900. For further information on attractions, events, places to stay and things to do. 

Windsor and Eton is well served by London's collection of airports and actually under the flight-path of Heathrow. For travellers coming directly to Windsor, the most convenient (in declining order of convenience) are:

• Heathrow Airport (LHR ^IATA) is about 8 mi (13 km) drive straight down the M4 (westbound) motorway. Alternatively the First bus route 77 and First bus route 71 both connect Heathrow Terminal 5 and Windsor, the former quicker routing via Slough and the latter via Staines. They both leave approximately every half hour taking about 35 – 55 minutes.
• Gatwick Airport (LGW ^IATA) is about an hour's drive away via the M23 (northbound), M25 (clockwise), and M4 (westbound) motorways. With no through train or bus service, your best bet by public transport is to take the train into London and then follow the directions under Get in By Train below.
• Stansted Airport (STN ^IATA) is about 90 minutes drive away via the M11 (southbound), M25 (anti-clockwise) and M4 (westbound) motorways. With no through train or bus service, your best bet by public transport is to take the train into London and then follow the directions under Get in by train below.

In Windsor and Eton, there are two railway stations, 🌍 Windsor & Eton Central and 🌍 Windsor & Eton Riverside (☏ +44 8457 484950) (see the National Rail website for up-to-date information about stations, fares, and schedules). Both stations are within walking distance of each other and Windsor Castle. Assuming that you will be coming from London the choice of which route to use probably comes down to how far from Waterloo and Paddington stations you will stay; depart from the nearest.

• From London Waterloo – take any train to Windsor & Eton Riverside (two per hour, journey time approximately 50 min).
• From London Paddington – take any train calling at Slough, then change to the connecting shuttle service to Windsor & Eton Central (two per hour, journey time approximately 30 min from London if you pick the right train)
• From Reading – take any train to Slough. Change at Slough for the connecting rail service to Windsor & Eton Central.

• London Paddington (PAD) to Windsor & Eton Central (WNC) £9.40 single
• London Waterloo (WAT) to Windsor & Eton Riverside (WNR) £9.50 single
  • A return ticket costs £13.20 (as of 2013) regardless of which London station you come from or travel to. Nowhere else in England has seen such a steep rise in prices as this rail route, as the new fare system sees an increase of £4 for the return journey and is surely for operators to reap as much money from tourists eager to go to Windsor Castle.
  • Alternatively, if you do not mind mixing and matching tickets, or getting blank looks from ticket selling staff (you can avoid this by buying the tickets at the machine), you can lower the costs of the journey by buying a ticket from PAD to WAT (or vice versa) via Windsor [All Stations].
  • If you buy a return ticket from PAD to WAT via Windsor [All Stations], you should depart from PAD, change at Slough, and arrive at WNC. For the return journey, you can depart from WNR and arrive at WAT; you can also depart from WNC, change at Slough, and arrive at PAD. (If you choose to return from WNR, you can visit Windsor again on the same day (with trains in the opposite direction) or sell it to another person willing to go to Windsor, thus halving the cost of your journey to £4.20.)
  • If you buy a return ticket from WAT to PAD via Windsor [All Stations], you should depart from WAT and arrive at WNR. For the return journey, you can depart from WNR and arrive at WAT; you can also depart from WNC, change at Slough, and arrive at PAD. (If you choose to return from WNC, you can visit Windsor again on the same day (with trains in the opposite direction) or sell it to another person willing to go to Windsor, thus halving the cost of your journey to £4.20.)
  • A single ticket (which in fact covers a return journey) costs £5.30. You should only use this option if you do not mind departing London from one station and returning to another. If you include the Underground in your ticket, it costs only £4.30. For example, starting/finishing your journey at Marylebone (for the PAD part) or London Bridge (for the WAT part). You can get this ticket for as little as £2.80 if you buy it for the early morning hours, but then you may have to use private transit for a part of your journey in London.
  • If you buy a single ticket from PAD to WAT via Windsor [All Stations], you should depart from PAD, change at Slough and arrive at WNC. For the return journey, you should depart from WNR and arrive at WAT.
  • If you buy a single ticket from WAT to PAD via Windsor [All Stations], you should depart from WAT and arrive at WNR. For the return journey, you should depart from WNC, change at Slough, and arrive at PAD.

