Hampton Court Palace

My 12 yr old girl liked it quite a bit, especially the maze and the kitchens. It's quite a bit different from the tower, and you get to see a bit of suburbia/countryside on the train ride out. Let her look at the website and see if she's interested. http://www.hrp.org.uk/hamptoncourtpalace/

We took our 8 year old granddaughter--definitely not a fan of princesses and froo froo things-- last summer and she really loved it. We went on a weekend when they had people in costumes, performances in the courtyards, a falconry exhibit, etc. We used the kid friendly audio guides to tour the palace rooms and the narration was a hoot. She had read several Horrible History series books, purchased at the British Museum early on in our 3 week trip and loved the British humor. We were afraid that the palace would be crowded but quite the opposite was true. We felt like we had all the time in the world and space to explore at our own pace. On another note, we also took her to the Tower of London, and it was a real disappointment to her, except for the catapult exhibit, and to us--soooooo crowded. We have been 2 times before and I didn't enjoy it much this time.

Thanks for your reviews, and the link to the website. We looked at it, and she's definitely interested! Now.......how much time should we allocate? Is it a full day trip or can we do it in 1/2 day? Any suggestions of how to organize a day around the palace? Thanks!

Glad you decided to try it. Lots of different things,, we go virtually every time we visit London: The self guided tours are interesting- the kitchens and wine cellars are fascinating, you can skip rooms or study them at your own pace. Gardens, the maze, all worth visiting.
(your tomboy should enjoy the maze) Very nice (but busy) cafe within the building. Plan on most of the day dont try and squeeze it in half a day, but you can get a leisurely start and still get back to London before nightfall. If you are in the mood (and have the time) you can boat back to London. Nothing "princessy" at all about theplace- much more an experience of what it must have been like to live there

If you feel up to it, and the weather is kind, take a picnic. There are plenty of picnic spots provided in the grounds. Try M&S (Marks and Spencer) for a great range of picnic food and drinks (and should you wish small bottles of wine for you!). Edit you can check your picnic bag in while you go around the Palace itself.

Just returned from a three week trip to Scotland and England. Hampton Court was probably the highlight. Could easily spend an entire day. We spend at least 3 hours and didn't even enter the gardens. Takes the better part of an hour each way - get to train, train ride, walk to palace. Most disappointing: Tower of London. As one prior poster noted, it is so crowded. Would have been at least an hour or more wait to even get into the crown jewel building. The White Tower was also a struggle. Only went through the first floor with the King's armor. It was a slow shuffle much like Westminster Abbey during the flower show.

I would skip the Eye myself. It's an overpriced tourist trap with a long line according to my brother that just got back.

Are you planning on doing one of the Hop On Hop Off bus tours that Rick Steves mentions in his London book? I think she would love that. Seeing all the sights in one fell swoop is very exciting.

Thanks for the suggestions! Yes, I had planned to do the HOHO tour. I thought we would go to the Tower on the morning of our first full day and then pick up the HOHO tour, which would give us the option of finishing the tour on our 2nd morning. That is so disappointing to hear about the tower! I was there many, many years ago and really loved it. I am hoping if we can get there first thing in the morning it won't be super crowded, but it will be peak season (July) so probably not. Any other suggestions for places to see and/or itineray suggestions would be great. I have a very tentative plan in place, but -- other than tickets to a couple of evening performances -- everything is flexible. Thanks!

We are going to Hampton Court this time. We're taking the train from the city, and if I have the information right we'll use our Travelcards (purchasing rail cards for the 2-for-1s) plus 5 pounds each since it is outside the city zones. Then for 10 pounds each we'll take the boat back to the city and get off close to the London Eye where we'll walk on around to the Tate. We're allowing most of the day for these excursions.

Ruth - go to the Tower! The Yeomen of the Guard are great - be sure you do one of their tours. I would recommend the evening Ceremony of the Keys but I think you don't have enough time to get your tickets , but if she likes history at all she'll enjoy the Tower. Just go early as was suggested. Since you want to visit at least 2 of the Royal Palaces, you might look into buying an annual membership - do the math to see how the costs compare, but the nice thing is that you wouldn't have to wait in any ticket-buying lines. And Hampton Court is great too; my daughter and I enjoyed a ride in a carriage, which really made me understand why people were tired after traveling that way. Have a great trip!

