Lancaster Castle Reviews Summary

Guided Tours

Pros:

• "The tour was awesome and I definitely recommend it."
• "Really knowledgeable and engaging guide."
• "Guided tour through the castle, court and prison was extremely entertaining and informative."
• "The tour was very interesting and the guide was very knowledgeable about the different sections of the castle."
• "The tours are informative and the addition of the teddy bears hunt was great to keep the kids entertained along the way!"
• "Our guide was really knowledgeable and had lots of stories which brought the place to life."
• "Our tour guide was awesome! She took the time to explain the rich history and heritage of the castle and the human stories behind it."

Cons:

• "Guide at 11am today was rude and abrupt."
• "You are not allowed to take pictures of the inside rooms which results kind of annoying."
• "Beautiful place to visit, but the tour isn't worth it. It's expensive, the guide speaks too fast and we go only to a few rooms."
• "The tour guide was terrible...rushed us through, had a droning voice and carried on about the less relevant information."
• "The tour was very limited, having been previously before the renovation, we got to see a lot more and got a lot more information."
• "Avoid the tour. Currently has only three stops...they decided to do maintenance and repair work during the summer season."
• "The tour guide was terrible...not very interpersonal or engaging."

Castle Grounds and Accessibility

Pros:

• "Entrance to castle ground is free."
• "Free to enter the main courtyard areas and wander around."
• "The grounds and architecture are fantastic - you can observe hundreds of years of history simply by standing in the courtyard."
• "The courtyards are buggy and small child safe."
• "Free on road parking near by."
• "Refurbished courtyard makes for easy access."
• "The whole place was spotlessly clean and all staff were superb."

Cons:

• "Unfortunately sadly no go for wheelchairs or prams."
• "The only thing that would have made it better would be being able to access more areas which are currently off limits."
• "It's a shame more of the castle isn't open to the public."
• "Sadly most of the inner areas and rooftops were closed off to the public when we visited so not as much to explore as we'd hoped for."
• "No access to many parts of the building now because of COVID."
• "We weren't allowed to see in any of the cells either from the male penitentiary or the ancient cells either."
• "Being disabled I couldn't get to see much of it as it's not very disabled friendly."

Cafe and Facilities

Pros:

• "Beautiful cafe in Castle ground too not expensive either."
• "Best place for coffee in Lancaster. Beautiful setting and far enough away out of town to not be packed."
• "The cafe was lovely with interesting and tasty choices of food."
• "Cafe here is part of Atkinsons coffee and good quality."
• "Cafe and toilet facilities very nice and clean."
• "A good sized, reasonably priced cafe is on site, with both inside and outside seating."
• "Lovely cafe on site with the most delicious sandwiches and cookies."

Cons:

• "Cafe isn’t amazing. Food is nice but not geared for kids as it was 'a bit fancy' food wise as my 9YO said."
• "The cafe is expensive but lovely."
• "Had a bit of a wait as we'd just missed the previous tour starting so went for a brew in the cafe (pricey but nice)."
• "There were porter loos not great but ok, no cafe sadly could definitely do with one."
• "Very nice cafe in grounds menu very limited no Gluten free sandwiches, only a couple of cakes."
• "My only gripe, as a coffee lover, was that an Americano was really expensive and there was not much more in the cup than an espresso."
• "Was very disappointed first went to cafe. Didn't want a sandwich. Chose a large cookie as the other cookie had nuts which I don't like."