10 Best Things to Do in Warwick Besides Warwick Castle
Short answer. Beyond the castle, the best things to do in Warwick are the Lord Leycester, a medieval guild courtyard that gives castle ticket holders 25% off, the Beauchamp Chapel in the Collegiate Church of St Mary, the free Market Hall Museum, Hill Close Gardens and a boat on the Avon below the towers. Most of them fit into half a day on foot.
Warwick at a glance: ten sights, what each costs and when it opens
| Sight | Where | Cost | Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warwick Castle | Warwick, CV34 6AH | From £26 online, £31 on the day | Daily, 10am–4pm off-season |
| The Lord Leycester | 60 High Street | Adult £12, 25% off with a castle ticket | Tue–Sun; shut January and February |
| Collegiate Church of St Mary | Old Square | Guided tours from £8.50 | Daily in summer; Fri–Sun in winter |
| Mill Street and the Mill Garden | Foot of Mill Street | Street free; garden £3 | Garden Thu–Mon, April to October |
| Market Hall Museum | Market Place | Free | Tue–Sat, 10am–5pm |
| Hill Close Gardens | Bread and Meat Close | Adult £7, child £2 | Tue–Sun 11am–4pm to 1 November 2026 |
| St Nicholas Park and boats | By Castle Bridge | Park free; boats from £13 | Park always; boats Easter to early October |
| Dark history walk | Meets by the Lord Leycester | From $13 | 90 minutes, booked ahead |
| The Court House and Pageant Garden | Jury Street | Free | Museum at weekends |
| Warwick Racecourse | Hampton Street | By fixture | Race days only |
| Hatton Locks | Canal Lane, Hatton | Free once parked | Towpath always open |
Start with the castle, then walk out of the gate
The castle is why most people come to Warwick, and it fills a day. One-day entry starts at £26 booked online against £31 on the day, and Admission and tickets has every price. The hour-by-hour plan puts the day in order, and things to do inside the castle covers the towers and the halls.
The town is a different trip. A guided Warwick Castle tour from London gives you ninety minutes inside the walls and no time in the streets outside them.
Book the castle before you travel
One-day entry is £5 a head cheaper online than on the day.
See the Admission TicketThe 10 best things to do in Warwick
The order runs outward from the castle gate.
1. The Lord Leycester
You walk in off the High Street to a courtyard the United Guilds of Warwick built more than 700 years ago. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, founded the Lord Leycester Hospital here in 1571 for a Master and twelve Brethren. Veterans still live here and lead a one-hour tour at 11am on set days each week, for £4 extra. Adult entry is £12 and lets you return free for 12 months. It opens Tuesday to Sunday and shuts through January and February.
Useful tip Keep your castle ticket. Show one bought in the past 12 months at the Lord Leycester ticket office and you get 25% off admission.
2. The Beauchamp Chapel at the Collegiate Church of St Mary
The Beauchamp earls who rebuilt the castle in the fourteenth century paid for this church too. The chapel went up between 1441 and about 1455 to hold the tomb of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick. The Great Fire of 1694 took the nave and the tower and spared the chapel. You see the Norman crypt only on the two-hour guided tour, £12.50 and booked ahead by email. In winter the church opens Friday to Sunday only. Warwick Castle for history lovers sorts out which earl built what.
Did you know? Francis Smith, a master mason who rebuilt St Mary’s after the fire, went on to build the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford.
3. Mill Street and the Mill Garden
Mill Street is lined with buildings of the 15th and 16th centuries and costs nothing to walk. At its foot, the Mill Garden sits on the bank of the Avon, and you stand with Caesar’s Tower overhead and the ruin of the medieval bridge beside you. The listed admission is £3. It opens Thursday to Monday, 10am to 5pm, from April to October, and has no wheelchair access.
4. Market Hall Museum
The county museum fills a 17th-century market hall on Market Place, and it is free. You get the Sheldon Tapestry Map of Warwickshire, the Wilmcote Plesiosaur and two Roman silver coin hoards. Warwick Castle Unboxed opened on the ground floor in March 2026, with the letter in which Fulke Greville asked James I for the castle. The full history has what the Grevilles did with it. The museum opens Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.
