In this guide
Kew Gardens is a 320-acre UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Thames in southwest London, with more than 50,000 living plants, three major glasshouse complexes, an 18-metre treetop walkway and an 18th-century Chinese pagoda.
💡 The Short Version:
- Time needed: Allow at least 4 hours; Kew covers 320 acres.
- Which gate: Victoria Gate for the Tube (District line) or the Mildmay line (London Overground) into Kew Gardens station, 500m away. Elizabeth Gate for South Western Railway into Kew Bridge station, 800m away. From 2 November 2026 to 29 January 2027, Lion Gate is open weekends only.
- 2026 tickets: Adult is £25 online / £28 at the gate in peak season (2 September–31 October), dropping to £17 / £20 off-peak. Children (4–15) are £2 online / £4 at the gate; concessions for disabled visitors and over-65s are £23 online peak / £15 off-peak. Book direct or through Kew Gardens entry tickets on GetYourGuide.
- £10 Tuesdays: Every Tuesday from 8 September to 29 December 2026, adult entry drops to £10 online.
- Winter warning: From 12 November 2026, last entry is 2.30pm and the gates shut at 3.15pm.
2026 ticket prices and booking
Kew runs seasonal pricing: peak from 2 September to 31 October, off-peak from 1 November to 31 January. Buying online saves £3 per adult against the gate price, in both seasons, and avoids the ticket queue on sunny weekends.
| Ticket | Peak online | Peak gate | Off-peak online | Off-peak gate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult | £25.00 | £28.00 | £17.00 | £20.00 | Excludes the optional donation |
| Child (4–15) | £2.00 | £4.00 | £2.00 | £4.00 | Flat rate from 2 September 2026; under-4s free |
| Concession | £23.00 | £26.00 | £15.00 | £18.00 | Disabled visitors and over-65s; ID may be checked at the gate |
| Young adult (16–29) / student | £10.00 | £12.00 | £7.00 | £10.00 | Proof of age, or an NUS or university card |
| Universal Credit / Pension Credit | £1.00 | £1.00 | £1.00 | £1.00 | One per claimant, plus one adult guest and up to 4 children at £1 each |
| Local resident | £23.00 | £26.00 | £15.00 | £18.00 | Richmond, Kingston, Hammersmith, Fulham, Wandsworth and Hounslow; proof of address checked at the gate |
Every Tuesday from 8 September to 29 December 2026, £10 Tuesdays brings adult entry down to £10 online (£11 with the optional donation).
Prices above exclude the optional Gift Aid donation at checkout. Add at least 10% and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Kew can reclaim tax on the whole amount you pay.
Tickets can be bought direct or via authorised ticketing platforms such as Kew Gardens entry tickets on GetYourGuide, which include free cancellation up to 24 hours before entry. Check live date availability below:
Which gate to use, and how to get there
Kew has four public gates, and the wrong one adds about 20 minutes of roadside walking.
| Gate | Arrive by | Walk | What is just inside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | Kew Gardens station, District line and the Mildmay line | 500m, about 5 min | The Palm House, the pond, and the shop and cafe at Victoria Plaza |
| Elizabeth | Kew Bridge station, South Western Railway from Waterloo | 800m, about 10 min | Kew Palace and the Princess of Wales Conservatory |
| Lion | Richmond station, or the 65 bus towards Ealing Broadway | 15 min on foot from Richmond | The Great Pagoda and the Temperate House |
| Brentford | Ferry Lane car park, off the A307 | At the gate | The lake and the Sackler Crossing, and the quietest corner of the Gardens |
1. Victoria Gate (for the Tube and Overground)
- Nearest station: Kew Gardens (District line and the Mildmay line, London Overground; Zone 3).
- Walking distance: 500 metres, about five minutes, signposted from the station.
- Why choose it: The most practical entry point, beside the Palm House, the pond and the Victoria Plaza shop and café.
2. Elizabeth Gate (north entrance, by the river)
- Nearest station: Kew Bridge (South Western Railway from London Waterloo via Vauxhall and Clapham Junction; no level access at the station).
