HAMPTON COURT PALACE

Historic Royal Palaces offer you Britain's top historic attractions.

Visitor information

Shops and guidebooks

There are four shops at Hampton Court Palace all selling a wide range of books, guidebooks, gifts, souvenirs, films and postcards. They all have their own themes and products, so do try and visit more than one!

Bureau de change

A bureau de change is located inside the main ticket office.

Catering

There are two restaurants at Hampton Court Palace. Queen Elizabeth's Privy Kitchen, inside the palace, serves tea, coffee, pastries, cakes, soup, sandwiches, light lunches and afternoon tea. The Tiltyard Tea Room, situated in the palace gardens, has a coffee bar, self-service restaurant and outside terrace. It offers a wide range of hot and cold drinks and meals throughout the day. There are also two kiosks in the grounds selling soft drinks and ice creams.

Hampton Court Palace has been divided into six routes or tours which help explain how the building was used when it was occupied by the monarchy. This section describes what you can see in each of the routes. Information on the courtyards and cloisters and palace gardens is also provided here.

Henry VIII's State Apartments

Henry VIII is probably Hampton Court’s most famous occupant and its first royal owner. All his lavish private rooms were demolished in the early 18th century but the two most magnificent public rooms still survive - the Great Hall and the Chapel Royal, which is still a place of worship today.

The Tudor Kitchens

The fascinating but more practical side of royal life is represented at Hampton Court by the enormous Tudor Kitchens, the most extensive surviving 16th-century kitchens in Europe. Today they are laid out as if a feast was being prepared using all the food and utensils that would have been used in the 16th century.

The Wolsey Rooms & Renaissance Picture Gallery

The palace is home to one of the greatest collections of Renaissance paintings in England. These are housed in a series of small Tudor rooms, known as the Wolsey Rooms, and in the Renaissance Picture Gallery. An exhibition on the history of the Royal Collection is located at the start of the route. For Mantegna’s Triumphs of Caesar see the Palace Gardens.

The King's Apartments

King William III’s Apartments are the finest and most important set of Baroque state apartments in the world. They are still furnished with the magnificent furniture and tapestries which graced them in 1700 when they were completed for the King. Today you see them restored after the terrible fire of 1986. An exhibition under the colonnade in Clock Court near the entrance to the King’s Apartments explains the restoration and the function of the state rooms.

The Queen's State Apartments

The Queen’s State Apartments took 30 years to complete and represent a wide range of styles. Some of the most spectacular rooms in the palace can be found here including the painted Queen’s Drawing Room with its magnificent views over the gardens and park.

The Georgian Rooms

While the King’s and Queen’s State Apartments were built for the ceremonial lives of the kings and queens of England, the Georgian Rooms contain their more private rooms. Shown today as they were in 1737 during the final visit of the royal court they present a more relaxed, informal and domestic side of palace life.

Courtyards & Cloisters

The buildings of Hampton Court cover 6 acres and comprise many courtyards and cloisters. One of the greatest pleasures of visiting the palace is strolling around them admiring the harmonious blend of Tudor and Baroque architecture and curiosities such as Henry VIII’s Astronomical Clock and Cardinal Wolsey’s coat of arms in Clock Court.

The Palace Gardens

There are over 60 acres of gardens to explore at Hampton Court including the Maze, the Great Vine and the newly restored Privy Garden. An exhibition on the East Front tells the story of the gardens and explains the restoration of the Privy Garden, opened in 1995. From the Privy Garden you can visit William III’s magnificent Banqueting House and the Lower Orangery where Andrea Mantegna’s Triumphs of Caesar are.