Kew Gardens Tickets: Five London Parks Compared

Most parks in London cost nothing, so the real question is which garden is worth a ticket. If you are building a day around views as well, the tickets for London Eye are the other paid choice on this side of the river.

1. Kew Gardens tickets: the one garden that needs one

Kew Gardens always needs a ticket, and online is the cheaper way to buy it. In the peak season, from 2 September to 31 October 2026, an adult pays £25 online or £28 at the gate. From 1 November to 31 January the price drops to £17 online and £20 at the gate. These are the standard prices on Kew's tickets page.

Children aged 4 to 15 pay £2 online, and children under 4 go in free. Young people aged 16 to 29 pay £10 online in the peak season. Kew also runs £10 Tuesdays, an adult ticket every Tuesday from 8 September to 29 December 2026. A general ticket is entry to the Gardens only, and it does not include Halloween at Kew or Christmas at Kew.

Kew does not publish a door-to-door time from central London, so check your route on the day. Kew Gardens station is 500 metres from Victoria Gate, in Zone 3 on the District line, and the Mildmay line also stops there. Kew Bridge station is 800 metres from Elizabeth Gate, with trains from Waterloo. From 2 November 2026 to 29 January 2027, Lion Gate opens at weekends only. The other three gates stay open all week, according to Kew's getting here page.

You can also arrive by water. Thames River Boats runs a service from Westminster Pier to Kew Pier, and Kew says Elizabeth Gate is a 0.2 mile walk from the pier. The boat takes about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes, depending on the tide, according to Thames River Boats.

Pro Tip Go on a Tuesday before 29 December and pay £10 online instead of £25, and use Victoria Gate if you come from Kew Gardens station.

2. Hyde Park: free, central and best on a bike

Hyde Park is the easy free choice, because the pedestrian gates are open from 5am to midnight every day. The Royal Parks list charges for car parking and toilets (20p) but no entry fee. The park covers about 142 hectares, which is 350 acres.

The park sits between Marble Arch and Knightsbridge. The Central line stops at Lancaster Gate and Marble Arch, and the Piccadilly line stops at Hyde Park Corner and Knightsbridge. Paddington is about 500 metres north of West Carriage Drive. Walk the Serpentine lake first, then look at Speaker's Corner and the rose garden near Rotten Row, as The Royal Parks describe them.

If you want a guide, the parks and palaces morning bike tour rides through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and on to Westminster. It is listed from €47 per person, rated 4.9 from 357 reviews, and runs about 3.5 hours with up to 8 people. Operator Notting Hill Bike tours starts it at the Hilton London Hyde Park on Bayswater Road. The listing says it is not suitable for children under 10 or people under 150 cm, and palace entry fees are not included. It lists free cancellation.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 2026-10-24.

3. Richmond Park: free, wild and next to Kew

Richmond Park is free to walk into and the best place in this guide to see deer. The Royal Parks list no entry fee, and car parking is free of charge. It is the largest Royal Park, at 1,000 hectares, and about 600 red and fallow deer live there. The pedestrian gates stay open 24 hours, except during the deer culls in November to early December and February to early March, when they close from 8pm to 7:30am.

Aim for the Isabella Plantation for flowers and Pembroke Lodge for tea and a view over the Thames Valley. The Tamsin Trail loops the edge of the park for just over 7 miles.

Richmond is the natural partner for Kew. The District line runs to Richmond station, and Kew says it is a 15 minute walk from there to Lion Gate. On weekdays from 2 November, take the 65 bus to Victoria Gate instead, because Lion Gate is closed Monday to Friday. You can read the park's gate times on The Royal Parks' Richmond Park FAQs.

The best park visit in a big city needs nothing more than a pair of good shoes.

4. Greenwich Park: free, with a river route there

Greenwich Park has no entry fee on the Royal Parks pages, and the pedestrian gates open from 6am and close at dusk. The park covers about 74 hectares. It has the hill below the Royal Observatory, where you can see across the river to the City, and a flower garden.

The Royal Observatory is a separate paid sight. An adult ticket costs £24, and it closes on 2 November 2026 for rebuilding, with a reopening expected from summer 2027. The Cutty Sark charges £22 for an adult. The National Maritime Museum and Queen's House are free.

By rail, Greenwich and Maze Hill stations run Southeastern and Thameslink trains. The DLR stops at Greenwich and Cutty Sark, and no Tube station is close. By river, Uber Boat by Thames Clippers takes about 45 minutes from London Eye Pier and 20 minutes from Tower Pier, according to Royal Museums Greenwich. The cruise below is the slower, narrated way.

The Westminster to Greenwich river cruise is listed from €21 per person and rated 4.5 from 25,702 reviews. Thames River Sightseeing runs it, it takes 1 to 2 hours, and it leaves from Westminster Pier with live commentary in English. It lists free cancellation. The River Thames hop-on hop-off cruise is listed from €30 per person, rated 4.4 from 3,310 reviews, and sells a 24-hour ticket from City Cruises at Westminster Pier. It excludes drinks and snacks, which you buy on board.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 2026-10-24.

5. Hampton Court gardens: paid with the palace, free on open days

Hampton Court's gardens are included in palace admission, and members go free. Historic Royal Palaces says they cover 60 acres of formal gardens and 750 acres of historic parkland, and they open in line with the palace hours. You can walk the Privy Garden, the Rose Garden, the Wilderness and the Great Fountain Garden.

The gardens have free open days with no ticket or booking. In 2026 the remaining ones are 21 and 22 November, and 26 December for the Wilderness only. The palace, the Maze and the Magic Garden still need a ticket on those days, according to Historic Royal Palaces.

You can also come by river. The boat from Westminster takes about 3 hours 15 minutes to 3 hours 30 minutes, so treat it as a day out in itself. For a guided day, the Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace day trip is listed from €106 per person, rated 4.6 from 157 reviews. Golden Tours - Gray Line London runs it for 7 to 9 hours. The listing names two meeting points, depending on the option you choose, and includes the Hampton Court palace and gardens ticket and the Windsor Castle State Apartments ticket if you pick those options. Food and drink are not included, and it lists free cancellation.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 2026-10-24.

How to choose between Kew, the free parks and Hampton Court

Pick Kew Gardens if you want glasshouses and planted gardens and you are happy to pay for them, and pick a free park if you mainly want fresh air. The table sets the five side by side.

The river joins three of these places. A boat to Greenwich, Kew or Hampton Court turns the journey into part of the day, and a river Thames cruise is the simplest way to start. Check sailing times first, because the Thames River Boats service to Kew and Hampton Court varies with the tide and the weather.

Key Takeaway Only Kew Gardens needs its own ticket every day of the year, and from 1 November 2026 that ticket drops from £25 to £17 online, so the cheapest Kew visit is a Tuesday for £10.

Kew is not the right buy if you only want a short green walk or you are on a tight budget. It costs more than any other place here, and Richmond Park or Hyde Park costs nothing. A guided tour is also not worth it for a park you can walk into on your own, so keep tours for Hampton Court's long day or for a river ride. No tour sells Kew entry, so buy that ticket on Kew's own page.

Each tour above shows its rating and review count, and none of them is a Kew ticket, so there is no Kew rating to show. Since October 2026, Things to Do in London counts 33 GetYourGuide listings for parks, gardens, Greenwich and Hampton Court by the river, and none of them sells an entry ticket for Kew Gardens.