- Walking distance: 800 metres, about ten minutes, across Kew Bridge and past Kew Green.
- Why choose it: Best on National Rail from Waterloo. Leads straight to the Princess of Wales Conservatory and Kew Palace.
3. Lion Gate (south entrance)
- Nearest station: Richmond (District line, Overground and SWR fast trains) — 15 minutes’ walk, or the 65 bus towards Ealing Broadway.
- Why choose it: The closest gate to The Great Pagoda and the Temperate House.
⚠️ Lion Gate is weekends only from 2 November 2026 to 29 January 2027. It’s closed Monday to Friday over that stretch. Victoria, Elizabeth and Brentford Gates stay open daily throughout.
4. Brentford Gate (west entrance, for driving)
- Access: Ferry Lane, off the A307 Kew Road.
- Car parking: Kew’s visitor car park at Ferry Lane (TW9 3AF) costs £10 a day, paid by card at the meter or the paybyphone app. No charge for motorcycles or mopeds, and blue badge holders park free. Spaces are first come, first served; on selected weekends in peak season, the Herbarium car park opens as overflow once Ferry Lane fills. Kew sits inside the Ultra Low Emission Zone, though not the Congestion Charge zone.
A four-hour circuit
This clockwise route starts at Victoria Gate and takes in the glasshouses, the Hive, the Treetop Walkway and the Great Pagoda without doubling back.
The Palm House, Kew Gardens. Photo: Txllxt TxllxT (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Stop 1: The Palm House and pond (0–45 minutes)
Enter via Victoria Gate and head straight to the Palm House. Completed in 1848 to designs by Decimus Burton and the engineer Richard Turner, it is built from curved wrought-iron ribs with no internal columns.
Inside, temperatures are held at 21–27°C with high humidity. It houses tropical rainforest specimens, including what Kew describes as the world’s oldest potted plant: an Eastern Cape giant cycad (Encephalartos altensteinii) brought to Britain from South Africa by botanist Francis Masson in 1775.
Wipe your lens before you go in. Camera lenses, phones and glasses fog up on entry in colder months. Give them two minutes, then climb the cast-iron spiral staircase to the walkway over the canopy.
Stop 2: The Princess of Wales Conservatory and Rock Garden (45–90 minutes)
Walk north along the Broad Walk towards the northern perimeter. The Princess of Wales Conservatory, opened by Diana, Princess of Wales in 1987, is a multi-level glasshouse with ten climatic zones.
Waterlilies, Princess of Wales Conservatory. Photo: AndyScott (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Key zones inside:
- The Wet Tropical Basin: Home to the giant Amazonian waterlilies (Victoria amazonica and Victoria cruziana), whose leaves span over two metres.
- The Arid Zone: Column cacti, agave and desert succulents from Madagascar and the Americas.
- Carnivorous Plants: Venus flytraps, sundews and pitcher plants (Nepenthes).
Exiting the conservatory, cut through the adjacent Rock Garden, an alpine rock garden built from Sussex sandstone.
Stop 3: The Hive and arboretum (90–135 minutes)
Head southwest through the arboretum towards the centre of the estate.
The Hive, Kew Gardens. Photo: Eddie Johnston (CC BY-SA 4.0).
At 17 metres tall, The Hive rises out of a wildflower meadow near Elizabeth Gate — a lattice of 170,000 aluminium parts and 1,000 LED lights, designed by Wolfgang Buttress for the UK Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo. The lights pulse with the vibrations of a working bee colony in the Gardens, and the soundscape plays in the key of C, the pitch bees buzz in. It won a Landscape Institute Award in 2016.
The path in is wheelchair-accessible, though the gradient can feel steep for self-propelled users, and Kew cannot accommodate mobility scooters inside.
Stop 4: The Treetop Walkway and Rhizotron (135–175 minutes)
Continue south towards the southwestern woodlands to reach the Xstrata Treetop Walkway, designed by Marks Barfield Architects (the architectural firm responsible for the London Eye).
