In an ordinary year the London parks are at their best from the middle of October to the first week of November, and almost all of it costs nothing. In 2026 it is earlier: after the summer heatwaves, The Royal Parks recommended going from early to mid-September onwards, because the colours were arriving sooner and brighter than usual.
Book around that, not around a date. Autumn colour is not fixed in the calendar. It moves with the weather, and a hot, dry summer pulls it forward while a mild, wet one pushes it back and mutes it. In 2026 the Royal Parks also warned that the usual deep reds may be weaker because of the heat, with more yellow and bronze instead.
For the weather, half-term and the clock change, start with our month guides to October in London and November. This page is about the trees themselves: which ones, where exactly to stand, what it costs and how little daylight you actually have.
Autumn colour in London: the numbers
- Normal best fortnight
- Mid-October to the first week of November
- 2026
- Brought forward; The Royal Parks advised early to mid-September onwards after the summer heat
- Cost
- Free in every Royal Park, on Hampstead Heath and in Epping Forest; Kew Gardens is the one paid site
- Sunset
- About 6.30pm in October and about 4.30pm at the start of November (The Royal Parks)
- Best single paid day
- Kew's Arboretum, around 11,000 trees; from 1 November the adult ticket drops to £17 online
- Best free woodland
- The Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park, for acers
Why 2026 ran early, and how to tell before you travel
Writing at the start of September 2026, The Royal Parks told visitors that because of the recent hot weather they should come from early to mid-September onwards, as the colours would be brighter earlier in the season. Their own list of trees to see gave "early to mid-September onwards" for the weeping silver lime, the London plane, the Japanese maple and the tulip tree, and "end of September" for the ginkgo.
They made a second point that matters beyond this one year. London plane trees traditionally begin to change around the middle of September, but the charity says climate change appears to be shifting that, with earlier colour change and earlier leaf drop. If you have a guidebook from a few years ago telling you to come in the last week of October, treat it as a rough guide rather than a timetable.
There is no official London colour forecast to check. What works instead is looking at the parks' own recent photographs before you commit a day to it, and, if you have any flexibility, favouring somewhere with a wide mix of species, because they turn at different times and something will always be good.
Five trees worth crossing London for, and where to stand
Most autumn advice tells you to visit a park. That is not much help when the park is 350 acres. These five are specific, and The Royal Parks named all of them.
| Tree | Where exactly | Turns |
|---|---|---|
| Weeping silver lime | Brompton Cemetery, west London | Early to mid-September onwards |
| London plane | St James's Park, framing Buckingham Palace across the Blue Bridge | Traditionally from mid-September, now often earlier |
| Japanese maple | Greenwich Park, by the Flower Garden Pond; also at the Bower Avenue entrance and on the cricket-pitch perimeter path | Early to mid-September onwards |
| Tulip tree | The Regent's Park, in lines along the Avenue Gardens | September and October |
| Ginkgo | Bushy Park, near the Pheasantry Café in the Woodland Gardens | End of September |
The Japanese maple beside the Flower Garden Pond in Greenwich Park is the one we would send a photographer to, because the water doubles the colour. The Brompton Cemetery limes are the most atmospheric: the Victorians planted weeping species in cemeteries as a symbol of mourning, and these may have gone in to mark Queen Victoria's silver jubilee in 1862, a jubilee she was too deep in mourning for Prince Albert to celebrate. Brompton is one of the seven great Victorian burial grounds we cover in this guide to London's Magnificent Seven.
The ginkgo in Bushy Park turns a flat, brilliant gold rather than a mix, and it holds that colour briefly before dropping the lot. If you want one photograph of a single tree, that is the one, and there is a café beside it.
The Isabella Plantation, and the walk to reach it
The best free autumn woodland in London is a fenced woodland garden inside Richmond Park. The Isabella Plantation is known for azaleas in spring, but The Royal Parks pick out its maples and sweet gums in October and November, together with the fungi that appear across the wider park, from oak polypore to parasol mushrooms.
Getting there is a walk, and that is part of the point. The Tamsin Trail, the circuit round the whole park, is 11km or seven miles and The Royal Parks put it at two to four hours depending on how often you stop. If that is too much, the Beverley Brook Walk gives you a 2.4km section from the Roehampton Gate car park along the water, about 45 minutes, with the colours reflected in the brook. Our guide to the Isabella Plantation has the gates, the toilets and what is flowering month by month.
October and November are rutting months, and the stags are unpredictable. Stay at least 50 metres from any deer in Richmond Park at all times, and at least 100 metres from a male that seems active. Foraging is illegal in all eight Royal Parks, so the fungi are for looking at only.
What autumn costs, and the one place that charges
Almost everything in this article is free. Every Royal Park is free to enter, as is Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest and the great majority of borough parks. The single exception worth paying for is Kew.
