Hampton Court Palace Tours — Frequently Asked Questions

Pre-booking online is recommended: it guarantees entry, is cheaper than the ticket office on most dates, and weekend and school-holiday slots sell out early. Walk-up tickets exist but are limited in peak season.

Almost all tours here offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. One exception: the private vehicle transfer with tickets is non-refundable — its card says so.

Many don't. Most private guided tours meet you at the West Gate and require you to buy palace admission separately from Historic Royal Palaces. Every tour card on this site states whether admission is included.

The most popular private guides are booked 60–130 days ahead on average. For a summer weekend, book as early as you can.

Both exist. Entrance tickets and coach trips price per person; most private guided tours charge a flat rate for the whole group (typically up to 10 or 15 people). Each card here shows the basis.

Yes — several private tours cover up to 15 people at a flat rate, which works out well below per-person guided prices for families and groups.

It's rare but has been reported. Keep your booking confirmation number handy and speak to the ticket office staff; travellers report they resolve it on the spot. Booking direct with Historic Royal Palaces is the alternative if you'd rather not risk a third-party voucher.

Most listed tours run in English; a few operators offer additional languages. Check the tour's own listing before booking.

The standard entrance ticket, from about $43 booked online here or from £29 off-peak direct with Historic Royal Palaces. Weekday visits are cheaper than weekends.

Yes — private full-day car tours cover both royal residences in one ~10-hour day. Admission to each is usually extra; the cards state it.

Direct from Historic Royal Palaces: adults from £29 off-peak (weekdays) up to £32 peak (weekends and bank holidays); children 5–15 £16 peak; concessions £25.50 peak. Under-5s go free.

Everything: the palace and State Apartments, the Tudor kitchens, the 60 acres of gardens, the Magic Garden and the Maze. There's no separate maze ticket.

Yes — child (5–15), young person, senior and disabled concession rates all exist, and under-5s are free. Historic Royal Palaces members visit free year-round.

Historic Royal Palaces offers £1 day tickets to visitors receiving qualifying UK benefits, up to four per household, booked online. Allocations sell out ahead of time.

Yes — each disabled visitor can bring one carer or companion free; one can be added when booking online, and more can be arranged by emailing HRP with proof documents.

Yes. Maze entry is part of standard palace admission; there is no maze-only ticket.

Tickets are dated, and you can enter any time between opening and last admission on that date. If the system assigns a specific time, HRP says you can disregard it.

Availability on attraction passes changes; check the pass's current attraction list before relying on it. Booking direct or via the ticket card here always works.

Summer season roughly 10:00–17:30 with last admission 16:30; winter season 10:00–16:30. Closed 24–26 December. Check the official Historic Royal Palaces page before you travel — hours shift by season and event.

Three hours minimum for the palace, kitchens and a garden walk; a full day if you want the Maze, the Great Vine, the Magic Garden and time by the river. Travellers consistently say half a day felt rushed.

Train is simplest: London Waterloo to Hampton Court, about 35 minutes, two trains an hour, then a five-minute walk over the bridge. Coach day trips, private cars and seasonal river boats are the alternatives.

The palace and gardens are largely accessible and several tours are explicitly wheelchair-friendly, but this is a 500-year-old building: some historic routes involve stairs and uneven cobbles, and one walking tour here states it is not suitable for wheelchair users. Check the specific tour's card.

Yes, for personal use throughout the palace and gardens — no flash or tripods in the historic apartments.

Yes: the Tiltyard Café serves hot and cold food, and the Wilderness kiosk covers ice cream and drinks. The Mute Swan pub just across the road is a repeated traveller recommendation for lunch.

Yes, paid parking on site and nearby; travellers report it straightforward. Arriving by train avoids it entirely — the station is five minutes away.

Large luggage is impractical inside the palace (tours have arranged storage case-by-case, but don't rely on it); dogs other than assistance dogs are not permitted in the palace, courtyards or gardens.

The first hour after opening and the last two hours are quietest in the popular rooms; weekdays are cheaper and calmer than weekends. September brings the Great Vine grape harvest.

Yes — the Mantegna Gallery is closed until Spring 2027, and short-notice route closures happen for conservation and Chapel Royal services. HRP lists current closures; check before you travel.

Yes: the Magic Garden play area, the Maze, Family Trails and a Family Room are all included in admission, and one private guide here specialises in kid-focused routes.

It was Henry VIII's favourite residence — five of his six wives lived here — and it survives as two palaces in one: the Tudor courts of Henry VIII joined to the Baroque palace Christopher Wren built for William III and Mary II.

It has England's best-documented palace ghost stories: Catherine Howard in the Haunted Gallery, Sybil Penn the Grey Lady, and the 2003 CCTV "Skeletor" figure the palace itself released. A 2001 psychology study run in the gallery found the "haunted" spots matched measurable cold draughts — visit and decide for yourself.

No — she was tried and executed at the Tower of London. Her connection to Hampton Court is Henry's court itself and the later ghost legend, not her death.

No — Henry was born at Greenwich. The king born at Hampton Court is his son Edward VI, in 1537; Jane Seymour died here days later.

Commissioned around 1700 for William III, it is the UK's oldest surviving hedge maze — a third of an acre of yew that takes about 20 minutes to crack on average.

A Black Hamburg grape vine planted in 1768 under Capability Brown — the oldest and largest known grape vine. Its grapes are harvested and sold to visitors in late summer.

Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light and The Favourite all filmed here.

Yes — the largest surviving Tudor kitchens anywhere, built to feed Henry VIII's court of around 600 people twice a day, with live cookery demonstrations on many weekends.