Warwick Castle: tickets, tours and how to plan the visit

A castle built to hold the Midlands

William the Conqueror established a motte-and-bailey castle at Warwick in 1068 to keep control of the Midlands as he moved north. The site was chosen for its natural defences: the castle stands on a sandstone bluff at a bend of the River Avon, and the river has eroded the rock into a cliff below the east side. Building it meant tearing down four houses belonging to the Abbot of Coventry.

In 1088 Henry de Beaumont was made the first Earl of Warwick, and the castle and earldom stayed with his family and their successors for centuries. During the reign of Henry II the wooden defences were replaced with a stone keep, a shell keep with the buildings set against the curtain wall.

The 14th-century refortification you walk through today

The most recognisable part of the castle dates from 1330 to 1360, when Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl, strengthened the north-east side with a gatehouse, a barbican and two towers, Caesar's Tower and Guy's Tower. The Watergate Tower comes from the same period. Both great towers are residential, machicolated and vaulted in stone on every storey, and Caesar's Tower carries a unique double parapet, features that may have been inspired by French castles.

This phase came about because of the Hundred Years War with France, and it left Warwick one of the finest examples of 14th-century military architecture anywhere in England. When you climb the towers you are looking at defensive work, not decoration.

From stronghold to stately home to theme

The castle served as a stronghold until the early 17th century. In 1604 James I granted it to Sir Fulke Greville, who converted it into a country house. The Greville family, who became Earls of Warwick in 1759, owned it until 1978, when the Tussauds Group bought it. Since 2007 it has been operated by Merlin Entertainments under a renewable 35-year lease.

That history explains the split personality visitors notice: military architecture outside, a lived-in great house inside, and Merlin's live shows across the grounds. If you prefer your castles purely royal, Windsor Castle or Edinburgh Castle are different visits, but few sites pack towers, a river cliff and a trebuchet into one ticket the way Warwick does. It belongs high on any list of castles in England.

Inside the castle: the great house

Enter through the gatehouse and barbican, the 14th-century entrance built to make assault as hard as possible. Inside the walls the buildings are those of the Greville family's country house, with the great hall and state rooms fitted out in the centuries after 1604. This is where the castle's castle-versus-house character is most obvious, and it is worth slowing down here before the outdoor attractions pull you away.

The Castle Dungeon is a separate ticket on top of entry, so decide before you arrive if you want it. It is the scariest and most theatrical part of the site, and not everyone in a family group will want it.

The towers and walls

Climb Caesar's Tower and Guy's Tower, the two great residential towers of the 1330-60 rebuilding, both vaulted in stone on every storey. Caesar's Tower has the double parapet that makes it unique, and from the wall walk between the towers you get the best read on the defences: the gatehouse, the barbican and the river cliff doing the work nature started.

The wall circuit also shows you why the site was picked. The River Avon wraps around the east side, the bluff drops away, and only the town side ever needed serious masonry. From the top of the towers you can see over Warwick towards the countryside the earls controlled.

The grounds and the river

Below the walls the grounds run along the river, and this is where the live shows happen. Entry includes the birds of prey displays and, in season, the working trebuchet, a full-size siege engine that gives you some idea of what an assault on walls like these involved. Check the show times when you arrive and build your tower climbs around them.

The mound to the south-west of the castle is called Ethelfleda's Mound after Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great, whose burh defended the site from 914. It is in fact part of the later Norman fortifications, not Anglo-Saxon work, a detail the guides enjoy correcting.

Opening hours and booking

Typical hours are 10:00 to 17:00, and you should check the castle's website for your specific date before travelling. Prices are dynamic by date and the on-the-day gate price is the highest, so book the Warwick Castle admission ticket ahead. Entry includes the live shows, birds of prey and the trebuchet in season.

There is no dress code and the site is outdoors as much as in, so take a layer for the wall walks. If you want the Castle Dungeon, remember it is a separate ticket and parking is extra if you drive.

When it is quiet

Our estimate: weekday mornings outside school holidays are the calmest, particularly in the first hour after opening before the coach tours from London land mid-morning. The tours here arrive at the castle in the afternoon of a long day, so an independent visitor can front-run them.

