Hampton Court Tulip Festival: When to Go and What to See

Orange and pink tulips, packed tight in front of the red-brick Tudor gatehouse. That photo from Hampton Court sums the palace up in April.

My photos come from two different Aprils, a year apart. Put together, they cover most of the palace grounds. There are tulips in courtyards, in terracotta pots, along the Wren facade and down in the sunken Pond Gardens. Some beds mix four or five colours in bands. Others are a single shade of red along the whole length of a path.

This post brings both visits into one guide. It covers when the Hampton Court Tulip Festival runs, what it costs, where the best beds are, and why tulips at this palace are more than a pretty spring display.

What Is the Hampton Court Tulip Festival?

The Hampton Court Tulip Festival is an annual spring display run by Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that cares for the palace. Gardeners hand-plant more than 100,000 tulip bulbs each autumn. They flower across the formal gardens and courtyards from early April.

The first festival took place in April 2021. The bulbs for it went into the ground in autumn 2020. It has returned every spring since. In 2024 the palace was named Britain's Largest and Greatest Tulip Heritage Garden at the World Tulip Summit.

The festival is not a separate fenced-off area. It spreads across the whole 60 acres of formal gardens. You wander, and the tulips keep appearing: in long borders, in pots by doorways, and in displays that change from year to year.

Does the Hampton Court Tulip Festival Still Run Every Year?

Yes. The festival ran in both 2025 and 2026. In 2025 it was listed from 11 April to 5 May. In 2026 it ran from 3 to 26 April.

The 2026 start date was moved earlier than first planned. A warm spring brought the flowers out ahead of schedule. That is the thing to remember with any tulip festival: the dates follow the weather, not the calendar.

The palace gardeners usually point to mid-April as the peak. Late March can be too early, and by early May the beds start to fade. Historic Royal Palaces publishes the dates on its Hampton Court website in late winter, so check there before booking.

Do You Need a Separate Ticket for the Tulips?

No. The tulips are included in a standard Hampton Court Palace ticket. There is no extra charge for the festival itself. The same ticket covers the palace, the gardens and courtyards, the maze and the Magic Garden.

For visits up to 27 November 2026, an adult ticket costs £29 off-peak or £32 at peak times. Children aged 5 to 15 pay £14.50 or £16. Seniors, students and disabled visitors pay £23.50 or £25.50. Carers go free, and so do children under 5.

Historic Royal Palaces also sells £1 tickets to people receiving Universal Credit and other named benefits. Members get in free. April counts as a busy month, so it is worth booking online for a weekend.

In 2025, the ticket also covered short Tulip Talks. These ran twice a day in the palace Wine Cellar and covered tulip history, tulip mania and the palace's Dutch connections.

Where Are the Best Tulips at Hampton Court?

The plantings change every year, so no two festivals look the same. These are the spots Historic Royal Palaces highlighted in its 2025 and 2026 listings.

The Great Fountain Garden, on the east side of the palace, has had floating bowls of tulips on the Great Fountain. In 2025, Fountain Court, inside the palace, held around 10,000 tulips. Clock Court has had a vintage horse cart overflowing with flowers. The Kitchen Garden has been planted in rows inspired by Dutch tulip fields.

The Lower Orangery shows rare, historic and specialist varieties. Some of these date back more than five centuries. It is the place to see what the tulips that started a financial frenzy looked like.

My own photos catch a mix of these. There are rows of white, red and purple in front of a slate-roofed brick building. There are dark red double tulips in a terracotta pot. There are pale pink peony-flowered tulips beside a pond, looking more like roses than tulips.

The palace buildings do half the work. Yellow tulips look sharper against red brick than they would against a hedge. The Wren facade, with its pale stone trim, makes almost any colour stand out.

Why Are There Tulips at Hampton Court Palace?

The link goes back to the 17th century and to the Netherlands. Tulips arrived in western Europe from the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. By the 1630s the Dutch Republic had gone tulip mad.

Tulip mania, as it became known, saw single bulbs of rare varieties trade for extraordinary sums. The market collapsed in February 1637. Historians still argue about how much damage the crash really did. The episode has been shorthand for a speculative bubble ever since.

Half a century later, a Dutch prince came to Hampton Court. William of Orange and his wife Mary, daughter of James II, took the English throne in 1689 as William III and Mary II. Mary had lived in the Netherlands since their marriage in 1677.

The couple chose Hampton Court as a main residence. They brought Dutch taste in gardens with them, and Mary was a serious plant collector. Tulips were a natural part of that world. Historic Royal Palaces traces the tulips at the palace back to Mary's reign in the 1690s.

What Gardens Did William III and Mary II Create at Hampton Court?

Quite a lot, in only 13 years. William and Mary created the Great Fountain Garden on the east front. Daniel Marot, the French-born designer who worked for William, laid it out with 13 fountains and avenues of yew trees.

Mary turned Henry VIII's old fish ponds into sunken gardens to show off her rare and exotic plants. She kept citrus trees there in summer. In winter they sheltered in heated glass cases made by a Dutch carpenter, Hendrick Floris.

