Chelsea Flower Show 2027. Set down at the gate, with the car a message away when you are ready.
Five days at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in May, ten to twenty minutes from Mayfair. We set you down cleanly at the Bull Ring Gate, keep the car a few minutes away and bring it back when you message.
The show
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2027 at a glance
- DatesTuesday 18 to Saturday 22 May 2027RHS members only on the Tuesday and Wednesday. Public days Thursday to Saturday.
- Hours8am to 8pm on members' days8am to 5.30pm on the public days, with Chelsea Late on the Friday evening until 10pm.
- WhereRoyal Hospital Chelsea, London SW3 4SREntrances include the London Gate on Royal Hospital Road and the Bull Ring Gate on Chelsea Embankment, SW3 4LW.
- Set downTaxis and cars set down at the Bull Ring GateChelsea Embankment. There is no visitor parking at the showground and no re-entry once you leave.
Dates and arrangements as published by the RHS for 2027. We review this page each year.
Getting there
The show is central. That is the problem
Everything about Chelsea is easy until the last four hundred metres. The Royal Hospital sits between Royal Hospital Road and Chelsea Embankment in a borough of narrow residential streets, and for the best part of a month either side of the show the kerbside around it is suspended for build and breakdown. In show week the streets around Sloane Square, Lower Sloane Street and the Embankment fill with taxis, coaches and cars all trying to do the same thing at the same eight o'clock.
The RHS directs taxis and private cars to set down and pick up at the Bull Ring Gate on Chelsea Embankment. That is a set down, not a wait: the Embankment does not tolerate a car standing on it, and a chauffeur who tries will be moved on. The workable arrangement is a clean set down at the gate, the car waiting somewhere sensible a few minutes away, and a message when you are ready.
If you are coming from Mayfair, Belgravia or Knightsbridge, the drive is ten to twenty minutes and the walk from a good set down is two. If you are coming from the City or from an airport, the last mile will take longer than the first ten.
Journey times
To the Royal Hospital Chelsea
| From | Normal day | Show week, morning |
|---|---|---|
| Mayfair and Belgravia | 10 to 20 minutes | Allow 20 to 40 minutes |
| The City and Canary Wharf | 35 to 60 minutes | Allow 50 minutes to 1 hour 20 |
| Heathrow | 45 to 75 minutes | Allow 1 hour to 1 hour 40 |
| London City Airport | 40 to 60 minutes | Allow 55 minutes to 1 hour 25 |
| Farnborough Airport | 60 to 85 minutes | Allow 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 50 |
| London Heliport, Battersea | 5 to 15 minutes | Allow 10 to 25 minutes |
Planning guidance, not promises. Eight o'clock and half past five are the two pinch points.
What clients usually book
Chelsea is a hospitality day
- Cars for corporate guests on the members' days, arriving in a planned order rather than all at once
- A car and chauffeur held for the day, so guests can come and go between the show, lunch and the office
- Several vehicles for a client group, with one point of contact running the arrivals
- Collection from Heathrow, London City or Farnborough for guests flying in for the day
- A V-Class when there are plants, bags and coats to carry home
- An evening car for Chelsea Late on the Friday, when the trains and the tube are at their worst
Corporate guests
A dozen guests, a dozen different starting points
More cars go to Chelsea for corporate entertaining than for anything else. The pattern is familiar: a dozen or more guests, some from the City, some from a hotel, some from Heathrow that morning, all needing to be at the same gate within twenty minutes of each other, and none of them wanting to stand on Chelsea Embankment.
That is a coordination job more than a driving job. One person at our end holds the whole list, the chauffeurs know the order, and whoever is hosting gets told when each car has set down rather than finding out when a guest walks in. If you are an assistant building this for somebody else, send us the guest list and the times and we will come back with the plan, not a set of separate bookings.
Chelsea also runs long. Members' days close at eight in the evening and the Friday runs later still. A car for the day rather than two transfers is the difference between leaving when the party finishes and leaving when the second booking says you must.
Book early
May in London is solid
Chelsea week sits in the busiest stretch of the London calendar and our cars are committed a long way ahead. Tell us your dates and your guest numbers as soon as you have your tickets.
Around the week
Related pages
Arriving by air
For the people who organise it
Request a quote
Tell us who is coming
Which day, how many guests, where each of them starts from and whether you need the cars held for the afternoon. We reply with a clear price and a plan for the arrivals. Nothing is booked or charged online.
Prefer to talk? +44 2030 048300 or WhatsApp, at any hour.
Questions people ask
About Chelsea Flower Show travel
Where exactly will we be set down?
At the Bull Ring Gate on Chelsea Embankment, which is where the RHS directs taxis and private cars, unless your hospitality tells you to use a different gate. Tell us which gate your ticket names and we will use that one.
Can the car wait outside?
Not on the Embankment, and not on Royal Hospital Road. The car waits a few minutes away and comes to the gate when you message. On a day booking that costs you nothing and it is how every sensible arrival at Chelsea works.
Can you bring plants home?
Yes, and on the Saturday afternoon plant sale a lot of people do. Tell us in advance and we will send a V-Class rather than a saloon.
We have guests arriving from three different places. Can you handle that?
That is most of what we do in Chelsea week. One contact at our end holds the list, the chauffeurs work to an order, and your host is told as each car sets down.
Are you an official partner of the RHS or the Chelsea Flower Show?
No. We are an independent chauffeur company providing transport to and from the show.