RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2027

The dates, and the Gala Preview

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show runs from Tuesday, May 18, to Saturday, May 22, 2027, in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. May 18 and 19 are RHS Members’ days, and May 20 to 22 are open to the public. Every day runs from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., except Saturday, May 22, when the show closes at 5:30 p.m., after the Great Plant Sell Off from 4:00 p.m.

The Charity Gala Preview

The show opens the evening before, with the Charity Gala Preview on Monday, May 17, 2027, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. All of the proceeds support the RHS’s charitable work. Guests are expected to dress smartly, and no one under 18 is admitted.

It is by invitation only. The RHS sends invitations to its Special Events mailing list, joined by writing to previewtickets@rhs.org.uk, and the 2027 application window ran from August 18 to September 12, 2026, so it has closed. One application was allowed for each household or organisation, and applying did not guarantee a place. Under the Gala terms, RHS Fellows are entitled to two tickets. For 2028, the time to join the list is now.

For a first visit, I would start with a public day. Thursday, May 20, is the first day the show opens to everyone; Saturday is the shortest day and ends with the plant sale.

Tickets

Tickets for RHS members went on sale on October 19, 2026, and for the public on October 21, and both are on sale now through the RHS.

The RHS does not list its ticket types by name on its own pages, but its visitor guide refers to holders of 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. entry tickets, so there are later entries as well as the full day. A later ticket suits anyone who would rather see the gardens in the long evening light of May, and leaves the morning free.

Chelsea Late

Chelsea Late is on Friday, May 21, from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.: an evening of live entertainment and workshops in the grounds of Ranelagh Gardens, with the show gardens still open around it.

Before you go

The RHS is clear about its rules, and they shape the day:

• Children under five are not admitted; children of five and over need a ticket and must be with an adult.
• Prams and pushchairs are not allowed in the showground.
• There is no re-entry once you leave.
• Every visitor is searched on the way in.
• Disabled visitors have early access from 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

Write to Jess Tell me which day you would like, and I will plan the show around it.

Hospitality

The show’s official hospitality includes The Ranelagh Restaurant, The Promenade by The Dorchester, Tapas by José Pizarro, the Spring Garden and the Pommery Terrace.

Hospitality changes the day more than it might seem. It gives a household somewhere to sit, a table for lunch and a place to leave coats and bags, in a showground with no re-entry. I arrange it as part of the London stay, with the car to the gate in the morning, the table at midday and the evening planned around it.

What to see

The RHS describes its show gardens as a slice of gardening theatre, and that is the best way to see them: built for one week, to be looked at from the path.

Beyond them are the Balcony and Container Gardens, designed for urban living, and the Great Pavilion, which the RHS describes as filled with the sights and scents of spring.

In recent years there have also been Sanctuary Gardens, given over to the effect of gardens on wellbeing. They do not appear among the 2026 categories, so I would not promise them for 2027.

The 2027 list of gardens has not been published, and the RHS has not said when it will be. Once it is, I mark the gardens worth the walk for each household, and the time of day each is best seen.

A full day is long. I plan the show gardens first thing, the Great Pavilion in the afternoon, and a seat for lunch in between.

Write to Jess Hospitality and later entry make the day. Write to me, and I will arrange both.

Chelsea in Bloom, and a walk

During the show, the streets around Sloane Square take part too. Chelsea in Bloom is a floral art festival in the streets, produced by Cadogan with the RHS, with installations and events in the local shops, restaurants and hotels.

Its 2027 dates have not been published. In 2026 it ran from May 18 to 24, under the theme Out of this World, with six large-scale floral art installations, guided walking tours, rickshaw rides and events in local shops, restaurants and hotels.

The walk

This is a walk of about an hour, best taken on the morning or the evening of a show day, when the streets are quieter than the showground.

• Begin at Sloane Square, by the Underground station.
• Walk west along the King’s Road, with Duke of York Square on your left.
• Come back to the square and walk north up Sloane Street, towards Knightsbridge.
• Turn into the streets either side of Sloane Street to see the shopfronts in flower.
• Finish in Knightsbridge, a short walk from Bvlgari Hotel London.

