Hampton Court Palace: Henry VIII’s Favourite Residence, and Worth Every Minute of the Journey

Hampton Court is 35 minutes from London Waterloo by South Western Railway, and it is one of those places that earns the trip every time. The palace is enormous, sprawling across centuries of royal use by multiple monarchs, and the grounds alone justify the entry fee. What most people don’t realise until they arrive is how much of the original Tudor fabric survives intact, and how much the palace tells you about the people who lived in it that the Tower of London, by contrast, mainly tells you about the people who were imprisoned there.

Henry VIII moved into Hampton Court in 1529 after appropriating it from Cardinal Wolsey. He spent the next decade expanding it, adding the great hall, the chapel, the vast kitchens capable of feeding a court of 600, and the tennis courts where he is said to have played while Anne Boleyn was being executed at the Tower. The palace’s later history, including Christopher Wren’s baroque rebuilding for William III and Mary II in the 1690s, means you are essentially walking through two palaces simultaneously: Tudor brick and baroque formality, occasionally in the same corridor.

What to See

The Tudor Kitchens are among the best-preserved in Europe and should be the first stop. The scale of the operation, multiple fireplaces, enormous roasting spits, separate rooms for every stage of food preparation, gives a better physical sense of Tudor court life than any number of exhibitions. When the court was in residence, these kitchens ran 24 hours a day.

The Great Hall, Henry VIII’s banqueting hall, has a hammerbeam roof completed in 1536 and original tapestries depicting the story of Abraham, eight panels, nearly 7 metres tall, bought by Henry for 1,500 pounds, which was a substantial fortune. Look at the ceiling rather than being distracted by the tapestries at eye level.

The State Apartments built for William III are genuinely grand in a way that feels inhabited rather than merely preserved. Antonio Verrio’s painted ceilings in the King’s apartments are spectacular; most people rush through them. The painted King’s Staircase, showing William’s court in Roman costume, is detailed enough to repay close attention.

The Maze, planted around 1700, is the oldest surviving hedge maze in Britain. It is genuinely not very difficult. You will solve it in about 20 minutes. Children love it; adults mostly pretend it was harder than it was.

The Baroque Gardens to the east are free to enter even without a palace ticket, and they are underrated: the Long Water canal runs nearly a kilometre through the Home Park, and the formal gardens around the palace include some of the best-maintained topiary in England.

Tickets and Practicalities

Book online in advance; the Historic Royal Palaces website releases tickets with time slots and popular weekends sell out. Standard adult tickets are in the range of £28-32 depending on date; under-16s enter free. HRP membership provides unlimited free entry across all their sites and pays for itself quickly if you visit twice. Audio guides are included in the price and are genuinely useful for the State Apartments.

For 2026, some rooms have reduced access due to ongoing conservation work; check the HRP website before booking if there is a particular section you want to see.

Eating

The Tiltyard Cafe on the grounds is the practical choice for lunch, with hot food and reasonable prices. The Garden Cafe near the Privy Garden has outdoor seating. For something better, the town of East Molesey immediately outside the gates has several pubs; the Mute Swan by the river does decent food and has a good terrace.

Getting There and Staying

The train from Waterloo is the obvious approach. The drive is possible but weekend car parking fills early. Most people base themselves in Richmond (10 minutes by train, good range of accommodation) or Kingston upon Thames (20 minutes on foot across the bridge, wider range at lower prices). A day trip from central London works well if you start early enough.

The shoulder season from March through May and September through October is noticeably more comfortable than the peak summer weeks, and the spring garden walks are among the best things the palace offers.