• From London (Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria): Greenline coach 700/701/702 (journey time approximately 1 hour).
• From London (Heathrow Airport): First 77 (journey time approximately 40 minutes).

Windsor is served by the M4 motorway (freeway) which runs from London to Bristol and South Wales. It is about an hour's drive from central London. The best junction to use is J6.

Park and ride facilities are available at 2 sites; see National Park and Ride Directory.

Windsor lies on National Cycle Route 4 (London — St David's).

There are numerous sightseeing tour companies that offer tours by coach from London to Windsor in a day and these tours can also include Stonehenge and Bath.

Neither Windsor nor Eton is desperately large and walking is a good way around the central area. For example it will take you no more than 15 minutes to walk from Eton College Chapel to Windsor Castle. Several streets, including Windsor Bridge and Peascod Street (the main shopping street) are pedestrianised. Short walk in central Windsor using map with pop-up images

Windsor has a reasonable bus service, both within the town and to the surrounding area, although frequencies can be quite low with little service in the evenings or on Sunday.

• First Berkshire, ☏ +44 1753 524144, provides most bus services in the area.
• Traveline, ☏ +44 870 608 2608 from within the UK, provide an impartial online travel planner and telephone query service for all local bus services.

Neither Windsor nor Eton is big enough to get really congested, although traffic delays can be severe on summer weekend mornings and evenings, when Legoland is popular, and on evenings when there is horse-racing at Windsor racecourse. One issue that you may find in driving around Windsor and Eton is that Windsor Bridge is for pedestrians only. To get between Windsor and Eton requires you to drive out to the Windsor by-pass, cross the river on that, then go most of the way into Slough before taking the old Windsor Road from that town back into Eton; it is easily quicker to walk.

These places to see are all within the central area of Windsor or within Eton just across Windsor Bridge. They are all within easy walking distance of each other, the main shopping centre and both railway stations.

• 🌍 Windsor Castle, ☏ +44 20 7766-7304, bookinginfo@royalcollection.org.uk. Daily (for exceptions see castle's website) 10:00AM-5:15PM (4:15PM Nov-Feb). The largest and oldest occupied castle in the world and still an official royal residence. You can visit much of the castle, including the magnificent State Apartments and St George's Chapel. The apartments are furnished with some of the finest works of art from the royal collection, including paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Canaletto and Gainsborough. To skip the long ticket line, buy tickets online a day or more in advance or if buying on the day arrive after noon to avoid the worst queues). Standard: adult £26.50 (Sa 28.50), young person (18-24) - £17.50 (Sa 18.50), child (5-17)/disabled - £14.50 (Sa 15.50), under 5 free. The family discount (up to £22) is automatically applied at checkout to bookings of at least 1 adult and 2 children, up to 2 adults and 4 children. 
  No photography or video recording in the State Apartments and St George's Chapel.
  • Changing of the Guard, Windsor Castle, ☏ +44 20 7766-7304, bookinginfo@royalcollection.org.uk. Daily or every two days (see website) 11AM (arrive early). The guards are stationed at Victoria Barracks and march up to and from the Castle accompanied by the guards band playing traditional military marches as well as popular songs. Free. 
• 🌍 Guildhall, High Street (by Windsor Parish Church). Built by Sir Christopher Wren, it is famous for its pillars, which were insisted on by the towns burgesses, even though Wren insisted they were unnecessary. To make his point, he built the pillars but ensured a gap was left between them and the roof they apparently support. 
• 🌍 Windsor Parish Church, High Street (by the Guildhall). St. John the Baptist, built 1822, replaced earlier church edifices that stood since 1084 on the site, 80 m from the Henry VIII Gate of Windsor Castle. Peter Scheemakers, famous for his sculptures in Westminster Abbey, created a memorial to Topham Foote or Foot, son of Samuel Foote and Arabella Topham Foote, that greets visitors using the High Street entrance. The memorial includes the young man's bust and the Foote crest. A second Scheemakers' memorial honours Topham Foote's mother and her second husband Thomas Reeve. Most tourists consider "The Last Supper" by Francis Cleyn a must-view. The painting and the frame were fully restored in 2003 under the leadership of Churchwarden Michael Harding. George III gave the painting and frame to Windsor Parish Church after it hung nearly a century in St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. 

