Kensington Palace

Set expectations before you buy, because this is where the disappointed reviews come from.

Kensington Palace is a working royal residence, and the part open to visitors is a series of state apartments rather than a grand palace tour. It takes considerably less time than Hampton Court or the Tower.

What is open: the King’s State Apartments with the painted staircase, the Queen’s State Apartments, rooms devoted to Queen Victoria’s life at the palace where she was born and grew up, and a rotating exhibition space that usually features royal fashion.

The private apartments where members of the royal family live are not open and never will be.

Visitors expecting Diana’s home to be on display are the most likely to be disappointed — this is a palace with exhibitions in it rather than a shrine.

The main reason a large proportion of visitors come, and worth understanding before booking.

The palace was Diana’s London home, and the fashion exhibitions frequently include dresses she wore, with rotating displays drawn from the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection.

What is on display changes. Some visitors arrive expecting a permanent Diana exhibition and find a smaller display than they hoped, or a different exhibition entirely.

Check the current exhibition programme before you book rather than assuming.

Outside, in the Sunken Garden, stands the statue of Diana commissioned by her sons — free to see, since the Sunken Garden is part of the public gardens rather than the ticketed palace.

For many visitors the statue and the garden are the more affecting half.

The strongest historical content here and the part that surprises people.

Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, grew up there under the restrictive Kensington System, and was woken there to be told she was queen.

The rooms tell that story with her own belongings, dolls, diaries and clothing, and it is genuinely well done.

Costumed interpreters appear in character as Victoria and members of her household, interacting with visitors — reviewers mention these encounters warmly.

The audio guide covers this section well and is available in several languages, with a tone that visitors describe as unusually engaging.

If you come for Diana and stay for Victoria, you will not be the first.

Kensington Gardens surround the palace and cost nothing.

The Sunken Garden, with the Diana statue, is immediately beside the palace and is the horticultural highlight — formal beds around a pond, planted seasonally.

Beyond it: the Italian Gardens at the north end, the Round Pond in front of the palace, the Albert Memorial, the Serpentine galleries, and the Diana Memorial Playground for children.

One detail from visitors worth repeating: behind the drinks kiosk near the palace there is a path leading to a hidden statue and water feature tucked into the hedges, which almost nobody finds.

The gardens run into Hyde Park with no boundary, giving you a walk of several miles if you want it.

The eighteenth-century garden building beside the palace, built for Queen Anne, now a café and restaurant.

It is the obvious place for lunch or afternoon tea and it is priced for the setting.

Opinion on the food and service is mixed — the building is lovely and the catering is variable, and several reviewers describe the afternoon tea as disappointing relative to the price.

Booking is advisable for afternoon tea.

For better value, the cafés in the wider gardens or the restaurants of Kensington High Street and Notting Hill a short walk away are the alternatives.

Ninety minutes to two hours inside the palace, which is what most visitors report.

An hour if the exhibitions do not detain you.

Add an hour or more for the gardens, which are free and are a substantial part of the visit.

Half a day covers both comfortably.

Because it is a shorter visit than the other royal palaces, it pairs well with something else — the V&A, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum are all a fifteen-minute walk south, and Notting Hill is a similar distance north.

Tickets are timed and are cheaper online than at the door.

The palace rarely sells out entirely, but popular slots go and queueing at the ticket desk wastes time better spent in the gardens.

An audio guide is included and is worth taking.

Historic Royal Palaces membership covers Kensington alongside the Tower of London and Hampton Court, and pays for itself quickly if you are visiting more than one.

Within the day, first thing is quietest. The palace fills through the middle of the day and thins again in the late afternoon.

August, July, September and June are the busiest months here, with a clear summer weighting driven by the gardens as much as the palace.

December, January and February are the quietest.

The Sunken Garden is at its best from late spring through summer, when the seasonal planting is out.

Winter visits are calm inside and bare outside, though the palace is warm and the gardens under frost have their own appeal.

Spring brings the wider Kensington Gardens into flower, which is free and is one of the better walks in London at that time of year.

Mixed inside, excellent outside.

Inside: the costumed interpreters engage children well, and Victoria’s childhood rooms with her dolls and toys land better than the state apartments.

The fashion exhibitions are a harder sell for younger visitors.

Outside is where a family day here works. The Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens is one of the best free playgrounds in London, with a pirate ship at its centre, and it is a short walk from the palace.

The Round Pond, the Italian Gardens and the open grass do the rest.

A good shape: palace briskly, then the gardens and the playground for as long as it takes.

Reasonable. Lifts and step-free routes cover most of the visitor circuit, and accessible toilets are provided.

Some original staircases and level changes remain, and the King’s Staircase in particular is a feature rather than a route.

Wheelchairs can be borrowed and a free companion ticket is generally available for visitors with disabilities.

The gardens around the palace are level and largely paved on the main paths, making them among the more accessible green spaces in London.

The nearest stations involve a walk of ten minutes or so through the gardens, which is pleasant but not short.

High Street Kensington, Queensway and Notting Hill Gate are all around a ten-minute walk, with the approach through Kensington Gardens being the pleasant one.

Lancaster Gate on the other side of the gardens is similar.

The palace sits in the middle of the park rather than on a road, so every route involves a walk through the gardens — which is part of the appeal.

Within easy reach: the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall to the south, the museums of South Kensington beyond them, Notting Hill and Portobello Road to the north-west.

There is no parking of any use.

The reviews divide on size and on expectations rather than on quality.

The disappointing version: book expecting a Diana museum, find a modest exhibition and a set of state rooms, walk it in an hour, pay a full palace price, and leave feeling it did not compare with the Tower or Hampton Court.

The good version: check what exhibition is actually running before booking, take the audio guide, give Victoria’s rooms the time they deserve, talk to the costumed interpreters, then spend an hour in the Sunken Garden with the statue and find the hidden water feature behind the kiosk.

Treated as a compact palace in a great park rather than as a rival to the Tower, it does very well.