The RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival has not taken place since 1 to 6 July 2025, and it does not appear in the Royal Horticultural Society's published calendars for either 2026 or 2027. If you have come here looking for dates, that is the answer, and the rest of this page explains what happened and where to find the same day out.
For nearly thirty years the festival filled the grounds beside Hampton Court Palace every July with show gardens, a vast floral marquee, a rose festival and hundreds of nursery stands. It was the summer show that ordinary gardeners preferred to Chelsea, because it was bigger on the ground, easier to get a ticket for and full of plants you could buy and carry home.
That is the past tense, and we have used it deliberately. Below is what the RHS itself now publishes, what it is running instead, and what you can do at Hampton Court in July regardless. Our guide to Hampton Court Palace covers the palace and its gardens, which are open all year and have nothing to do with the show.
Where things stand, September 2026
- Last edition
- 1 to 6 July 2025, at Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey
- 2026
- Not held. The RHS ran Malvern Spring, Chelsea, Badminton and Sandringham
- 2027
- Not in the RHS calendar. Malvern Spring, Chelsea, a new Plant Festival in Bristol and Tatton Park
- The RHS page
- Still online, but describes the 2025 show in the past tense with no future date
- The palace itself
- Open as normal, with its own gardens, maze and events
- Nearest RHS show to London in 2027
- Chelsea, 18 to 22 May 2027
What the RHS is actually saying
Two documents settle the question. The festival's own page on rhs.org.uk carries the line that the show "was held 1 - 6 July 2025 in Surrey", with the opening hours of that week and no forward date anywhere on the page. And in its announcement of the 2027 season, the RHS names four shows: Malvern Spring Festival on 6 to 9 May, Chelsea Flower Show on 18 to 22 May, a new RHS Plant Festival in Bristol on 8 to 11 July, and RHS Flower Show Tatton Park on 21 to 25 July.
Hampton Court is not among them. The 2026 season was also a set of four without it: Malvern Spring, Chelsea, and two new shows at Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire and the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.
The context the RHS gives is that since 2024 it has been deliberately taking its shows to new places. Its own description is of a touring programme, which has so far meant Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire in 2025, Badminton and Sandringham in 2026, and Bristol in 2027. The RHS has not published a statement that the Hampton Court festival has ended permanently, and it has not published a date for its return either.
Ignore any 2027 Hampton Court dates you see elsewhere. A number of listings sites still carry dates for a show that the RHS's own 2027 calendar does not include. Before booking travel or accommodation around a garden festival at Hampton Court, check rhs.org.uk directly.
Photo: APK · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized
What the festival was, for anyone who never went
It is worth recording what has gone, because it explains why people are still looking for it.
The show occupied the open ground on the far side of the Long Water from the palace, a flat expanse big enough to lay out show gardens, marquees and a bandstand without anything feeling crowded. It ran from Tuesday to Sunday in the first week of July, with long days: the RHS listed 10:00 to 18:30 from Tuesday to Saturday and 10:00 to 17:30 on the Sunday.
The parts people remember are the Floral Marquee, packed with specialist growers; the Festival of Roses, which was exactly what it sounds like; the allotment and school border displays; the talks stage; and the food stalls along the Long Water with the palace on the far bank. In 2025 the public ticket started at £30.85, with RHS members from £25.85.
And the thing that made it different from Chelsea: you could buy plants from the nurseries and take them away with you. That single fact is why keen gardeners chose it, and why no other London show has replaced it.
Where to get the same day out now
There is no direct replacement within reach of London, but there are three reasonable substitutes depending on what you actually wanted.
| If you wanted | Go instead to | When |
|---|---|---|
| Show gardens and spectacle | RHS Chelsea Flower Show | 18 to 22 May 2027, tickets on sale in October |
| Nurseries and plants to buy | RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey, and its own plant events | Open all year |
| Flowers with no ticket at all | Chelsea in Bloom, in the streets of Chelsea | Chelsea Flower Show week, free |
Chelsea is the obvious answer for the spectacle, and our guide to the Chelsea Flower Show explains how the ticket ballot and the members' days work. Be warned that Chelsea is harder to get into, smaller on the ground and less about buying plants than Hampton Court was.
For the plant-buying side, RHS Wisley and the Surrey gardens is the honest answer: a full RHS garden with a large plant centre, an hour from London, open through the year rather than for six days in July.
And if you simply want to look at extraordinary flowers without paying anything, Chelsea in Bloom fills the streets around Sloane Square during Chelsea Flower Show week and costs nothing at all.
Hampton Court in July without the show
Here is the part that surprises people: the gardens that the festival was held next to are among the best in Britain, they are included in the palace ticket, and in early July they are at their peak.
Admission to the palace takes in the formal gardens, the Maze and the Magic Garden. The weekday price is £29.00 and the weekend and bank holiday price £32.00, both running to 27 November 2026, with Historic Royal Palaces inviting an optional ten per cent donation on top. The palace is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, which is the one thing to check before travelling.
