How long to allow for Kew Gardens?

I loved the garden! was there about three hours.

My wife likes gardens too, so we meandered around for 3 or 4 hours on our own with occasional stops for coffee.
Might add that a tour of Kew Palace (George III) was an unexpected treat for us - we probably spent an hour there chatting with the extremely knowledgeable docents and strolling the grounds.
All in all a visit to Kew makes for a delightful day out from London.

If you plan for a day and have time, head over to the Thames promenade in Richmond for some iconic views and a some refreshment.

You certainly can fill four hours easily. We always go for lunch, or at least pastries, at the Maids of Honour Tea Shop. Last time, we took the boat back to (maybe?) Westminster Pier, from Kew's riverbank. The Tube is a long ride to Kew, anyway, and the boat was very scenic. Boat books up in peak tourist months. I think on that visit, Kew had an exhibit of Dale Chihuly glass scattered around the property. We'd seen similar exhibits in Florida and later at the Bronx Botanical Garden in NYC.

I strongly advise taking the boat at least one way.

3 to 4 hours depending on how much you want to see and walking speed

This is the website for the boat to and from Westminster- https://www.thamesriverboats.co.uk/index.asp

It's not that long a tube ride- it is about half the distance it is to Heathrow- 10 stops from Victoria, on a District line train to Richmond

Well, my last visit was with my brother (retired forester) and SIL (retired extension educator in horticulture). As you can imagine we spent ALL day and didn’t get to half the garden. We, too, enjoyed the palace.

I think the boat is too slow for both ways. We took the tube out there are the boat back so it was nice to sit for a bit. I will admit to about 45 minutes being my max on a boat trip before I get bored and this took ~1.5 hours.

I’d recommend not boxing yourself in with firm plans for another site but having some back ups if you finish sooner.

Hi Tammy.

We used to be members until a couple of years ago and would still be if it were more convenient to us (nearly 2 hours by car each way).

Kew Gardens is an absolute treasure, and for somebody who loves botanical gardens you will be in your element.

While it is possible to spend just a couple of hours there we find that we give it a whole day. The variety is fabulous, especially since almost all the trees are specimens. Redwood grove all the way to the alpines, and everything in between. For a 3 hour visit, that's our limit these days, we focus on a small section.

The little train, while slightly hokey, gives a decent overview for a first time, and shows just how big a portion of the Gardens is.

The sunken garden around Kew Palace is impressive. The Palm House and the Temperate House are worth 30 to 40 minutes minimum each. I have before spent a couple of hours in the Temperate House. All very well labelled and explained.

We love the paths over to the Chinese Pagoda. Oh I can't list it all.... let it just be said that as much time as you can give will happily be filled.

The walk over from the station is scenic too...

Wish we were there with you...

PM me for specific answers if you like

We spent almost the entire day. The boat ride back was fun and we got the needed schedule information from the folks in the gift shop.

Thank you everyone. Confirms that I won’t schedule anything else that day.

In the FWIW department, the RS guide suggests combining Kew with a visit to Hampton Court - allotting a half day to each as I recall - and suggests a taxi or Uber between the two.

When are you coming? If soon, the latest edition of BBC Gardener's World magazine has its usual 2for1 offer in the May edition and this includes Kew. This will save you £15 on an advance ticket and £19.50 on the on the day ticket (less the cost of the magazine of course).

We took a train from Earls Court area to Kew and then took a boat back to Westminster pier.

We gave it all day. And still this wasn't enough time to see all we wanted. Kew Gardens is HUGE and the paths are not linear. Very easy to get lost with out the map. We got to Kew fairly early. We didn't plan out our walking pattern very well. I really wanted to walk the elevated tree top walk. Which we did as a last thing to see, but then realized we were on the wrong side of the gardens to catch the boat ride back. This caused us to do some "spirited" walking and slightly stressful path selection to get to the boat dock in time. Fortunately, we picked all the correct pathways.
I would suggest for anyone, that the Kew is an all day site to visit.

One thing we didn't plan for was how humid the hot houses are. If you wear glasses, they are going to fog up quickly, as will your camera lens. Bring lots of lens cleaner wipes.

Francis, thank you for those additional tips, especially about the camera wipes.