Kew's Arboretum holds around 11,000 trees from across the world, which means a longer and more varied display than anywhere else in Britain that you can reach on the Tube. The price changes on 1 November, and the difference is large.
| Kew, autumn 2026 | Adult online | Child 4-15 online | Two adults, two children |
|---|---|---|---|
| To 31 October (peak) | £25 | £2 | £54 |
| From 1 November (off-peak) | £17 | £2 | £38 |
| "£10 Tuesdays", to 29 December | £10 | £2 | £24 |
Kew's hours shrink as the season goes on: 10am to 6pm from 1 to 24 October, then 10am to 4pm from 25 October to 11 November, and 10am to 3.15pm from 12 November. Check the current prices and hours on the official opening times page before you travel. Our Kew guide covers the glasshouses, and if the question is how much of it you can fit into an afternoon, see how long Kew Gardens takes.
Waiting until November makes Kew's autumn cheaper, not worse. The ticket falls from £25 to £17 on 1 November, and the late-turning trees in the Arboretum are still going. The trade-off is daylight: from 12 November the gardens close at 3.15pm.
The gates close earlier than you think
The thing that spoils more autumn afternoons than rain is arriving at 4pm with an hour of light and finding the gate shut. Pedestrian opening times differ from park to park, and they are not all the same even inside what looks like one green space.
| Park | Pedestrian gates |
|---|---|
| Hyde Park | 5am to midnight |
| St James's Park | 5am to midnight |
| Kensington Gardens | 6am to 7:30pm |
| The Regent's Park | 5am to 8pm (Primrose Hill open 24 hours on weekdays) |
| Greenwich Park | 6am to 8pm |
| Richmond Park | Open 24 hours, except during the November and February deer culls, when pedestrian gates are locked 8pm to 7.30am |
Add the daylight to that. The Royal Parks put sunset at about 6.30pm in October and about 4.30pm at the start of November. The clocks go back in late October, which removes an hour from the end of the afternoon overnight.
Three half-days that put the colour in a sensible order
South-west, the long one. Richmond Park from Richmond Gate, the Tamsin Trail as far as you want, the Isabella Plantation in the middle, then down into Richmond for an early dinner. Add Kew the next morning rather than the same day; both together is too much walking.
North, the free one. Hampstead Heath from Gospel Oak, up Parliament Hill for the view over the city, across the woods to Kenwood House, which is free, and out through Hampstead village. Nothing on that walk costs anything except lunch.
South-east, the odd one. Crystal Palace Park for the terraces and the restored Victorian sculptures, then the bus to the Horniman Museum gardens for another view over London. Good in half a day, and it works in poor light because you are not relying on the trees alone.
For something wilder, Epping Forest runs 13 miles from east London into Essex and has been public open space since the Epping Forest Act of 1878. It is the only place on this list where you can lose sight of buildings entirely.
What goes wrong in a London autumn
A single gale can take a park from full colour to bare in one night, and there is nothing to be done about it except to have a second plan. Paths in the woodland gardens turn to mud quickly, and the Royal Parks advise proper boots rather than trainers for Richmond and Bushy. Cafés inside the parks often close mid-afternoon in winter hours, earlier than the gates do.
The other risk is your own timing. If you have a fixed week and the trees are not cooperating, the glasshouses at Kew work in any weather, and a wet afternoon is better spent in one of the free museums than walking a grey park. For the boots-and-layers question, see our packing advice.
For the other end of the year in the same parks, see our guide to cherry blossom in London. If you would rather move through the colour than stand in it, the running routes guide has the park loops and towpaths with distances.
Frequently asked questions
When do the leaves turn in London?
In a normal year, from the middle of October to the first week of November. In 2026 The Royal Parks advised coming earlier, from early to mid-September onwards, because the summer heatwaves brought the colours forward. Check recent photographs from the park before you commit a day.
Where is the best autumn colour in London?
For free, the Isabella Plantation inside Richmond Park, for its maples and sweet gums, and Hampstead Heath for scale and the view from Parliament Hill. For a paid visit, Kew Gardens, whose Arboretum holds around 11,000 trees and so stays colourful for longer.
Is autumn colour in London free to see?
Almost all of it. Every Royal Park is free, as are Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest and Crystal Palace Park. Kew Gardens is the exception: £25 for an adult online until 31 October 2026, falling to £17 from 1 November, with children aged 4 to 15 at £2.
How late can you stay in the London parks in autumn?
It varies by park. Hyde Park and St James's Park keep pedestrian gates open until midnight, Regent's Park and Greenwich Park until 8pm, and Kensington Gardens only until 7:30pm. Richmond Park is open around the clock except during the November and February deer culls.
Why are the reds weaker some years?
Heat and drought in the summer affect how the leaves change. Writing in September 2026, The Royal Parks said the usual red of the Japanese maples might be less bright that year because of the summer heat, with yellow and bronze tones instead.
Sources
- The Royal Parks - Best trees to see this autumn in London's Royal Parks (checked September 2026)
- The Royal Parks - Top London parks for autumn walks (checked September 2026)
- The Royal Parks - Richmond Park opening times (checked September 2026)
- The Royal Parks - The Regent's Park opening times (checked September 2026)
- The Royal Parks - Kensington Gardens opening times (checked September 2026)
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - Opening and closing times (checked September 2026)
- City of London Corporation - Epping Forest (checked September 2026)