Two of the palace's own features are worth planning a July day around: the Great Vine, planted in 1768 and still producing grapes, and the Privy Garden, restored to its 1702 layout. The Mantegna Gallery inside the palace is closed until spring 2027, but that is an indoor gallery and not a reason to change a garden visit.
If you want gardens without an admission charge, Bushy Park is directly across the road, free, and has the Woodland Gardens and the Diana Fountain. A July morning at the palace gardens and an afternoon in Bushy Park is a better day than most ticketed shows.
Hampton Court Palace is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. That was true in the week we checked in September 2026 and it catches out a lot of visitors who travel out from London on a quiet weekday. Check the opening calendar on hrp.org.uk before you buy a train ticket.
Other gardens within reach in the same week
Early July is the best fortnight of the English gardening year, and south-west London is unusually well supplied. If you were planning a garden week around the festival, these fill it without a ticket ballot.
- Kew Gardens, half an hour from Hampton Court by rail and bus, where the Palm House, the Temperate House and the walkway through the treetops are the set pieces. Summer is its peak price band, so book online.
- The Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park, which is free and is at its best a little earlier, in May and June.
- The Chelsea Physic Garden, a walled apothecaries' garden beside the Thames in central London, which is small, old and entirely unlike a flower show.
- Sissinghurst and the gardens of Kent for a full day out of London, if what you really wanted was a day among plants rather than a marquee.
Our page on free things to do in London lists the parks and gardens that charge nothing, of which there are more than most visitors realise.
Getting to Hampton Court
No Underground line reaches it. Trains leave London Waterloo for Hampton Court about twice an hour, and from that platform it is five minutes on foot over the bridge to the palace gates. The stop sits in fare Zone 6 and takes both Oyster and contactless, so the return trip falls inside the £16.30 daily cap for Zones 1 to 6.
The slower and better way is by river. Boats run up the Thames from Westminster in summer, taking a large part of the day each way, which is an experience rather than a transport option; our guide to Hampton Court by boat explains the timings and whether it is worth it.
On foot, the Thames Path passes the palace, and the level hour's walk from there to Kingston is one of the pleasantest stretches of river in London. For where to join and leave it, see our page on the Thames Path and the city's other waymarked walks.
Whether it will come back, and how you would know
We cannot tell you, and neither can anyone else who is being honest. The RHS has neither announced the end of the Hampton Court festival nor given it a future date, and its published plans run to the end of 2027.
Three places will show it first if it returns: the RHS shows and events calendar, the RHS shows news page, and the festival's own page on rhs.org.uk, which would change from the past tense. The society typically announces the following year's shows in the second half of the preceding year, as it did for 2027 in the summer of 2026, so an announcement about 2028 would be expected around the middle of 2027.
In the meantime, our guide to London in July covers what is actually on in the city that month, and our month-by-month pages set out the rest of the year.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Hampton Court Flower Show still running?
Not at present. The RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival last took place from 1 to 6 July 2025, and it does not appear in the Royal Horticultural Society's published show calendars for 2026 or 2027. The RHS has not announced either its return or its permanent end.
What RHS shows are running in 2027?
Four: RHS Malvern Spring Festival on 6 to 9 May, RHS Chelsea Flower Show on 18 to 22 May, a new RHS Plant Festival in Bristol on 8 to 11 July, and RHS Flower Show Tatton Park on 21 to 25 July. Chelsea is the only one in London.
Can I still visit Hampton Court Palace gardens in July?
Yes. Admission to the palace takes in the gardens, the Maze and the Magic Garden, and until 27 November 2026 the price is £29.00 midweek or £32.00 at weekends and on bank holidays, plus an optional donation. The palace is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so check the calendar first.
What is the nearest thing to the Hampton Court show now?
For show gardens, the Chelsea Flower Show in May. For buying plants from specialist nurseries, RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, which is open all year. For flowers without a ticket, Chelsea in Bloom, which fills the streets around Sloane Square during Chelsea Flower Show week and is free.
How do I get to Hampton Court from London?
South Western Railway runs from London Waterloo to Hampton Court roughly twice an hour, and it is five minutes on foot from that platform to the palace gates. The stop is in Zone 6 and takes Oyster and contactless, so the fare counts towards the Zones 1 to 6 daily cap.
Sources
- Royal Horticultural Society - RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival (checked September 2026)
- Royal Horticultural Society - RHS Shows confirmed for 2027 (checked September 2026)
- Royal Horticultural Society - Shows and events (checked September 2026)
- Historic Royal Palaces - Hampton Court Palace tickets and prices (checked September 2026)
- Historic Royal Palaces - Hampton Court Palace opening times (checked September 2026)
- Historic Royal Palaces - Getting to Hampton Court Palace (checked September 2026)