Hampton Court Palace ice rink tickets are on sale: adults £19.50 off peak, children £14.50, 45 minutes on the ice from 20 November. Plus the Festive Fayre.

Hampton Court Palace runs three separate things at Christmas, on three different sets of dates, under three different ticket rules. Getting that wrong is the main way people waste money there in December.

Historic Royal Palaces has published all three sets of 2026 dates.

Updated 7 October: ice rink tickets are now on sale. Adults pay £19.50 off peak and £21.50 peak, children aged 3 to 12 £14.50 and £16, and a session is up to 45 minutes on the ice. Prices and rules are below.

The ice rink: 20 November to 3 January

The outdoor rink opens on Friday 20 November 2026 and runs to Sunday 3 January 2027, closed on Christmas Day. The first session each day is at 10am and the last is at 8pm.

Two things to know before you plan around it.

It needs a separate ticket, and palace admission is not included. A rink ticket gets you the rink. It does not get you into the palace, the maze or the Winter Palace.

The palace’s ice rink page now says tickets are on sale. The rink is run by Icebox Live with Historic Royal Palaces, and booking is on the rink’s own site, which gives these prices on 7 October:

Ticket Off peak Peak
Adult, 13 and over £19.50 £21.50
Student, ID needed £18.00 £21.50
Child, 3 to 12 £14.50 £16.00
Family, 2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children £59.50 £65.50
Wheelchair user, carer free £15.00 £15.00
Groups of 10 or more, per person £13.50 to £17.50 £14.85 to £19.35

The rink does not say on its prices page which dates count as peak; the booking calendar shows it for each slot.

From the rink’s FAQs:

  • Each session is up to 45 minutes on the ice, and you are asked to arrive 30 to 40 minutes early to collect skates.
  • Skate hire is included. Children’s skate aids cost £6 on the day, first come first served, for children up to 100cm tall; they cannot be reserved.
  • Under-threes cannot skate. Under-13s must be on the ice with an adult aged 18 or over, and one adult can supervise up to five children.
  • Bookings can be moved to another slot if you contact the rink at least 48 hours ahead; booking fees are not refunded.
  • The site is cashless. Watching from the viewing platform is free.

Members of Historic Royal Palaces save at least 10% with a code from the member newsletter, according to the palace.

One useful detail is already published: the rink runs reduced capacity sessions from 10am daily, with static lighting and softer music, which the palace describes as particularly suitable for disabled visitors and for parents with young children. That is a relaxed session in all but name, and it is every day rather than one morning a week.

The Festive Fayre: two weekends, 4 to 6 and 11 to 13 December

The Festive Fayre runs Friday 4 to Sunday 6 December and again Friday 11 to Sunday 13 December 2026, from 10am to 5pm. It is held in the Great Fountain Garden, outdoors, with more than 100 independent producers, and there is live music at the bandstand through the day.

It is included in palace admission, so there is no separate fayre ticket. Historic Royal Palaces members go free but must pre-book, which catches people out: a membership card alone will not guarantee entry on a fayre day. The palace also warns that entry without a pre-booked ticket cannot be guaranteed.

The two weekends are not identical. The palace says the second weekend brings a different set of stallholders, so going twice is not a repeat.

There is a Festive Lounge upgrade, adults only, 18 and over, bought on top of a fayre ticket or membership. It includes a goody bag, tea, coffee and soft drinks, breakfast pastries, and complimentary beer, wine and prosecco from midday to 4.30pm.

The 11 December catch. The two official pages do not agree on that Friday. The Festive Fayre page gives the hours as 10am to 5pm with the palace closing at 4.30pm “except 11 December”. The tickets and prices page says that on 11 December the fayre closes at 5pm and is not open during the evening Winter Palace visits. The likely reading is that the palace stays open later that night for the Winter Palace while the fayre still shuts at 5pm, but if you are travelling for the evening specifically, ring ahead rather than trusting either line.

The Winter Palace: 28 November to 3 January

The Winter Palace is new for 2026: the historic rooms are given over to an immersive family experience built around a story called The Christmas Beast Ball, with live performances and mythical creatures. It runs Saturday 28 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027.

Like the fayre, it is included in palace admission and needs pre-booking, members included.

Standard hours are 10am to 4.30pm with last admission at 2.30pm. On extended-hours days the palace runs 10am to 7.30pm with last admission at 5.30pm.

What admission actually costs

Prices change on 28 November, when the Winter Palace opens and is folded into the standard ticket. Peak means weekends and bank holidays. Off-peak means weekdays.

Ticket To 27 Nov, off-peak To 27 Nov, peak From 28 Nov, off-peak From 28 Nov, peak
Adult, 18 to 64 £29.00 £32.00 £32.00 £35.00
Child, 5 to 15 £14.50 £16.00 £16.00 £17.50
Young person, 16 to 17 £14.50 £16.00 £16.00 £17.50
Senior, 65+ £23.50 £25.50 £25.50 £28.00
Student or disabled concession £23.50 £25.50 £25.50 £28.00
Groups of 15 or more £26.70 £29.40 £29.50 £32.20

Children under five go free and need no ticket. A carer or companion for a disabled visitor goes free, with supporting documents shown on the day.

Two things are worth knowing before you pay full price.

From 28 November, off-peak prices apply on only six days: 2 and 3, 9 and 10, and 16 and 17 December. Every other date in December is peak, including all six Festive Fayre days. If the £3 a head matters, those six midweek days are the whole of the cheap window.

And Historic Royal Palaces runs a £1 ticket scheme, for anyone receiving Universal Credit, Working Tax Credit, Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance. It covers up to four people per household, only one of whom needs to show documents, and it has to be booked online in advance. From 28 November that £1 ticket includes the Winter Palace.

Membership starts at £65 a year for unlimited entry, which is two adult peak visits, so it pays for itself quickly if you are planning the fayre and the Winter Palace separately.

Half term first: Halloween, 24 October to 1 November

Before any of it, the palace runs Halloween events from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November 2026, included in palace admission, with members free and no pre-booking needed. That covers the whole of the October half term week.

Getting there and parking

The palace address is Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, KT8 9AU, and the pedestrian and vehicle entrance is Trophy Gate on the A308.

Hampton Court station is a five-minute walk, in zone 6, with trains from Waterloo every half hour and Oyster accepted. Return trains leave at 23 and 53 minutes past the hour Monday to Saturday, and 05 and 35 past on Sundays. Buses: the 111, 216, 411, 461 and 513 from Kingston, and the R68 from Richmond.

Parking is the weak point. The on-site car park is limited, first come first served, £1.80 an hour, card only, with no EV charging and bays sized for a standard car. The palace itself advises using other transport at busy periods, and the Festive Fayre weekends are the busiest days of its winter.

If it is full, Hampton Court Green car park is 500 metres from the entrance at the same £1.80 an hour, and Bushy Park is a 15-minute walk. There are 10 Blue Badge bays on site, and charges apply to them except at relaxed opening events.

For everything else parking-related in the borough, see our parking in Richmond page, and for closures on the day, roadworks and travel.

The rest of the borough’s Christmas

Hampton Court is one of four big festive fixtures locally. Christmas at Kew opens on 13 November, the Christmas lights switch-ons run through late November, and Jack and the Beanstalk opens at Richmond Theatre on 5 December.

Sources