Palace Day Trips From London: Windsor, Hampton Court And Kew Compared

London has more than enough to fill a week, but three of England's most famous palaces sit outside the city boundary, all close enough that a spare morning is enough to reach them. Windsor Castle is a working royal residence on the Thames. Hampton Court Palace is Henry VIII's Tudor showpiece with gardens that swallow half a day on their own. Kew Palace, the smallest of the three, hides inside the Royal Botanic Gardens and has a quirk that catches out a lot of visitors: there is no standalone ticket anywhere, not even at the door.

This guide compares all three honestly. The prices below are the standard adult door prices, not the higher Gift Aid figures displayed at the till. The verdict at the end is a real one, because most people doing a search for day trips from London only have one free day, and the right answer depends on what kind of day you want.

Why Leave London For A Palace At All?

Yes, because the country's three best palaces sit outside London, and each offers something no city museum can match: Windsor is a working royal home, Hampton Court combines Tudor and Baroque history on one riverside estate, and Kew pairs a small royal house with vast gardens. Kensington and the Tower are excellent but crowded, while the out-of-town trio spreads visitors across bigger grounds and makes the train ride part of the day.

The comparison people actually ask for is Windsor versus Hampton Court. They are the two heavyweights. Windsor wins on royal spectacle: the State Apartments, St George's Chapel and the Changing of the Guard happen in a castle that is still the King's official residence. Hampton Court wins on history and space: the Great Hall, the Tudor kitchens, the Maze and the gardens along the Thames feel like three attractions stitched together.

Kew Palace is the wildcard. It is tiny, a fraction of the size of the other two, and it only works as part of a Kew Gardens visit. Anyone who buys a "Kew Palace ticket" expecting a Hampton Court-scale day will be disappointed. Anyone who loves gardens will find it perfect.

Is Windsor Castle Worth The Trip From London?

Yes, Windsor Castle is worth the trip: adults pay GBP 32, children aged 5 to 17 pay GBP 16 in advance or GBP 18 on the day, and under-5s go free. This working royal residence offers the State Apartments, St George's Chapel and the Changing of the Guard, plus a town attached. The honest caveat: it is the busiest, and rooms close when the King is in residence.

Windsor's strength is that the visit does not end at the castle gate. The town of Windsor sits directly below the walls, the Long Walk stretches out behind the castle, and Eton is across the bridge. A morning inside the castle and an afternoon wandering the town makes a complete day without any extra planning. The chapel, where monarchs are buried and married, is included in the ticket.

The weakness is unpredictability. Because this is a working palace, parts of it close for state occasions with little warning. Check the castle's own site for closure notices before you travel, not after you have bought a train ticket. If the State Apartments are shut on your date, you are paying full price for the grounds and the chapel alone.

Timed entry applies, so the practical advice is simple: book a slot, aim for a morning entry, and expect the middle of the day to be the most crowded. The Changing of the Guard draws big crowds on the days it runs, and the schedule changes, so treat it as a bonus rather than the anchor of your plan. For the full price breakdown, see how much it costs to get into Windsor Castle, and for how Windsor stacks up against the Tower of London's GBP 37 entry, the comparison on London Museums covers the royal-palace category in detail.

If you would rather not queue at the ticket office on the day, the operator's live listing sells Windsor Castle entry with a mobile ticket.

Getting there is straightforward: direct trains from London Waterloo to Windsor and Eton Riverside take around an hour, and the castle is a short walk from the station. If you are combining the trip with Eton, note that college term time means some areas may be busier with students and visitors, so the early afternoon is often calmer for the walk across the bridge.

Inside the castle, give yourself two to three hours for a proper visit. Queen Mary's Dolls' House is a popular stop, and the ticket includes an audio guide that covers the State Apartments and the chapel. Photography is allowed in most areas of the grounds, though restrictions apply inside St George's Chapel, so check signage on arrival.

Is Hampton Court Palace Worth The Trip From London?

Yes, Hampton Court Palace is worth the trip from London for most visitors, since a ticket buys Henry VIII's Tudor palace, a Baroque royal apartment, the famous Maze and 60 acres of gardens, far more variety than Windsor offers. Adults pay GBP 29, children aged 5 to 15 pay GBP 14.50 off-peak or GBP 16 at peak times, and under-5s go free, but plan a full day because the gardens eat time.

The palace is really two palaces in one. Cardinal Wolsey built the Tudor half before Henry VIII took it over, and the Great Hall, the hammerbeam roof and the Tudor kitchens are among the most impressive historic interiors in England. Christopher Wren later built an entire Baroque palace for William III squeezed against the old one. Walking between the two halves is walking between two eras of royal taste.

The gardens are the part people underestimate. The Maze, the Great Vine, the Long Water and the Privy Garden can absorb an entire afternoon. In summer, the flower festival and the open-air cinema season make the grounds worth the trip on their own. Come in shoulder season and you get the gardens almost to yourself.

Timed entry applies here too. The palace's own ticket page is the place to check current prices and any event-day surcharges, and the longer verdict on whether Hampton Court Palace is worth a visit covers the trade-offs in more depth. If a prepaid ticket suits your itinerary better, the operator's live listing carries it.

