Queen Anne built the Orangery in 1704 to keep her orange trees alive through the winter. It now serves afternoon tea, and getting a table there on a busy day is the single most useful thing a guided walk here does for you.
It is a guided walk through Kensington Gardens that ends at a reserved table. That is the shape of every one of them, and the differences sit in how long the walk is, how private the table is, and whether your palace ticket comes with it.
You meet at a station rather than at the palace on most of them — usually Queensway. Your guide takes you into the park and covers the royal families who lived here. The routes differ a little: some take the Italian Gardens at the head of the Long Water, some the Cradle Walk above the Sunken Garden, and most take both. Along the way you get the water features and statues on the way, and delivers you to the Orangery for forty-five minutes to an hour at the table. If you have added palace entry, you go into the State Apartments afterwards on your own.
You can approach the Orangery yourself and on a quiet weekday you will get a seat. On a summer Saturday you may not. Every trip here reserves in advance, and several hold a private table in your name.
Kensington Gardens runs to 265 acres and almost none of it is labelled. A guide turns the walk to the door into the first half of your afternoon rather than a crossing you make in silence.
Nobody may guide you inside the State Apartments, so the questions you want answered have to be answered outdoors. On the smaller walks you can ask them as you go.
A London hotel tea costs a comparable amount and is served in a dining room. This one is served in a Wren-designed orangery in a royal park, and the travellers who write about these trips talk about the building more than the food.
This is the comparison that decides it, and the two are answering different questions. One buys you the rooms. The other buys you the garden and the table.
| Afternoon tea tour | Entrance ticket only | |
|---|---|---|
| From | $129 | $26 |
| Palace rooms | Only with the checkout upgrade | Yes, all of them |
| Guided | Yes, in the gardens | No — the handset instead |
| Tea at the Orangery | Reserved table included | Pay at the counter, if there is room |
| Length | 2 to 2.5 hours | As long as you like |
| Best for | A planned afternoon with a table waiting | Seeing the State Apartments at your own pace |
Fares as listed on 27 August 2026; palace admission at £24.70 without the optional donation. Both refund in full up to 24 hours ahead.
See dates for the Royal High Tea walk
Read this before you compare prices, because two of these lines are the reason the fares look further apart than they are.
Which day: Wednesday to Sunday, because the Orangery keeps palace opening days. A weekday is quieter and the tables are easier to hold.
Which season: late April to May, or September to mid October. The walk before the tea is entirely outdoors and those are the months that make an hour in the park a pleasure.
How far ahead: a few days in winter, two to three weeks for a summer weekend. Groups cap at anywhere from ten to twenty-five and the tables are reserved in advance.
What it costs: $129 to $275 as listed, plus roughly £25 a head if you add palace entry on any of them except the Guard-change day.
Four readers should spend the money differently, and saying so costs us the commission on each of them.
Yes, at the Orangery, which Queen Anne had built in 1704 to overwinter her citrus trees. It is inside the palace grounds and you do not need a palace ticket to sit down there.
No, but a tour holds one for you. At busy times the Orangery is difficult to book yourself, and a reserved table in your name is the practical service most of these trips are selling.
Seasonal finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, and a selection of cakes that on several of them includes the Victoria sponge named for the queen born here. Tea is a choice, and on one trip a choice of up to ten.
On one of them. The Guard-change day pre-reserves your ticket; the rest sell entry as a checkout upgrade that adds roughly £25 a head. Read that line before you compare fares.
On most, with notice. Gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan and halal are stated on the three-palace walk, and vegan and vegetarian on the afternoon tea walk. One trip states that it cannot cater for special diets or allergies, so check before booking.
Between forty-five minutes and an hour on all of them. What varies is the walk beforehand, which runs from forty minutes to a five-hour royal day.
Yes. The Palace Cafe in the grounds does a takeaway cream tea, and one operator offers it as an alternative for visitors short of time. You can also walk the gardens free and eat nothing at all.
It happens, and the operators plan for it: one states that an alternative venue is arranged rather than the trip being cancelled. Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead covers you either way.
Every trip here that finishes at the Orangery, with the table type and whether palace entry comes with it or is an upgrade you tick at checkout.
A private table at the Orangery after an hour in the gardens, taking in the Italian Gardens, the Round Pond and Diana's statue. The most-reviewed guided walk here.
From $172 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Royal tea with a choice of up to ten English teas, after the Cradle Walk and the view into the Sunken Garden. Add palace entry and your afternoon runs to three hours.
From $159 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
The only tea trip with your palace ticket already in the fare. An hour at the Orangery sits in the middle of a five-and-a-half-hour royal day that starts at the Guard.
From $150 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Fifty minutes of guided garden, then an hour at the table. Booking options run from a shared seat to a private table with sparkling wine, and two of them add palace entry.
From $129 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Three palaces on foot in a group capped at ten, finishing at a private Orangery table. Gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan and halal versions are arranged on request.
From $183 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Your group and nobody else, a senior guide, and a table held for you. The only tea route here that states wheelchair access and can be adapted on the day.
From $275 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
