pre-book rail tickets to Hampton Court and Windsor?

No need to buy them in advance. Just show up and buy them.

Your routing is fine. That's the one I used for Hampton Court. In fact, the train you get at Wimbledon is the same one you would get at Waterloo.

As stated, these are regular commuter type trains so no pre-booking necessary. No tickets are necessary. Hampton Court is in Zone 6 so you can use either an Oyster Card or contactless payment.

At Hampton Court, there are no ticket barriers. You must still tap out and back in the system otherwise you will be charged the maximum for that route rather than the proper fare. You will find the machines against the wall.

Getting to Hampton Court Palace

As for Windsor, I haven't been there in years so I will leave it to others.

However, since there are three of you, you might save some money with Great Southwestern Railway Groupsave for three or more people.

What is your closest tube station?

To Windsor, if taking the Paddington route, you will be using Great Western (GWR). They also have a Groupsave scheme for 3 or more people.
https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/ways-to-save/cheap-tickets/groupsave
So the usual advice to just tap in tap out doesn't apply. Instead buy one ticket for three people either in person at Paddington or on their app/website. For the group that will cost £28.05 day return.

You can equally take the tube to Richmond and then groupsave day return to Windsor and Eton Riverside (as opposed to Central from Paddington)- £25.50.

One less change as that train goes straight from Richmond to Windsor

The through fare on Oyster/Contactless from Kensington to Hampton Court via Wimbledon is just £3.70 each off peak, each way- as you are avoiding Zone 1, so cheaper as well.

Or £5.30 each peak on the return leg if you start your return journey between 1600 and 1900.

The equivalent fares are £6.70 and £9.90 if you routed via Waterloo.

I was at Hampton Court last week and there are ticket barriers. You will have no trouble seeing where to tap in or tap out.

I was at Hampton Court last week and there are ticket barriers. You will have no trouble seeing where to tap in or tap out.

They must have added those since my visit. Thanks for the update.

www.thamesriverboats.co.uk

Also do boat trips from Richmond to Hampton Court- single or return.

The trips are tidal, so the times are different every day.

This is the same company as does the trips from Westminster to Hampton Court, but it is usually with a different boat.

We were just at Hampton court and bought train tickets day of our visit. The tickets will qualify you for the Buy one get one scheme of the railroads. We also had three people and bought group tickets and then 1 of our tickets to the palace was free. You have to print out the vouchers for buy 1 get 1 free ahead of time.

I echo the suggestion of taking a boat from Hampton Court to Richmond if it's a nice day. We did this a few years ago and it lovely being on the river. Taking the boat all the way back to Westminster is overkill, in my opinion. .

You will see Teddington lock where the Monty Python Fish Dance was filmed - amongst other things. I quite enjoyed the variations of houses and buildings.

We just went to Windsor last weekend. We bought our Paddington to Windsor-Eton Central station that morning at the train station from the machine - super easy. You will transfer at Slough which is not hard and the ride from Slough to Windsor is only a few minutes.

We are going to Hampton Court Palace next week and just plan to figure out transit the night before, so this post is most timely!

You can also do contactless from Paddington to Windsor and Eton Central. There are signs reminding you to tap out in Windsor just as you are leaving the platform.

You can also do contactless from Paddington to Windsor and Eton Central.

As stated above with 3 or more people contactless is not the most cost effective solution due to the permanent Groupsave offer when you buy tickets (physical or electronic)