My husband is an avid tennis fan and wants to take the tour of Wimbledon and go to the lawn tennis musem. Kew Gardens is on my "must do" list. On Google maps it looks like they're relatively close by car, but not so accessible by train. Would it be realistic to try to do both in one day? If we did that, I was thinking we would go to Wimbledon for a late morning tour, take a taxi to Kew Gardens and then spend the rest of the evening in Richmond, ending up at the Prince's Head before heading back to the central city.
We'll be staying in central London, so it's seems like both Richmond and Wimbledon are about an hour or more from our hotel by train and I'm trying to plan each day to minimize the amount of time we spend trying to get from one place to the next.
My alternative plan was to go to Wimbledon in the late morning and then make our way back towards our hotel by spending the rest of the day in Kensington.
As an alternative plan to go to Kew Gardens on a separate day, would it make sense to do some central London activities in the morning, head to Kew Gardens for the afternoon, and then spend the evening in Richmond, visit the Prince's Head, etc. before heading back to the city center?
Posted by
Moncton NB
1127 posts
That would be about a half hour in a taxi. About the only gloss I would have on your itinerary is: if you wanted to save a bit of taxi money, you could take a cab just from Wimbledon to Putney Station (10 min drive), and from there take a direct train from Putney to Richmond. But from Richmond its about a 15 minute walk (or a bus) to the gates of Kew Gardens, so up to you whether its worth the savings.
Posted by
OP
Atlanta, GA
26 posts
thanks - a 15 minute walk in Richmond seems much better than an hour on a train or a very expensive cab ride
Posted by
Washington DC
28247 posts
Kew Gardens has a 2-for-1 offer tied to use of a train for transportation. The gardens are wonderful, but the entry ticket is rather expensive, so the 2-for-1 savings are worthwhile. They will probably ask to see your rail (not Tube/Underground) tickets, so you must hold onto them. Procedures have changed since I took advantage of this deal in 2019; you now need to book ahead, online.
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8159 posts
Hi, redbecca, I'm not familiar with Wimbledon, but I am planning to go to Kew Gardens and Richmond when I am in London in March, so you might find information from this thread I started helpful. Much of it deals with the logistics of getting from Kew to Richmond and so on. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/please-check-logistics-of-day-trip-to-kew-gardens-and-richmond
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33994 posts
just a couple of observations, please take them for what they are worth -
you are trying to do both, the tennis museum in "late morning" (maybe start 11:00??) and then lunch and then travel to Kew to see Kew Gardens, and then back to Richmond for the very nice Prince's Head.
But instead of the one day in the title of your thread you are trying to do all that in only half a day.
And Kew Gardens is HUGE, tiring and takes several hours to do properly (frequent visitor and member here). I am never there for less than 3 or 4 hours unless it is pouring with rain. And the tickets, even with the 2 for 1 railway deal, are not cheap.
I wonder why you are waiting until late morning to get moving. Up to you of course but I think you are painting yourself into a corner.
There is a bus every few minutes from the Richmond Quadrangle just outside the station which stops at Lion Gate and Victoria Gate of Kew Gardens.
Posted by
OP
Atlanta, GA
26 posts
thanks, Nigel, it may be that this just won't work. I haven't been to Wimbledon before, though I've been to Kew (as a child, so my memory of logistics is non-existent.) I was imagining we'd be at Kew Gardens late, since the website says closes at 7pm in the summer. The reason for the late morning start is that my husband is quite a late riser in the morning and we're staying in Clerkenwell, so the journey is pretty long to get there.
It may be that we can't really do both these things in one day, but I guess we'll see what time it is and how we feel after the Wimbledon tour and decide from there. We have a "free day" in our schedule now that we could use to go to Kew Gardens on a separate day instead, though that would mean giving up on the possibility of using that day to go to Kent.
Posted by
OP
Atlanta, GA
26 posts
On the positive side of alloting an entire day to Kew, I just saw the boat ride from Westminster being discussed on another board and that does look and sound delightful.
Posted by
Land of La
9261 posts
OP personal observation…..are you going to Princes Head pub due to Ted Lasso.
Friends live in Richmond so I’ve enjoyed more than one pub meal in the area.
Throwing these other Richmond pubs into the mix.
Railway Tavern, Red Cow, and The Angel and The Crown on Church Court.
Privileged to have attended the Women’s Final in 2022. The Wimbledon museum is fabulous. Go.
Or forget Wimbledon and spend your time ambling about Kew. Isabella Plantation is particularly lovely IMHO.