Once the 2027 installations are announced, I mark them on the walk for you.

Getting there

The RHS’s visitor guide sets out the ways in. The address is London Gate, Royal Hospital Road, SW3 4SR.

• By Underground: Sloane Square, on the District and Circle lines, is a 10-minute walk from the showground. The nearest main line station is London Victoria.
• By shuttle: a shuttle bus runs from Battersea Park to the Bull Ring Gate, from 7:15 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Parking in Battersea Park must be booked ahead.
• By river: the Uber Boat stops at Cadogan Pier, about a 15-minute walk from the show.
• By bus: the 11, 137, 211, 360, 170, 44 and 452 run near the showground, though the 360 does not use the stop by the show during show week.

For most of my clients, a car and driver to the gate is the simplest way, and I arrange the collection time with the lunch booking, because there is no going back in once you have left.

Write to Jess Chelsea week, Wisley and Glyndebourne: I build the week around the days that matter to you.

Making a week of it

Chelsea falls in one of the best weeks of the English year, and it is worth building more around it than a single day.

RHS Garden Wisley, near Woking in Surrey, is the RHS’s own garden, and the RHS calls it one of the world’s great gardens. It is open every day except December 25 and 26. Its opening hours change with the season, so I check them for May before the visit.

Glyndebourne’s 2027 Festival opens on May 20, the first public day of the show, and runs to August 29. The new productions are Idomeneo, La Cenerentola and Jenůfa, with revivals of Carmen and La traviata. The festival has not yet said when booking opens to the public, and members book first.

Chelsea Late, on the Friday, makes a second visit easy: the morning at Wisley, the evening back in Chelsea.

Where to stay

For Chelsea week, I choose from four hotels, all within a short drive of the showground, and the nearest of them a walk from Sloane Square.

The Cadogan, A Belmond Hotel, at 75 Sloane Street, is the closest, where Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Belgravia meet. It has 54 rooms and suites, and guests have the use of the private Cadogan Place Gardens and their tennis courts. Its history runs deep: Lillie Langtry lived at 21 Pont Street, which became The Cadogan in 1895, and her bedroom survives as room 106.

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park stands between Knightsbridge and the park. It was built in 1889 as a gentlemen’s club and opened as a hotel in 1902, and Joyce Wang reworked every room in 2019. It has 181 rooms and suites, many of which connect for families, and a spa with a 17-metre pool.

The Peninsula London opened in September 2023 at 1 Grosvenor Place, at Hyde Park Corner on the edge of Belgravia, around a courtyard planted with wisteria and two century-old Japanese maples. It has 190 rooms and suites and a spa with an indoor pool.

Bvlgari Hotel London is at 171 Knightsbridge, on the edge of Hyde Park, with Sloane Street running south towards the show. It has 85 rooms and suites, a spa with a 25-metre colonnaded pool, and suites with balconies over the rooftops.

Write to Jess Write to me with your dates, and I will start with the London stay.

A Chelsea week

This is how I would shape six days around the show in May 2027, staying at Bvlgari Hotel London. The dates are the RHS’s and Glyndebourne’s own.

1. Monday, May 17. Arrive and settle in. For those invited, the Charity Gala Preview from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.; for everyone else, a quiet dinner in Knightsbridge.
2. Tuesday, May 18. For RHS members, the first members’ day at the show; for everyone else, a morning on the King’s Road and an afternoon at the hotel’s spa.
3. Wednesday, May 19. A day at RHS Garden Wisley, near Woking, with a car there and back, while the show is open to RHS members only.
4. Thursday, May 20. The first public day at Chelsea, arriving for the 8:00 a.m. opening, with lunch in the showground’s hospitality.
5. Friday, May 21. The Chelsea in Bloom walk in the morning, a slow afternoon at the hotel, and Chelsea Late from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
6. Saturday, May 22. The day trip to Glyndebourne, where the 2027 Festival opened on Thursday, May 20, if a performance falls that evening; or a last morning at the show before it closes at 5:30 p.m.

Questions, answered

Details checked November 3, 2026, against the RHS’s own website and each organiser’s own site. Where an organiser has not yet published something, the page says so rather than guess.