Afternoon crowds concentrate around the show arenas, so a good pattern is to do the state rooms and towers early, then join the crowds for the birds of prey and trebuchet when the grounds fill. If your date falls in a school holiday, expect families throughout and accept that the towers will have queues.

Shows, concerts and seasonal events

Live shows are the reason many families pick Warwick over a purely historic castle. Entry includes them, and they run across the grounds rather than in one fixed place, so plan around the printed times of the day.

Concerts and seasonal events do take place at the castle but dates and details are not published in our sources. Check the castle's own website if an event is the reason for your visit.

By car and by train

The castle is about 1.6 km from Warwick railway station, a walk our estimate puts at around 20 minutes, and less than 3.2 km from junction 15 of the M40 motorway. Birmingham Airport is relatively close by. If you drive, remember that parking at the castle costs extra and is not part of the admission ticket.

Trains from London reach Warwick by way of the national network, and the walk from the station takes you through the town towards the river, with the towers visible as you approach. Coming from Birmingham you are closer still.

On a coach tour from London

Two coach days from London include Warwick Castle. The Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Cotswolds & Warwick Castle Day Trip meets at Victoria Coach Station, gates 1-5, at 08:00, runs 10.5 hours and puts castle entry on the inclusive option. The Oxford, Stratford, Cotswolds, and Warwick Day Trip departs from Golden Tours at the Bulleid Way departure point near Victoria, runs 10 to 11 hours and includes entry if you select that option.

Both combine Oxford on foot, Shakespeare's Stratford and the Cotswolds with the castle, which makes them the classic castle day trip from the capital. Neither includes lunch, and on both the Cotswolds are seen as a drive-through from the coach window rather than a stop.

Pairing Warwick with the surrounding country

Warwick works because of what surrounds it. Stratford-upon-Avon is 13 km south-west, the market town where Shakespeare was born and buried, drawing about 2.7 million visitors a year. The Cotswolds begin just south of Stratford, 787 square miles of Jurassic limestone hills and stone villages, designated a National Landscape since 1966.

If you are driving yourself, the sensible shape is castle in the morning, Stratford for the afternoon, and accept that the Cotswold villages need their own day. On a coach tour the order is decided for you, which is part of what you are paying for.

Three ways to spend the day

The admission ticket is sold as a six-hour visit, and that is the right base for the castle, grounds and shows. Add the Dungeon and a slow tower circuit and you can fill a full day, especially in season when the trebuchet fires.

If you come from London on a coach, the castle gets a shorter slot inside a 10.5-hour day that also covers Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon and the Cotswolds. That is enough for the walls, a show and the state rooms if you keep moving. Our own routing suggestions are below.

Choosing between the routings

Families with children should take the full independent day: shows, towers and grounds spread across the six hours, no rush. First-time visitors from London with one day to spend should take the four-stop coach, because it samples more of middle England in a single booking. History-focused visitors should come independently and spend the extra time on the 14th-century defences, where the real architecture is.

Whichever you choose, book online. Prices are dynamic, and booking ahead beats paying at the gate on the day.

Three routings compared

The table below shows how the day changes with your starting point and your priority. Times are our estimates.

The list

Most of the crowd heads straight for the shows. These details reward the slower visitor.

• Ethelfleda's Mound, named after the daughter of Alfred the Great who founded a burh here in 914, is in fact Norman work, not Anglo-Saxon (Warwick Castle history, Wikipedia).
• A school founded in the castle in the 10th century still exists, Warwick School, arguably the oldest boys' school in the country, visible from the towers across the Avon (Warwick Castle history, Wikipedia).
• The castle fell in 1153 through a trick, not a siege: Gundreda de Warenne surrendered it after being falsely told her husband was dead, and he died on hearing the news (Warwick Castle history, Wikipedia).
• Caesar's and Guy's Towers are stone-vaulted on every storey and machicolated, with Caesar's Tower carrying a unique double parapet, likely inspired by French models such as Bricquebec (Warwick Castle history, Wikipedia).
• The castle is no longer family-owned: bought by the Tussauds Group in 1978, it has been operated by Merlin Entertainments since 2007 under a renewable 35-year lease (Warwick Castle history, Wikipedia).