• 🌍 Eton College, Eton, ☏ +44 1753 671177. see website, tours on Friday afternoon May - Sep only. The most prestigious school in the United Kingdom, and also one of the most expensive, but only admits boys. See School Yard and the College Chapel (building started in 1441 and one of the finest examples of 15th-century Perpendicular Gothic architecture). Walk around their extensive playing fields some of which are adjacent to the River Thames. Opening hours vary depending on time of year and school term; see 'Visits to Eton' topic on the Eton College website or see the website above. The Museum of Antiquities, Museum of Eton Life and Natural History Museum are open on Sun 2:30-5PM. There are also exhibitions that can be visited by advance arrangement. Tours £10. (updated Jun 2018)
• 🌍 Brocas Meadows, Eton. Just across Windsor Bridge. These attractive meadows offer a spectacular view across the river of Windsor and the Castle. Free. 

These places to see are a little further out; some are accessible by longer walks, others will require the use of car, bike or public transport.

• 🌍 Windsor Great Park. Daily sunrise-sunset. A huge parkland area behind the castle and which includes The Long Walk, which runs from Windsor Castle past Old Windsor's western perimeter to the Copper Horse statue, Virginia Water lake, landscaped Valley Gardens and Savill Garden (below). Whilst some outer parts of the park are accessible by car, walking shows you more but be aware that from Windsor Castle, down the Long Walk and on to Virginia Water at the far side of the park is 5 mi (8.0 km). Be aware that bicycling is restricted to specific roads within the park and it is forbidden to even push a bike on The Long Walk. Free. (updated Sep 2018)
  • 🌍 Savill Garden (within Windsor Great Park 4 mi (6.4 km) from Windsor; grid reference SU977707), ☏ +44 1753 847518. Mar-Oct: daily 10AM-6PM, Nov-Feb: daily 10AM-4PM. The Savill Garden is a temperate woodland garden renowned for its rhododendrons and spring borders. Apr-May: £5.50 adults, £5 seniors, £2.50 children; these prices are discounted at other times of year. 
• 🌍 Legoland Windsor, Winkfield Road (2 mi (3.2 km) south east of Windsor on the B3022; grid reference SU942745), ☏ +44 870 504 0404. Apr-Oct: daily 10AM-5PM. Strictly for the kids, this is a Lego brick themed amusement park. Accessible by shuttle bus from central Windsor (call number above for details). Good theme park, aimed at younger children, with fewer rides, although it has many LEGO towns. Tickets: £30 adults, £23 kids. 
• 🌍 Runnymede, Windsor Road, near Old Windsor, SL4 2JL (6 mi (9.7 km) east of Windsor on the A308; grid reference TQ007720), ☏ +44 1784 432891, runnymede@nationaltrust.org.uk. Accessible by road or catch First bus 41 (runs approximately every 30 minutes M-Sa only; alight at the Bells of Ouzely pub; see Get around above for bus company details). Runnymede is an attractive area of riverside meadows, grassland and broad-leaved woodland and rich in flora and fauna; albeit somewhat disturbed by a rather busy road. Perhaps more importantly it was on this site, in 1215, that King John sealed the Magna Carta. Because of its historical connections, Runnymede is the site of several memorials amongst the trees of the slopes of Coopers Hill: 

• 🌍 Air Forces Memorial, Runnymede. Commemorates the men and women of the Allied Air Forces who died during the Second World War and records the names of the 20,456 airmen who have no known grave. From the top of the tower visitors can see long views over Windsor, the surrounding counties and, somehow appropriately, aircraft taking off and landing at Heathrow. 
• 🌍 John F. Kennedy Memorial, Runnymede. The British memorial to the assassinated US president consists of a Portland Stone memorial inscribed with the famous quote from his inaugural address 'Let every Nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty'. Visitors reach the memorial by treading a steep path of irregular granite steps, intended to symbolise a pilgrimage. 
• 🌍 Magna Carta Memorial, Runnymede. A domed classical temple built by the American Bar Association and containing a pillar of English granite on which is inscribed 'To commemorate Magna Carta, symbol of Freedom Under Law'.