Coach parties
Coach parties are welcome at The National Archives. Pre-booking is not required, but it will help us if you let us know when you intend to visit. Please telephone +44 (0)20 8392 5366 or email our group visits team.
Parking
We have one coach bay which can only be pre-booked by junior education groups or special needs groups. For other groups the coach bay is available on a first come, first served basis. If the coach bay is in use, coaches will need to drop their passengers and collect them again at a pre-arranged time.
Busy periods
Please note that half-term weeks are particularly busy.
We publish a schedule of planned visits on our website and on site at Kew, so that group organisers can avoid the busiest days:
Trip scheduler 2010 (PDF, 0.07Mb)
Trip scheduler 2011 (PDF, 0.06Mb)
Coach party guidance
Please check to see whether your visit is essential by reading our guidance document:
Coach party guidance (PDF, 0.02Mb)
New to Kew?
At 11:30 every day we hold a free drop-in session aimed at introducing first-time visitors to the range of services available at The National Archives. The session lasts roughly 30 minutes and there's no need to book. A number of popular events and talks also take place throughout the week.
Readers' tickets
Visitors only need a reader's ticket if they want to look at original documents. Many of our most popular records, particularly those of interest to family historians, are available on microfilm or online, which can be accessed without a reader's ticket.
If members of your party are likely to need readers' tickets, please ask them to bring proof of their identity and address with them on the day.
Specialist group tours
Academic groups
A research-focused talk and tour of the reading rooms designed for groups of postgraduate academic research students. More information can be found on our academic inductions page.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Availability: Tuesday to Friday. Pre-booking required, minimum two months in advance.
Contact: group visits
Library and information service professionals
Reference-focused tour of reading rooms including library for librarians and information professionals.
Duration 1 hour
Availability: Tuesday to Friday. Pre-booking required, minimum two months in advance.
Contact: group visits
School and undergraduate visits
For more information about workshops, videoconferences and undergraduate visits, go to our Education website.
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