Windsor Castle or Hampton Court Palace?

No. Not an easy choice. Windsor is a little town (one main street with nice shops wrapped around the walled castle). Windsor castle includes guards in red uniforms at the gate with a periodic changing of the guard. Inside the castle walls is the Castle chapel, and also when available- but not always- tours within the castle. Cute little town. Hampton Court is a former castle, with many displays within a large number of rooms and outbuildings,, very nice gardens, a maze, but more like a decorated museum both worth seeing. We often visit both, but probably a slight preferance for Hampton Court, there is more to see- but doesnt truly have a cute town to go with it. For hampton we usually schedule most of a day, wityh and evening activity (often theatre) back in London

I really enjoy going to Windsor. There is some good shopping there, and the castle is one of my favorites. Also, if you are not planning on doing a river cruise in London itself, you can do a short one in Windsor. It gives you a different view of the castle and a bit of a short look at some lovley conutryside. Windsor can take from 1/2 to almost a full day. We like to "do" Windsor on days when we have theatre tickets. We try to catch the 9:30 or 10:00 train, spend time walking around town and wandering down the Long Walk (we've toured the castle several times, and don't usually do it now). then we catch the 2:30-3:00 train back. That puts us back in time to get showered and rested before going out for an early supper prior to the theatre. It makes a nice, relaxing day - sort of a vacation from our vacation.

I have not been to Windsor so cannot give the comparison you are looking for. If you have any interest in cooking, or if you have catering and foodservice experience, you might really find Hampton Court interesting. You get to go down into the Tudor kitchens and see where they put out meals for hundreds, day in and day out. That was worth my price of admission.

Windsor is so easy to get to from Paddington Station in London...a 35 minute train ride. Windsor Castle is the oldest and larget occupied castle in the world, it's beautiful. In late June you can tour the state rooms which are grander then Buckingham Palace's and St. Georg'e Chapel which is beautiful...10 monachs are buried there. The Changing of the Guards will take place everyday but Sundays at 11am...you can see and enjoy this much better here then at Buckingham Palace. You can spend several hours there....as you exit the castle thru Henry VIII there is a great pub across the street the Horse and Groom. You can vist the Royal Mews on St. Albans Street which is right by the castle. As you exit the castle if you turn to your left St Albans is a couple minute walk on your right. While in Windsor you could walk down to Windsor Great Park (8 minute walk) where you have a great view of the royal residents and the Long Walk which is the private road for the Royal Family to use when the enter and exit the castle. You could have tea at the Crooked House on High Street. You could also walk down to Eton and visit Eton College (which is actually like from 6th to high school).

Windsor is just a short bus/taxi ride from Heathrow, so if your flights are to/from that airport you could spend your 1st or last night near Windsor instead of making it a day trip out of London. If you have an early morning return flight it works out quite well. I like Hampton Court as much as Windsor Castle.... try to see both.

I'd go to Windsor, but only if the state rooms are open. If they aren't, defintely got to Hampton Court. I would definately try to either see the Windsor State rooms or tour Buckingham Palace (tours at the later are very restrictive, only open for a month or so when the queen is away - September maybe?). Both are very impressive, but somewhat similar. -Mark

Tough choice, but we liked Windsor more than Hampton Court. Hampton Court Palace seemed big and kind of empty, but it had fun Tudor reinactors throughout the day. There seemed to be more things to see inside Windsor castle -- the staterooms, armor & weapons, flags, the dollhouse, etc. The village of Windsor was very charming, too.

As a site, I preferred Hampton Court to Windsor Castle. But it's true that there's more to do at Windsor - browsing the shops in the village and streets around Windsor castle, stopping for tea, walking to Eton, etc. Another possible day trip is Canterbury, a longer train ride but there's the massive cathedral, interesting medieval town, and river walk.