Kew Gardens Reviews 

We've visited gardens across the world including Australia which was heavily featured at Kew but not very well.

Kew Gardens rates as the worst experience ever.

Let's start with the reason for our visit - with our daughter and grandson, lured by his favorite, Bluey.

After a long queue, Bluey appeared in a small barriered section, walked around the perimeter and a quick 'high five' to those children tall enough to receive it over the barrier and off 'she' went. Big disappointment and no inter-action with the kids.

The gardens themselves were very tatty with very few plant labels to identify the varieties.

This lack of identification was also present in the Temperate House. We were very unsure what we were looking at.

Based on this experience we didn't visit the other houses and decided we'd had enough.

Getting out proved a challenge with very few signposts on the paths so we made for the wrong gate trying to follow the Bluey map (which we weren't offered and had to go back to the entrance to ask for one).

Finally escaped back to the car-park - which charged an extortionate £9 to park on top of the £20 ticket price.

Overall, one big rip-off for a very poorly presented facility.

Let's just say I'm with Mags! I thought it was me. I'm sorry your experience was as disappointing as mine but let's hope life brings us bigger and better things.

Don't bother buying refund protection its of no help whatsoever. Hard to get through to anyone helpful. They make it really difficult to get a refund.

The Bluey event was fantastic, really glad we visited! Great little pop up activities for toddlers as well as the gorgeous park to spend the rest of the day in. We had a really good time and would absolutely recommend. The only thing that prevents this from being five stars was that the meet and greet with Bluey was very crowded indeed and the mascot was only visible briefly. My son did manage to see on my husbands shoulders but I wonder whether it might be better to have a catwalk of sorts so there’s more queuing space than one marquee that was four or five deep!

I went for an interview for a job as a Visitor Experience Host.

Buzzed in at "reception". Entered into tiny lobby with locked doors all around. No one there.

Waited for a while hoping someone would come and give instructions. 5 minutes before my interview, I rang a bell by the nearest door, where I'd seen a man go in. No answer. A couple of minutes later rang again. Someone poked their head out and rudely exclaimed:"Just wait, someone will come for you. We are busy in here".

To say I was shocked was an understatement.

Then the interviewers were totally impersonal. D
They didn't want to know anything about me and went straight into corporate questioning. Writing down all my answers and not making eye contact. It was a horrible experience all round. If they had offered me the job I would have refused it.

Now looking at their reviews I'm not surprised about the complaints that the customer service is so terrible.

Not something I would want to be part of.

My husband and I visited Kew Gardens yesterday we were there a bit later than hoped train problem. We had around 4 hours there We went in the Palm house very large green house Fantastic The train was helpful to get around the Park The Great Pagoda. Loved it all but we then got lost and closing time was closing in. I phoned for help and Adele answered and was so helpful as it was also getting dark and she arranged for Mario came and found us and took us the the gate We would like to thanx these people for helping 2 pensioners and making sure we were safe ❤️ Jackie & Phil

Beautiful gardens. Very peaceful. However the highlight for me was the meal at The Orangery. I have intolerances to wheat, onion and garlic. There were delicious looking salads for self-serving, but I couldn’t have any. The chef offered to make up a salad for me, combining elements from each, but without the onion, garlic and wheat. He was so very gracious and kind. The salad came with three different dressings for me to try. I highly recommend The Orangery.

We paid £49 for two tickets and we couldn't attend the event Orchids Festival because there were no places left. Given that prices were higher because of this event, they should have made it more clear when we booked our tickets (we wouldn't have bought them if we had known it in advance). They speculated on the event raising the price for standard admission which is unfair practice. The rest of the park isn't worth that price in this season. We won't come back.

Had a lovely day at Kew today. Members do NOT have to book (as someone else wrote). A busy sunny Sunday and we walked in and showed our cards. We were able to get tickets for Orchids too (free for members) on the gate. We went up the tree walkway, into the Temperate House, the Shirley Sherwood Gallery and the orchids display. Superb. Last entry 4.00 because it closes at 5.00 sunset. Do people expect the stewards to stumble around in the dark flushing out visitors? Closing time extends as the days lengthen. Only disappointment was main cafe. Something has changed with the queuing system which was chaotic and that's why I knocked one star off.

They have this booking policy now that kills the experience and the purpose of having a membership. You can't just go when you want to -you have to book. You can't just visit the Orchid festival - you have to plan and book and guess what - always sold put at the weekend. At this automatically means that my child would never see the exhibition. Not a chance. They finish school at 4pm at the exact moment last entry is allowed at the garden. It was not a problem before Covid-
19 to go and enjoy the gardens any time you want but they have made it unnecessarily complicated , extremly inconvenient and unpleasant.

Really awful experience. Our baby girl was very sick just before we were due to visit Kew. We were told we cannot have a refund but if we bought new tickets, the old ones would be refunded. There was no option to purchase new tickets on the website and we were completely ghosted when we raised this issue with them. Whilst trying to get in touch with them our visit date passed by which made us totally ineligibly for any refund. After chasing them they said we could have a refund in this circumstance if we could provide evidence of sickness and filled out some forms. We waited for an appointment with the GP to fill out the forms and jumped through all their hoops. They've just got back to us refusing the refund anyway. I'm absolutely appalled they've stolen £200!!

