Is Richmond Park Free Parking

Richmond Park spans 2,500 acres, making it the largest of London's Royal Parks and a Site of Special Scientific Interest home to over 600 free-roaming deer. Unlike many urban green spaces, the park has never charged for parking—a policy maintained since its gates first opened to motor vehicles in the early twentieth century. That accessibility is central to its role as a public landscape, but it also means that on clear weekends and school holidays, car parks fill within hours of opening. The park is ringed by ten car parks, each serving a different gate and giving access to distinct areas of the landscape. Pembroke Lodge car park near Richmond Gate is the busiest, particularly on Sundays when families head to the Georgian mansion and its terrace café. Roehampton Gate and Sheen Gate car parks see steadier mid-morning demand from walkers starting the Tamsin Trail, the seven-mile perimeter path that loops the park. Kingston Gate and Ham Gate, on the southern edge, tend to hold spaces longer into the day because they're farther from public transport links and the central London approach routes. If you're visiting on a Saturday or Sunday in late spring, those southern gates offer your best odds of finding a space after 11:00. Parking at Richmond Park is free, but it is not unlimited. Each car park has between thirty and one hundred spaces, and The Royal Parks does not operate overflow or reservation systems. Once a car park reaches capacity, rangers close the gate and direct vehicles to try another entrance—but during peak periods, multiple car parks close within the same hour. The park opens at 07:00 every day, and the two-hour window between opening and 09:00 is the most reliable for securing a space without needing to tour several gates. Cyclists and pedestrians have twenty-four-hour access through the pedestrian gates, but vehicles must leave before the park closes at 19:45. The question is not whether Richmond Park parking is free—it is—but whether a space will be available when you arrive. Weekday mornings outside school holidays and the shoulder seasons of early spring and late autumn offer the most reliable access. If you're planning a weekend visit in summer, treat arrival time as part of the logistics, not an afterthought.