By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Members-only days beginTuesday 18 May 2027
- Public days beginThursday 20 May 2027
- Chelsea Late, evening openingFriday 21 May 2027
- The Great Plant Sell Off, from 4pmSaturday 22 May 2027
- Where
- Royal Hospital Chelsea
- Tickets
- Ticketed
- Time of year
- May
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
The show runs 18 to 22 May 2027 in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 May are RHS members only; Thursday 20 to Saturday 22 May are open to everyone, 8am to 8pm. Chelsea Late runs 5.30pm to 10pm on Friday 21 May. The Great Plant Sell Off begins at 4pm on Saturday 22 May and the show closes at 5.30pm. Tickets go on sale in October and the RHS has not published 2027 prices.
Chelsea is an exhibition rather than a market, and that catches people out: most of what you are looking at is not for sale while the show is open. Then, an hour and a half before the gates shut on the final Saturday, the exhibitors begin selling the stands off where they stand. If you want to see the show, any public day works. If you want to carry something home, there is one window and it is at the end.
What Chelsea Flower Show actually is
The Royal Horticultural Society has staged this show in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea every year since 1913, with gaps only for the two world wars and for 2020. It fills about eleven acres of a working veterans’ hospital in a quiet part of southwest London, which is part of why it feels unlike a trade fair: the setting is a Wren building and a lawn, not a hall.
Two things share the site. The show gardens run along Main Avenue and Royal Hospital Way, built over several weeks by design teams working to a brief, judged, and then taken apart. Inside the Great Pavilion the nurseries mount their displays, which is where the plants themselves are, banked in numbers no garden centre would attempt.
It is worth being clear about what kind of event this is. Nobody is selling you a day out with rides and a food court. It is a horticultural competition that the public is admitted to, and the crowds treat it accordingly.
Where to watch Chelsea Flower Show
- Main Avenue, for the show gardens. The large gardens line it and this is where the queues form, so it rewards going early or leaving it until the late afternoon when the coach parties have gone.
- The Great Pavilion, for the plants. The nursery displays are under canvas, which makes it the place to be if the weather turns, and the sell off is at its fiercest in here.
- The London Gate on Royal Hospital Road. Worth knowing by name because it is where the Great Plant Sell Off happens and where you will be carrying things out of.
- Chelsea Late, on the Friday evening. The show stays open into the night for one session, from half past five until ten. Fewer people, different light on the gardens, and a bar.
Tickets and what it costs
Tickets go on sale in October, and the RHS does not publish prices before then, so anything you read quoting a figure for this edition is a guess. Put a reminder in for the autumn rather than trying to plan the cost now.
Five days are not equal. The first two are open to RHS members only and the last three to everyone, so a public-day ticket is what most visitors want. Membership runs from about sixty to ninety pounds a year and carries a reduction on show tickets, which makes joining a scheduling decision as much as a gardening one if you were thinking of going on one of the quieter early days.
The show sells out. It is not a gate-and-turnstile event where you can decide on the morning, and there is no on-the-day box office to fall back on.
Official information and booking: www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show
Getting there
Sloane Square on the District and Circle lines is the station the RHS names, about ten minutes on foot from the showground. It is a small station handling a very large number of people on show days, so expect to queue to get out of it at the morning peak and to get into it at closing.
Buses 11, 137, 211, 360, 170, 44 and 452 stop closest to the showground, and 19, 22, 319 and C1 stop at Sloane Square. ⚠️ The 360 does not serve the Bull Ring Gate stop on Chelsea Embankment during show week, which is a change worth knowing if that is the one you had planned on.
Arriving by river is the pleasant option and nobody thinks of it. Uber Boat by Thames Clippers runs to Cadogan Pier, about fifteen minutes on foot from the Royal Hospital, and to Battersea Power Station on the other bank. Driving is the worst of the three: public parking has to be booked in advance at Battersea Park, it is a twenty minute walk, and it sits inside the ULEZ charging zone.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Turning up expecting to buy plants
Most of what is on display cannot be bought while the show runs. The stands are exhibits being judged, and they stay intact until the sell off at the end of the last day.
Bringing a pushchair
Prams and pushchairs are not permitted in the showground at all. This is the single rule most likely to ruin a family’s day, and it is not negotiable at the gate.
Leaving before four o’clock on the final day
The sell off runs for the last ninety minutes and people who have spent all afternoon there walk out just before it starts. If carrying something home matters, plan the whole day around that window.
Booking a members day without being a member
Two of the five days admit RHS members only. It is a common assumption that a ticket is a ticket, and it is not.
Bringing a diseased leaf for the experts to look at
The RHS asks for photographs of plant problems rather than live material, for reasons that become obvious once you think about bringing pests into a showground full of prize specimens.
Assuming you can buy lunch and nothing else
You are allowed to bring a picnic, and on a sold-out day with long catering queues that is the better plan. The grounds are a lawn; use them.
Other London events
Frequently asked questions
Can you buy plants at the Chelsea Flower Show?
Not for most of the show. The nursery displays and show gardens are exhibits being judged, so they stay intact while the gates are open. The exception is the Great Plant Sell Off, which starts at four in the afternoon on the final Saturday and runs until the show closes at half past five. That is ninety minutes, at the London Gate on Royal Hospital Road, and it is the only chance to carry something out.
Which days are open to the public?
The last three of the five. The first two are open to RHS members only, and the Thursday, Friday and Saturday are open to everyone, from eight in the morning until eight at night, with the Saturday closing earlier at half past five. There is also one evening session, Chelsea Late, which runs from half past five until ten on the Friday.
How much do Chelsea Flower Show tickets cost?
The RHS has not published prices for this edition. Tickets go on sale in October, and any figure quoted before then is somebody guessing from a previous year. RHS membership, which runs from roughly sixty to ninety pounds a year, carries a reduction on show tickets and also opens the two members-only days, so it is worth pricing the two routes against each other once the real numbers appear.
How do you get to the Chelsea Flower Show?
Sloane Square, on the District and Circle lines, is about a ten minute walk and is what the RHS recommends. Several bus routes stop closer to the showground itself. The overlooked option is the river: Uber Boat by Thames Clippers serves Cadogan Pier, roughly fifteen minutes away on foot. Driving is the poorest choice, because public parking must be booked ahead at Battersea Park, sits inside the ULEZ zone and leaves a twenty minute walk at the far end.
Is the Chelsea Flower Show worth visiting if you are not a gardener?
Yes, on the understanding that it is a competition rather than a day out. The show gardens are built by design teams to a brief and dismantled within days, so what you are looking at is temporary by construction, which is a strange and rather good thing to stand in. The Great Pavilion is impressive on scale alone. What it is not is a park with attractions, and anyone expecting that will find it crowded and expensive.
Sources
- RHS, Chelsea Flower Show dates and opening hours
- RHS, plan your visit: travel, parking and what to bring
- RHS, about the show and its history at the Royal Hospital
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.