Had a really disappointing experience at Kew Gardens this last weekend. Considering the costly price of the tickets, it was frustrating to find many parts of the gardens closed without any forewarning. Staff were rude and unaccommodating at every juncture. What happened to this once brilliant place to visit? Would not visit again or recommend to anyone.

Disappointing visit to Kew today. We travelled, one family from north London and the other from Croydon, to meet up and visit the Mat Collishaw exhibition.
After lunch and stopping to buy two children a £12 Kew branded sketchbook each, we arrived at the gallery at 2.03pm. And we were royally turned away, despite saying we would definitely get round and out by 2.30pm. Super disappointing.
Considering the cold, wet day and few visitors, there was not a hoard of people waiting to get in, the staff could have be kind and not so strict to turn us away for being 3minutes late.
It’s this kind of thing that leaves a bad feeling and puts people off coming back. Sad.

Emily Hunt was fantastic and allowed me to change my booking dates as I made a mistake, thank you very much . Parking was easy on 2nd December and we arrived at 8:25 am to find an empty car park , at 10am only three more cars had arrived. CAUTION, the entrance to the gardens is at the FAR end of the car park, there is no clear signage and you may think you have to walk back around, as the entrance at the top of the car park park is for TRADE delivery’s only .We visited the palm house , great , the VIctoria Plaza , two lattes £7.40 ,the Shirley Sherwood gallery , lovely exhibits of art from 16-18 , and 19-25 year old artists very good , then we visited the Marianne north gallery , which was fascinating, excellent (a permanent feature )
We then walked to the Great Pagoda , lovely building but CLOSED FROM OCTOBER, I:don’t understand why ? , we then walked to the famous TEMPERATE HOUSE , CLOSED , it was 1.45pm but expected it to be open , but this may have been due to the weather warning?. that was it , we had to exit ,as instructed by staff.
I don’t think anyone can cover the Kew Gardens in 4 hours, and I understand that bad weather closed the venue an hour earlier , but how about opening at 9 am ?

Was going to buy tickets for kew the music to see Richard Ashcroft but not going to be ripped off with £8.50 booking fee and £1 restoration fee(what ever that is) absolutely a rip off with the extra fees

We visited Christmas at Kew yesterday evening, what a disappointment compared to our last visit in 2021. It was nothing but a rip off and the lights were few and mediocre. The display over the lake was no great shakes whilst in 2021 it was outstanding and blew us away. It seems they’ve focused on food and drink this year with many more mobile vans, these were hideously expensive… almost £27 for four cheap powder hot chocolates and one spiced rum drink, £3.50 for one mince pie. There was also a small fairground for the children. Clearly Kew have focused on what brings in more money, they will have charged a fortune to the vendors for a pitch, and tokens needed to be bought for the fairground rides. Kew you got it all wrong, we made a 7 hour round trip for this and what a massive let down!!!!

Our lovely family visit to Xmas at Kew this year was spoilt by dreadful customer service/security. Two of the youngsters in the party took a wrong turn towards the end and were separated from the rest of our party. They accidentally walked out of an unknown gate and realising their mistake as they stepped over the line asked immediately to come back in and were blocked. They were told (not advised) to walk back to Victoria Gate and meet us as we left. My husband ran to meet them and explain the mistake, expecting them to be let back in and enjoy the climax of the display over the lake. They weren’t allowed. Security staff were officious and horrible. Such an unpleasant end to a nice evening. Sort out your gate staff Kew!!

I don't drive my partner does. My birthday present was going to Kew on 10 dec. My partner tested positive for COVID so me and my 12 year old son could not go. I called on the day at 2.45pm (which is when my partner did his test) to ask them for a postponement or for a voucher if Kew Christmas was fully booked. The answer from the manager was that is it NOT POSSIBLE. We spent GBP 79 and could not change it because we didn't "foresee" an illness. I asked the manager for vouchers for any other time as I understand they might be fully booked for Christmas and the answer was a resounding "NO". What really irritated me was that I was able to change tickets for the Carmen at the National Opera last year, a venue that works with limited seats. KEW GARDENS ARE GARDENS. Open air. Why can't you not change the date? I am extremely unimpressed and will log a complaint. All I can think about is the greedy company REFUSING to help out families that have paid gbp 79 for a 1 hour show. Shame on you

Went to Christmas at kew and was really underwhelmed. It’s just lights dangling off tres and a few tacky arches with lights playing Christmas songs. Hot chocolate expensive and pre mixed, underwhelming food and only a couple of light sculptures.

We visited Kew in April 2022 and it was a wonderful experience. We went back in November 2023 with our baby son and her parents- you are definitely better off visiting in spring or summer compared to late autumn as many of the attractions closed at 2pm. My gripe though is with the family restaurant- we ordered 4 main meals and an extra mac and cheese as the portions were clearly small, but there was still not enough to feed the four of us and we are by no means big eaters. We complained to what I presumed was the manager and who was wholly unsympathetic and who was then going to charge my wife £12.50 for 6 small pork balls - I was inclined to throw those balls where the Kew doesn't shine, but my new fatherhood patience won the day and we begrudgingly ate our pig balls.
Oh yeah they also over charged me initially by £2 for the roasted veg meal - an honest mistake may be !!!???!!!