Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace is one of England's greatest royal residences, sitting on the north bank of the Thames about 15 miles southwest of central London. Built in the early 16th century by Cardinal Wolsey and then seized by Henry VIII, it became the most important palace in the kingdom — a place where Henry held court, married two of his six wives, and set the template for Tudor power. Unlike many historic sites that feel frozen and distant, Hampton Court has a rare quality: it genuinely transports you. Walk through the Great Hall and you're standing where Henry VIII feasted with his court. The scale of it — the kitchens, the courtyards, the sprawling formal gardens — makes the history feel tangible rather than academic.

The palace is essentially two buildings in one. The Tudor sections, including the Great Hall, the Chapel Royal, and the vast kitchens (among the best-preserved in Europe), sit alongside a second, entirely different palace built for William III by Christopher Wren in the 1690s, with baroque state apartments that rival anything in continental Europe. You can spend hours moving between these two worlds. The gardens are a serious attraction in their own right: 60 acres of formal grounds including the famous yew-tree maze — the oldest surviving hedge maze in England, planted around 1700 — and the Great Vine, a single grapevine planted in 1768 that still produces grapes harvested each autumn.

Hampton Court is not in central London — it takes around 35 minutes by train from London Waterloo to Hampton Court station, or you can arrive by boat from Richmond or Westminster in summer, which is a genuinely lovely way to approach the palace from the river. Buy tickets online in advance; they're not cheap, but the entry price covers almost everything including the maze. The palace is busiest in summer holidays and on weekends — arrive early or aim for a weekday. The café and restaurant options on-site are decent but not the main event, so don't rearrange your day around them.