What is the best way (and fastest) to get to Hampton Court from London. 6 of us will be going.

The train is a piece of cake.

The best way is by boat (not that it's that scenic, but it's the way the Tudors used to do the journey)

The fastest way is by train.

The train takes 35mins on a good day and 45 mins on a bad day - departing from London Waterloo twice an hour. HC Palace is five minutes walk from the station.

When we went to Hampton Court Palace a few years ago, we took the train from Waterloo station out to Hampton Court in the morning (30-45 minute trip), spent most of the day touring the palace and grounds, then took the boat back to London. It's a very nice, relaxing way to return. And since the Thames is a tidal river, you get to travel through a few sets of locks.

Here's the website for the boats: <b>www.wpsa.co.uk</b>

I took the boat and enjoyed, passing some house boats, reminding me of the book, The Horse's Mouth.

We did this about two weeks ago. The train was very simple and took about 20 - 30 minutes, I think. It is also not very expensive. (Though I may still be blocking out the exchange rate.)
Hope you enjoy it. Be sure to take the tour of the apartments. It is much better than doing it by yourself.

In May we did what Kayb95 did. Nice relaxing boat trip!

jbl

If the weather is nice and you want to take a boat - take it FROM Hampton Court Palace to central London, not from London to HCP.

The train is fast and frequent and will get you there earlier. Then after you are throught you can take a leisurely trip back by boat. Due to the currents, the trip down river to London can be as much as 60 minutes less than the trip up river to the Palace. So it is a better use of your probably limited time to travel down river.

The train from Waterloo is the fastest way. 30-40 min. Ask for the combined train and admission ticket, you save a pound or so (and with 6 people that can add up). Also note that if you ask they will deduct the fare you have already paid on you Zone1 or Zone2 (or whatever zones you have) tube pass so you only pay for the train to Hampton Ct from the end of whatever your tube pass is good for. Not alot of people seem to know about this and not all ticket agents will mention it.

you can travel free, if you use the same 6 zone day card that you can buy to go from heathrow to downtown. May be attractive even with a weekend travelcard where you can go to hampton the second day.

We went to Hampton Court in June. Instead of going to the ticket counter where there was a line, we went to the information desk to ask about the schedule and the gentleman was able to charge us the additional supplement above our travelcards. We didn't have to wait in the line.