A prepaid Hampton Court ticket through the operator's listing works the same way: mobile ticket, timed entry, no ticket-office queue on arrival.

What Makes Kew Palace Different From The Other Two?

Kew Palace is different because it is not a standalone attraction at all: there is no standalone ticket anywhere, including officially, and entry requires a Kew Gardens ticket at GBP 25 for adults. The palace itself is a small Georgian royal retreat, the smallest of the three by far, and it closes from January to 29 March every year, so it suits garden lovers wanting a calm, green day out rather than anyone expecting a Windsor-scale castle.

The palace was the family home of George III, known to schoolchildren as the mad king, and the restored interiors tell that domestic story rather than a state pageant. The Royal Kitchens sit nearby, preserved as they were left, and the Climbers and Creepers play area makes the wider gardens a strong pick for families with younger children.

What Kew does better than either Windsor or Hampton Court is seasonal beauty. The rhododendrons in spring, the long borders in summer and the autumn colour in the arboretum change the character of the visit completely. The palace is the same size in every season, but the gardens are not.

Plan around the closure window. From January to 29 March the palace doors stay shut even when the gardens are open, so a winter visit means gardens only. The rest of the year, a full Kew day easily fills six hours. The deeper question of whether Kew Palace is worth visiting is covered in its own write-up, and for anyone pairing the trip with museum time, the three-day London museum itinerary shows how a Kew afternoon slots into a longer plan.

How Do The Three Palace Tickets Compare?

Windsor is the priciest at GBP 32 for adults, Hampton Court costs GBP 29, and Kew works out to GBP 25 since that is the Kew Gardens ticket the palace sits within. Children pay roughly half price at all three, and under-5s go free everywhere. None of the three offers free entry under any scheme, unlike 20 of the 48 London museums covered on this site that cost nothing.

Two things in that table deserve a second look. The first is the Windsor child price gap: buying on the day costs a family of four with two school-age children an extra GBP 4 for no benefit. The second is Kew's nominal child price of from GBP 2, which varies by date and is only available online; at the gate the arithmetic changes.

How Do You Get To Each Palace By Train?

All three palaces are easy to reach by train from central London, with no car needed: Windsor is served from Waterloo and Paddington, Hampton Court by a direct branch line from Waterloo, and Kew by trains to Kew Gardens or Kew Bridge stations, and off-peak travel with a contactless card is almost always the cheapest option.

The Hampton Court run is the simplest of the three: the branch line from Waterloo drops you a few minutes' walk from the palace entrance. Windsor has two stations and the choice barely matters; both put you in the town centre. Kew is the most flexible because the District line reaches Kew Gardens station, which means you are not tied to National Rail timetables at all.

One planning note that saves real money: all three destinations sit within the London fare zones or just outside them, and contactless capping can make the return journey cheaper than a paper ticket. The palace's own websites publish travel advice, and the official Royal Collection Trust visitor pages cover Windsor's two stations in detail.

Which Palace Should You Pick With Only One Spare Day?

Pick Hampton Court Palace if you want the most palace per pound: GBP 29 buys a Tudor palace, a Baroque palace, the Maze and 60 acres of gardens, and it fills a full day without effort. Pick Windsor if royal pageantry and a working castle matter more to you than space, and pick Kew only if gardens are the real draw. Most first-time visitors with one day should choose Hampton Court.

The reasoning is about density. Windsor's highlights are concentrated and spectacular, but the castle experience is over in three to four hours, and the rest of the day depends on the town. Hampton Court keeps producing things to do from opening time to late afternoon: kitchens, apartments, chapel, maze, gardens, riverbank. Kew fills a day too, but with plants rather than royal history.

Families with children under 10 lean Kew, partly for the gardens and partly because a GBP 2-and-up child ticket softens the total. History-focused visitors lean Hampton Court. Anyone whose mental image of the day involves the Changing of the Guard has already answered their own question: that is Windsor.

What Should You Know Before Booking Any Of The Three?

Book timed-entry slots in advance at Windsor and Hampton Court, buy Kew tickets online for the cheaper child rate, and check each palace's own site for closure notices before committing to a date. Windsor can close rooms for royal visits, Kew Palace shuts entirely from January to 29 March, and Hampton Court runs event-day variations that change prices and hours, so the forecast matters more here than for a city museum.

The closure risk is the one that bites hardest. Turning up to Windsor on a day the State Apartments are shut, or to Kew in February expecting the palace, wastes the whole trip. Five minutes on the palace's own site the night before prevents it. The official Historic Royal Palaces page for Hampton Court and the Kew Gardens visitor site both publish live opening information.

For anyone pairing this trip with museum time in the city, the Greenwich museums cluster makes a good contrast day: the National Maritime Museum and Queen's House there are free, and the Cutty Sark sits a short walk away. The rainy-day London museums guide is the fallback if the forecast turns against an outdoor palace day, since all three palaces put much of their best material in the open air.

Common Questions About Palace Day Trips From London