The Pond Gardens you see today took their shape in the early 20th century. Gardeners created a Dutch-style garden with tiered paths, topiary, statues and bedding. My photo shows it in full spring dress, with wisteria on the walls and tulips in every bed.

The Kitchen Garden was also built for William and Mary in 1689. It sits on the site of Henry VIII's tiltyard, the arena where Tudor knights jousted. The tiltyard was divided into six walled squares of about an acre each. The restored Kitchen Garden opened in June 2014 and grows produce for Henry VIII's Kitchens.

William died in 1702 after a fall from his horse. His Privy Garden, beside the river, was reconstructed in 1995 from his 1701 design. The research leaned on surviving workmen's accounts. In spring its beds are planted with tulips, daffodils and hyacinths.

What Else Can You See in the Hampton Court Gardens in April?

The maze. It was planted around 1700 and was probably commissioned by William III. Historic Royal Palaces calls it the UK's oldest surviving hedge maze. It covers a third of an acre, and most people take about 20 minutes to reach the centre.

The maze was designed by George London and Henry Wise. It was first planted with hornbeam and later replanted with yew. It has a famous cameo in Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat, where the characters get hopelessly lost.

The Great Vine. Lancelot 'Capability' Brown planted it in 1768, from a cutting taken at Valentines Mansion in Essex. The variety is Black Hamburg. It is listed as the largest grapevine in the world, with a longest rod of 36.5 metres.

The biggest harvest came in autumn 2001, at 383 kilograms of grapes. Queen Victoria had the grapes sent to the Royal Household. Edward VII later allowed the surplus to be sold to visitors.

Beyond the formal gardens there is Home Park, 750 acres of parkland inside a loop of the Thames. Deer graze there, and the long avenues give views back towards the palace.

When Is the Best Time to Visit the Hampton Court Tulip Festival?

Mid-April is the safest bet, based on the gardeners' own forecasts. Tulip varieties do not all flower at once, so the display changes from week to week. A cold March pushes everything later, and a warm one brings it forward.

Opening time on a weekday is the quietest slot. The light at 10am is also kind to the east front, which faces the morning sun. Weekends in April, especially around Easter, bring the biggest crowds.

If you are planning a spring garden weekend in south-west London, this pairs well with other seasonal sights. The azaleas come a little later in Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park. Late April is also the start of the bluebell season, and I have a list of where to see bluebells in London.

Is Hampton Court Worth Visiting Just for the Tulips?

The tulips alone could fill a morning. But the ticket covers the whole palace, and it would be a shame to skip it. Henry VIII's Great Hall and Tudor kitchens, the Wren state apartments and the maze are all on the same ticket.

I would treat the festival as a reason to see the whole palace, not just the gardens. It is a good excuse to catch up on some Tudor and Stuart history while you are there.

Hampton Court is also close to Twickenham. On the way back towards London you can stop at Marble Hill House, a free Georgian villa by the Thames, or walk past the boatyards of Eel Pie Island.

Visiting Hampton Court Palace: Practical Notes

📍 Where: Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 9AU.

📅 Open days: The Hampton Court Tulip Festival runs in April each year. The 2025 festival was listed from 11 April to 5 May and the 2026 festival from 3 to 26 April. Dates depend on the weather, so check the Historic Royal Palaces website.

⏰ Opening: In the festival period the palace and gardens opened 10:00 to 17:30 daily. Last admission is at 16:30. Outside spring and summer the palace may close on some weekdays, so check before you go.

🎫 Admission: The tulips are included in a palace ticket. Until 27 November 2026, adults pay £29 off-peak or £32 peak, and children aged 5 to 15 pay £14.50 or £16. Under-5s and carers go free.

🚇 Getting there: Trains run from London Waterloo to Hampton Court station every 30 minutes. The palace is a 5-minute walk from the station. Buses 111, 216, 411, 461, 513 and R68 also stop nearby.

🚗 Parking: The on-site car park charges £1.80 an hour, card only, and fills up on busy days. There are 10 Blue Badge spaces. Hampton Court Green and the station car park are alternatives.

☕ Food: The Tiltyard Café serves hot and cold food, cakes and drinks. The Wilderness Kiosk sells ice creams, snacks, tea and coffee.

⏳ How long: Allow two hours for the gardens and tulips, and a full day if you add the palace and the maze.

📷 Best time: Mid-April, on a weekday morning, when the east front catches the sun.

🗺️ Nearby: Bushy Park, Home Park, Marble Hill House and Twickenham's riverside.

♿ Access: Wheelchairs and electric buggies can be borrowed on a first-come basis, and buggies can be used outdoors. Accessible toilets are at the Wilderness, Base Court, Fountain Court and the Kitchen Garden.

🧳 Left luggage: Lockers are in the Buggy Store at Clock Court.

Have you been to the tulips at Hampton Court, and which garden had your favourite bed?

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All photos were taken by Ina/WithinLondon, unless stated otherwise.