At Regent’s Park you can drive through at eleven at night but you cannot walk in.
Pedestrian gates: 5am to 7pm. Vehicle gates: 7am to midnight.
Five hours in which cars are admitted and people are not. It is the only Royal Park where vehicles get more access than pedestrians, and nobody expects it, because every other park works the other way round.
Primrose Hill stays open three hours later
The park’s own best-kept detail, and it is the reason to know the two are managed as one.
Primrose Hill is closed 10pm to 6am during British Summer Time.
So while the main park shuts its pedestrian gates at 7pm, Primrose Hill stays open until 10pm. That is three extra hours on the best free view in north London, after the park below has closed.
If you want the skyline at dusk in summer, Primrose Hill is the answer and Regent’s Park is not.
No two Royal Parks keep the same hours
People talk about the Royal Parks as though they share a timetable. They do not, and the spread is enormous.
Richmond Park: pedestrian gates 24/7. Vehicle gates 7am to 6.30pm.
Hyde Park: pedestrian gates 5am to midnight.
Regent’s Park: pedestrian gates 5am to 7pm. Vehicle gates 7am to midnight.
Greenwich Park: pedestrian gates 6am to 7pm. Vehicle gates 7am to 7pm.
So on foot you get 24 hours at Richmond, 19 at Hyde Park, 14 at Regent’s and 13 at Greenwich. Richmond never closes to walkers. Greenwich shuts five hours before Hyde Park does.
Richmond is the one to head for if you want to walk at night. Regent’s is the one to avoid after seven.
What is in it
Food and drink is available in the park. Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill are administered together by The Royal Parks as a single site, which is why Primrose Hill’s hours appear on the same page.
The practical shape of a visit: the formal gardens and the boating lake sit in the main park, and the view sits on Primrose Hill at the northern end, across the Outer Circle.
How to plan it
Walking in: between 5am and 7pm. After seven the pedestrian gates are shut.
The view at dusk in summer: Primrose Hill, open to 10pm.
Driving: gates are open 7am to midnight, five hours longer than you can walk in.
Want a park with no closing time at all: Richmond, where pedestrian gates are open 24/7.
Want an evening walk in central London: Hyde Park, open to midnight on foot.
The Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill
- Address
- The Regent’s Park, London NW1
- Nearest
- Regent’s Park, Baker Street and Great Portland Street for the park, Chalk Farm for Primrose Hill
- Hours
- Pedestrian gates 5am to 7pm. Vehicle gates 7am to midnight. Primrose Hill closed 10pm to 6am during British Summer Time
- Booking
- None needed
- Price
- Free
- Standing
- A Royal Park managed together with Primrose Hill, with formal gardens, a boating lake and the best free view in north London
How to get in
The only Royal Park where vehicle gates stay open longer than pedestrian ones: cars until midnight, people until 7pm. Primrose Hill keeps its own hours and stays open until 10pm in British Summer Time, three hours after the main park shuts. Richmond Park by contrast never closes to pedestrians at all.
Where to go next
Greenwich Park is the other Royal Park with a 7pm close, and Richmond Park is the one that never shuts to walkers.
Hyde Park stays open to midnight, and the parks page covers the rest.
Questions we get asked
What time does Regent's Park close?
Pedestrian gates close at 7pm, having opened at 5am. Vehicle gates stay open from 7am until midnight, so cars are admitted for five hours after walkers are shut out. Primrose Hill, managed with the park, is open until 10pm during British Summer Time.
What time does Primrose Hill close?
It is closed from 10pm to 6am during British Summer Time, which means it stays open three hours later than the main Regent's Park pedestrian gates, which shut at 7pm.
Do all the Royal Parks have the same opening hours?
No, and the difference is large. On foot, Richmond Park is open 24/7, Hyde Park 5am to midnight, Regent's Park 5am to 7pm and Greenwich Park 6am to 7pm. That is 24 hours at Richmond against 13 at Greenwich.
Is Regent's Park free?
Yes, entry is free, as at all the Royal Parks. Food and drink is available within the park.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 300 in the guide.
Last checked 6 October 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