The Treetop Walkway. Photo: Bryn Holmes (CC BY-SA 2.0).
- Height: 18 metres (59 feet) above ground level.
- Length: 200-metre circular walkway made of weathered Corten steel.
- Experience: The walkway puts you level with the crowns of mature sweet chestnuts, limes and English oaks, and it sways slightly in wind. Lift access is available for wheelchair users and those with restricted mobility.
- The Rhizotron: At the base of the walkway, an underground chamber built into an artificial earth mound provides cross-sectional views into living tree root systems, soil fungi networks, and subterranean ecology.
Stop 5: The Great Pagoda (175–205 minutes)
Follow the southern path towards Lion Gate. Here stands The Great Pagoda, completed in 1762 by Sir William Chambers as a gift for Princess Augusta.
The Great Pagoda. Photo: Peter Trimming (CC BY-SA 2.0).
- The dragons: The 2018 restoration reinstated all 80 gilded wooden dragons along the eaves.
- Climbing the Pagoda: Summer only. The Pagoda, Kew Palace and Queen Charlotte’s Cottage are closed until spring 2027. In season it runs 11am to a last timeslot at 4pm, booked as an Optional Extra on a Kew Gardens ticket. Nearest entrance: Lion Gate.
Stop 6: The Temperate House (205–240 minutes)
Finish at the Temperate House.
Inside the Temperate House. Photo: Mike Peel (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Kew calls the Temperate House the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse in the world. It is twice the size of the Palm House, covering 4,880 square metres. Designed by Decimus Burton in 1860 and finished in 1899, it reopened in May 2018 after a five-year, £41-million restoration.
It is cooler than the Palm House, with a Mediterranean-to-subtropical climate and 1,500 species from five temperate regions: Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Americas and Asia.
Notable specimens:
- Encephalartos woodii (Wood’s Cycad): Discovered in South Africa in 1895 and extinct in the wild. Only male specimens have ever been found, so every living plant is a clone of that single original.
- Dombeya mauritiana: A flowering tree from Mauritius, believed extinct until a single wild specimen was found in a cliff forest and propagated at Kew.
From the Temperate House, walk 8 minutes north along the Pagoda Vista back to Victoria Gate to exit.
Which glasshouse to see first
Short of time? Choose one:
| Glasshouse | Architectural style | Atmosphere and climate | Key highlight | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palm House | 1848 Victorian curved wrought iron | Dense, humid tropical heat (21–27°C, 80%+ humidity) | 1775 Eastern Cape cycad, elevated canopy gallery | Architecture fans and rainforest species |
| Temperate House | 1860–1899 grand Victorian iron and stone | Airy, temperate, moderate warmth | Wood’s Cycad (Encephalartos woodii), extinct in the wild | Spacious walking, photography, rare species |
| Princess of Wales | 1987 modern low-profile conservatory | 10 zoned microclimates (arid desert to wet tropical) | Giant Amazonian waterlilies, carnivorous plants, orchids | Plant diversity and interactive climate shifts |
Accessibility differs between them: the Temperate House and Alpine House take wheelchairs and mobility scooters, the Palm House takes wheelchairs but not scooters, and the Princess of Wales Conservatory takes both on its ground floor only.
Seasonal hours and daily timing
| Dates | Gates open | Last entry | Gates close |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 October–11 November 2026 | 10am | 3pm | 4pm |
| 12 November 2026–3 January 2027 | 10am | 2.30pm | 3.15pm |
From 25 October the glasshouses and the Treetop Walkway close at 3pm (Walkway last entry 2.45pm). The Princess of Wales Conservatory is closed from 4 January to 4 February 2027. Christmas at Kew, a ticketed evening light trail, runs on selected dates from 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, 4.20pm to 10pm, with tickets from £25.50 sold separately from daytime admission; Kew has the dates and last-entry times.
⚠️ Winter hours are short. From 12 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, last entry is 2.30pm and the gates close at 3.15pm. Lion Gate is also weekends-only throughout.
Practical information
Food, drink and picnics
- The Orangery: Coffee, cakes and light meals in an 18th-century building near Elizabeth Gate.