5. Hill Close Gardens
These are Victorian detached gardens, and few survive anywhere: hedged plots with summerhouses, used after work by townspeople who lived above their shops. You pay £7 as an adult and £2 for a child aged 5 to 17. The 2026 season runs to Sunday 1 November, Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 4pm.
6. St Nicholas Park and a boat on the Avon
The park is free, open all day every day, and borders the river. From the boat house by Castle Bridge you can hire a rowing boat, a pedalo, a motor boat, a canoe or a kayak, with the castle in view from the water. Hire starts from £13. The boats run from the Easter holidays to early October, so check before an autumn visit.
7. The dark history walk after dark
A guided walk ties several of these sights together in 1 hour 30 minutes. You meet by the Lord Leycester on Brook Street, and the walk stops outside the castle gates, in Mill Street and at the Collegiate Church of St Mary. It tours the town and does not go inside the castle. It is rated 4.9 from 225 reviews, and you can cancel free up to 24 hours before.
Dark History Walking Tour in Warwick
From $13 per person, 1 hour 30 minutes on foot through the town.
Check Availability8. The Court House and the Pageant Garden
The Court House on Jury Street holds the Visitor Information Centre and the Warwickshire Yeomanry Museum. The museum follows the regiment from 1794 to 1956, is free, and opens at weekends. Beside it, the Pageant Garden is a public green under a large sweet chestnut.
9. Warwick Racecourse
The course is a few hundred yards from the castle on Hampton Street and runs a full programme of jump racing. Its central grandstand still incorporates the first stand, built in 1808. You only get in on a race day, so look up the fixture list before you plan around it.
10. Hatton Locks
Just outside Warwick, the Grand Union Canal climbs 146 feet through a flight of 21 locks known as the stairway to heaven. The towpath is always open and free once you have paid to park, and there is a cafe at the locks.
Two Warwick sights you can no longer count on
Useful tip Do not plan around St John’s House or the giant deer. St John’s House, the Jacobean mansion, is closed to the general public. Oisin, the Giant Irish Deer skeleton at Market Hall Museum, comes off display in autumn 2026 for conservation.
How do you fit the town around a castle day?
- A full castle day by train or car. The castle shuts at 4pm out of season, and the Lord Leycester takes its last visitors at 3pm in winter. Pick one town sight to end the day on, or book the dark history walk for the evening.
- A night in Warwick. Keep the gardens, the museum and the park for the next morning. Staying over has where to sleep.
- A London coach day. The day trips from London give you ninety minutes at the castle and no stop in the town, so Warwick needs its own trip. Going without a tour sets out the train.
Warwick station is about a mile from the castle, roughly 15 minutes on foot, and the map page has it with the car parks. Further out, Heritage nearby has Kenilworth and Stratford-upon-Avon. Warwick Castle Tours lists every way in to the castle itself.
Things to do in Warwick: common questions
What is there to do in Warwick besides the castle?
The Lord Leycester, the Beauchamp Chapel at St Mary’s, the free Market Hall Museum, Hill Close Gardens and the boats in St Nicholas Park are the main five. A dark history walk ties several of them together in 1 hour 30 minutes.
What is free to do in Warwick?
Market Hall Museum is free and opens Tuesday to Saturday. St Nicholas Park is always open, and Mill Street and the Pageant Garden cost nothing. The Hatton Locks towpath is free once you have parked.
Can you see Warwick Castle without paying to go in?
From outside, yes. Mill Street gives you the towers, and the Mill Garden sits under Caesar’s Tower for £3 from April to October. Going inside needs a ticket, from £26 online against £31 on the day.
Does a Warwick Castle ticket get you a discount anywhere else in Warwick?
Yes. The Lord Leycester takes 25% off general admission when you show a Warwick Castle ticket bought in the past 12 months. Adult admission is £12 before the discount.
How long do you need in Warwick?
The castle is a day by itself, and its own ticket is sold as 6 hours. The Lord Leycester takes most visitors one to two hours and the dark history walk 1 hour 30 minutes. Plan the town as a second half-day or an overnight.
The castle takes the day. The town is what you do with the hours either side.Every listing here refunds in full at 24 hours’ notice.
See Top ToursThe castle, and the town outside its gate
Warwick Castle, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon & Cotswolds Day trip
Entry sold as an optionAudio headsetWi-Fi on board
From $108 per person