I would definitely plan on a full day to really enjoy the visit- especially with the round trip train ride from London. I believe that there is also a boat that you can take from London to Hampton Court that might also be an option.

We often take the boat from Kew Gardens down to London. I assume you could start at Hampton Court and leave it either at Richmond or Kew and take the tube back to London from there

I had also heard that there is a boat trip from central London to Hampton Court, never done it, although I imagine it would be fun, different perspective and less crowded than the roads and might be fun for your daughter. Hampton Court is one of my favourite London venues, especially with its connection to Henry VIII. The boat will probably take quite some time however, so check out timings. Don't of course have to return by boat. A half day for the visit does not seem long enough to me, taking into account travel times. As another poster mentions, the kitchens are a very interesting journey into the past. With the amount of rich foods they ate and ale and wine they drank, it's no wonder Henry had gout.

As posters above have said you can go by boat from Central London to Hampton Court. I have done this twice. Taking the boat out from Westminster - but we got the train back both times. You go from Westminster pier (Big Ben side of the river) to Hampton Court - but it does take 3+ hours, so eats into your day at Hampton Court. An alternative would be to take the tube to Richmond and pick up the boat there, so just do the last bit by boat. The boat from Richmond only takes about an hour to Hampton Court. You can check out times of the service on the Transport for London website - put London River Services or River Tour Guide into the search box to pull up the details.

Katy, thank you for another idea as we are still tweaking our itinerary. We planned to take the boat back to London from HC, but 3 hours on the boat is both a long time and a significant part of the day since we have other things we want to do later. I like the idea of catching it at Richmond back to London for a shorter ride. Would you have a preference for which way you take the boat?

Go with the tide, and downstream, is the fastest. Against the tide and upstream is slowest.

Hampton Court to Richmond is about an hour and a half. if you want to get a bit of a boat trip but spend less time you could only go as far as Kingston, which takes 35 minutes, and then get the overland train back to Waterloo. A quick google throws up this company. There may be other options http://www.turks.co.uk/maps/river-map Cheers Alan

Nigel, at the risk of asking a foolish question, is downstream toward Hampton Court or back toward London? You have to realize I've lived all my life in West Texas where we have no oceans, no rivers, almost no lakes, and at the moment a severe drought. We have to squeeze a cucumber to see moisture fall to the ground...

I think Hampton Court is just lovely. It's a more... intimate, family home sort of experience. The Tower of London is AMAZING, the Eye is way cool for that bird's eye view - but Hampton Court feels like someplace that folks lived, and is a neat way of experiencing history. As an ex-tomboy myself, I know I would have loved the maze when I was 12. I went to Hampton Court the first time when I was 15, and thought it was great. The maze is way cool, and the whole place is a human-scale experience. Of course, the tomboy in me also thought the armor in the Tower was wicked neato. :o)

Downstream from Hampton Court is toward London and Tower Bridge

Ruth, my preference would be to take the boat out to Hampton Court. Just because at the end of a long day I just want to back home the quickest way possible. Have quickly looked on the Transport for London website - river guide. The posters above are right does look as if it takes 1 1/2 hours from Richmond to Hampton Court and first boat is at 11am (not running on Mondays). From Kingston, there are 2 places you can join the boat and the first one out to Hampton Court is at 10.30 am and takes about an hour.

Dellinda I understand about Lubbock, have family friends there. You'd be astonished to hear that the government here has just announced drought conditions in East Anglia. We currently have gentle mist, heavy rain due Friday.

Brian and Nigel, thank you both for clarifying which way is downstream! I don't have a lot of ego for these things--figure if I don't know I should just ask those who do!! Nigel, how funny to hear you have friends in Lubbock. It would be even more so if I knew them. It really is a smaller world than we think!