- The Botanical Brasserie: A separate, all-day restaurant with modern British breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. Mains run £23.50–£32 at lunch. You need a Kew Gardens ticket before you can book a table.
- Pavilion Bar & Grill: Near the Temperate House. Burgers and Mediterranean-inspired dishes grilled on charcoal or smoked over wood, with outdoor terrace seating.
- Victoria Plaza Café: At Victoria Gate. Coffee, cakes, sandwiches and snacks.
- Picnics: Bring your own food onto the grass, but not a barbecue or picnic furniture.
Accessibility and mobility
- Terrain: The Gardens are largely flat, with tarmac paths in most places, which suits wheelchairs and prams.
- Free wheelchairs: A limited number are available at all four public entry gates, first come, first served — no need to book.
- Mobility scooters: Bring your own pavement-use scooter (up to 4mph), or book one of Kew’s mobility scooters in advance from Brentford, Victoria or Elizabeth Gate — not Lion Gate. The Palm House and the Hive can’t take a mobility scooter regardless of which one you bring.
What people get wrong
- Underestimating the walk between gates. The four gates sit far apart, so wear comfortable shoes if you enter at one and leave by another.
- Missing the winter cutoff. Arriving at 2pm from 12 November leaves barely an hour.
- Relying on the car park. Ferry Lane fills on busy days; the Herbarium car park only opens as overflow on selected peak-season weekends.
- Paying full price at the gate. Online is £3 cheaper per adult in both seasons.
Continue planning your London trip
- 🌇 The Best Rooftop and Riverside Restaurants in London — including the riverside rooms a short walk from the gate
- 🌳 London’s Best Parks and Gardens — 17 green spaces compared across the city.
- 🦌 Richmond Area Guide — the park, the river and Richmond Hill, just south of Kew.
- 👨👩👧 London with Children — more family days out, including which ones are free.
- 🚇 Getting Around London: Transport Guide — how the Tube, Overground and contactless fares work.
- 🏛️ Tower of London Guide — prices, the quieter afternoon slots, and the ticket that reaches the Crown Jewels before other visitors.
- 👑 Hampton Court Palace Guide — Henry VIII’s palace, further upriver, reachable by boat from Kew in summer.
- 🗓️ Things to Do in London in December — Christmas at Kew with the other light trails and rinks.
- 🗓️ Things to Do in London in January — Christmas at Kew’s last night, Sunday 3 January.
Prices and opening hours are Kew’s own for 2026.
Common questions
How much are tickets to Kew Gardens in 2026?
Adult admission is £25 online or £28 at the gate in peak season, 2 September to 31 October, dropping to £17 online or £20 at the gate off-peak from 1 November to 31 January. Children aged 4 to 15 are £2 online or £4 at the gate, and under-4s are free. Disabled visitors and over-65s get a concession rate: £23 online at peak, £15 off-peak.
Is there a cheaper way to visit Kew Gardens?
Every Tuesday from 8 September to 29 December 2026, £10 Tuesdays brings adult entry down to £10 online. Universal Credit and Pension Credit claimants pay £1 for themselves, plus one adult guest and up to four children at the same price, and young adults aged 16 to 29 or students pay £10 online in peak season and £7 off-peak.
How long do you need at Kew Gardens?
Budget at least four hours. Kew covers around 320 acres, and the glasshouses, the Treetop Walkway and the grounds take more than three hours without rushing.
Which entrance gate is best for Kew Gardens?
Victoria Gate is best for public transport: it's 500 metres from Kew Gardens station, on the District line and the Mildmay line (London Overground). Elizabeth Gate suits South Western Railway arrivals at Kew Bridge station, 800 metres away. Lion Gate, nearest Richmond, is open weekends only from 2 November 2026 to 29 January 2027.
What are the opening hours for Kew Gardens in autumn and winter 2026?
10am to 4pm (last entry 3pm) to 11 November 2026, then 10am to 3.15pm (last entry 2.30pm) from 12 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. The glasshouses close at 3pm.
