Local Area Guides
48 Hours in Kingston uponThames: How to Do LondonProperly (Starting from TheHermes Hotel)
Kingston upon Thames rewards two days properly — Hampton Court Palace, Richmond Park, the Thames Pathway, and a riverside dining scene that most London visitors never find because they don’t know to look this far south-west. Here’s how to do it from The Hermes Hotel on Portsmouth Road.
Day One: The Palace and the River
Morning
Start with coffee from the Nespresso machine in your room, then walk the eight minutes to the Kingston riverside for breakfast at one of the cafés along the Thames. Go early enough to have the river mostly to yourself.
After breakfast, drive or take a river taxi to Hampton Court Palace — fifteen minutes from The Hermes. Allow the full morning: the Tudor Great Hall, the State Apartments, the famous maze, and the 60 acres of formal gardens. The Great Vine, planted in 1768, is in the kitchen garden and still producing grapes. Don’t try to do it in two hours.
Coffee with a view of the Thames before the day begins — go early enough to have the river mostly to yourself before the weekend crowds arrive.
View on map →The Tudor Great Hall, the maze, 60 acres of formal gardens, and the Great Vine planted in 1768 — allow the full morning. Don’t try to do it in two hours.
View on map →Afternoon
Lunch in the Hampton Court village before heading back to Kingston along the Thames Pathway — a 45-minute riverside walk that passes through some of the most beautiful stretches of the Thames in Greater London. It’s the right way to come back from the Palace.
Early Evening
Walk into Kingston town centre (ten minutes) for the Coronation Stone — the stone on which seven Anglo-Saxon kings were crowned between 900 and 978 AD, still sitting in the town centre next to the Guildhall. The kind of historical object that takes a moment to process.
Evening
Dinner at The Canbury Arms on the riverside — the local recommendation that earns its reputation. The riverside setting is better once the day-trippers have gone, and the kitchen handles dinner as well as it handles lunch.
Day Two: The Parks and Richmond
Morning
Drive to Richmond Park (fifteen minutes) before the day gets going. 2,500 acres of ancient woodland and open grassland, around 630 red and fallow deer roaming freely, and the Isabella Plantation for spring visitors. Go early to have the deer mostly to yourself before the dog-walkers and cyclists arrive in numbers.
Late Morning
On the way back from Richmond Park, stop at Bushy Park (ten minutes from The Hermes) — the quieter, lessvisited alternative with its own deer herd and the magnificent 17thcentury Chestnut Avenue. The kind of park that rewards guests who find it over the more famous one.
Afternoon
Walk or drive twenty minutes to Richmond for lunch — La Buvette for a French-leaning bistro lunch and an excellent wine list, or simply explore Richmond town centre and the Richmond riverside, which is among the best-preserved stretches of Thames in south-west London.