Hampton Court Palace gardens free open days 2025
The expansive gardens surrounding Hampton Court Palace are open to visitors for free a few weekends each year, and the dates for 2025 have been announced.
As it happens, the gardens used to be free to wander around every morning, but that changed after the pandemic, and now they’re only open a few days a year — but the upside is that they’re open for the entire day.
The gardens are huge and exceptionally varied, ranging from neat formal box-hedged spaces to wide open lawns and even the so-called wilderness, which is pretty well maintained for a wilderness. There’s a long lake that is technically outside the estate but still makes an impressive photo spot and numerous paths to wander around and discover new spots.
The free open days don’t include the maze or the children’s magic garden — nor the main palace itself. However, that still leaves enough ornamental garden to wander around and you can comfortably spend half a day there.
Visiting is easy – just turn up, and when you approach the Palace, turn left to go into the gardens. You don’t need a ticket to go in. Some parts of the gardens can be closed for events or maintenance, but even then, you’ll likely get 90% of the space open to wander around.
The free open days for 2025 are on:
- 18th & 19th January
- 22nd & 23rd March
- 10th & 11th May
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th July
- 13th & 14th September
- 18th & 19th October
- 22nd & 23rd November
- 26th December (The Wilderness garden only)
There are toilets and a cafe in the gardens.
Getting to Hampton Court Palace
The easiest way is to catch the train to Hampton Court station, which is just a few minutes walk from the Palace. I’d recommend checking the departure times home though, as there are usually just two trains an hour. This way, you can time your departure from the gardens so you’re not waiting for a train.
Thanks for all your brilliant work, Ian.
The point about checking real-time departures from Hampton Court is very important as there are frequent cancellations to and from Hampton Court station.
A frequently used alternative by many is to get one of the frequent buses from Hampton Court main road to Kingston (takes about 5 minutes) and get one of the usually quarter hour services from KIngston to Waterloo.