Hi all, My family an I will be in London for a week in late June. I was thinking of going to Hampton court Palace. I like the idea of going by riverboat boat it takes a ridiculous length of time (given that we only have a week to see as much as possible). the train is obviously quicker, but is a combination of the two an option. What about taking the train from Waterloo to Kew Bridge and then the river boat from Kew bridge to Hampton Court?? Still a long boat ride but a bit shorter than the whole thing by boat? Is the train station close to the pier - it is hard to get the scale from google maps. Or am I just wasting time and should hop straight on the train???
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Yes, a combination of the two is an option.
Going both ways by water is unnecessary, redundant, and takes too long for most travelers.
The train from Waterloo Station drops you across the river from the palace, just walk across the bridge (if you take the train from London to Hampton).
What makes this subject interesting is: It's fastest to take the river boat in the direction with the tide, and to take the train the other way.
But the direction in which to take the train versus the boat is more complicated than you would think, because of the tide on this section of the Thames. You will probably want to check with the boat operator about the predicted time for the boat ride, in the direction you want to do it, near the date of your trip to Hampton.
Click here for the website of the boat operator:
http://www.wpsa.co.uk/
If you end up on the boat and the tide isn't cooperating, it will be a long trip.
Or you can go both ways by train.
Posted by
92 posts
Kent is correct. I wanted to travel to Hampton Court Palace by water on our trip last September, but didn't want to spend the time it would have required. But it's your trip, so it's your decision.
Posted by
Medford, OR, USA
5837 posts
For options use the TFL travel planner:
https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/
We did a tube-bus combination.
Posted by
London, England.
662 posts
I've actually taken this trip. Yes it's slow, but it is a nice trip, assuming you have the weather with you. There is an informal commentary from Westminster for maybe the first 30mins of the trip, so if you join at Kew, you would miss that. It's just a few interesting facts from the Captain, but he stops talking when leaving 'Central London' saying, there wasn't much to comment on past that, more or less just scenery, expensive houses and wildlife. I enjoyed it, but as I live here, I wasn't 'wasting' those hours and didn't feel there was something better I could be doing.
Gut feel says, you would be better getting to and from Hampton Court in the most time efficient way i.e. not the boat. I would definitely recommend a boat trip though. I've done the 45min round trip one from London Eye to Tower Bridge and back, and really enjoyed it, so much I didn't know.
I'm also a big fan of the River Bus. It's a commuter service and hence no commentary, but it's quick, fun and relatively cheap. I like to use this boat to go to Greenwich, and the O2 to go over the Thames Cable Car, which, for a 4 minute trip, if really fun too and a non-traditional view of London.
You could get the DLR back to Tower Hill (Tower Bridge) from there if you want, if it's running. I got caught at the weekend when the DLR was shut for maintenance. I never thought to check the TFL website first.
Hope you have a great time.