Camden Town to Primrose Hill: markets, music and the canal on foot
Most people do Camden as one crowded hour in the market and leave. This route does it as a morning: the markets while the stalls are opening, the lock, the two pubs that made the music, then the towpath along the Regent’s Canal to the top of Primrose Hill. It runs one way, so you finish with the view and not a queue for the tube.
- Distance
- About 2.5 miles
- Time
- 2.5 to 3 hours with a break
- Start
- Camden Town station
- End
- Primrose Hill
- Cost
- Free to walk
- Best for
- Music fans, a first visit to Camden, and anyone who likes a canal
7 min readChecked
The idea that holds it together: Camden’s three lives
Camden has been three places in a row. First it was work: a canal and railway goods district of locks, warehouses and working horses. Then it was noise, when the trade left and the musicians moved in, Britpop in the 1990s and Amy Winehouse in the 2000s. Then it was market, when the empty warehouses became stalls from 1974.
Every stop on this route is one of the three. Keep them in mind and the walk reads as a story rather than a list.
The route, stop by stop
Camden Town station
Northern line · start here
The area is named after Charles Pratt, Earl Camden, who owned the land and began building about 1,400 houses on it in 1791. Walk north up Camden High Street.
The Electric Ballroom and Boxpark
184 Camden High Street NW1 · the ballroom is a market at weekends only
A dance hall from 1938 and a punk and rock venue from 1978, where The Clash, Madness, The Smiths and U2 played. Next to it Boxpark stacks 88 recycled shipping containers over three floors with clothes and street food.
Inverness Street and the Good Mixer
Inverness Street NW1 · the pub is at number 30
For over a hundred years this was a fruit and veg market for locals. The greengrocers went one by one, and by 2013 there were none left. At the end is the Good Mixer, the Britpop pub, where Blur and Oasis both drank and where their feud is said to have started.
Camden Lock and the Lock Keeper’s Cottage
289 Camden High Street NW1 · free
Officially Hampstead Road Lock, a pair of locks side by side built between 1818 and 1820 and still worked by hand. If a boat is going through, stop and watch. The cottage beside it dates from 1815 and is now a coffee shop.
Hawley Wharf and the Hawley Arms
Castlehaven Road NW1 · the pub has been here since 1851
Amy Winehouse’s local. It burned in the 2008 market fire and reopened with help from the musicians who drank there. Hawley Wharf next door is the newest of the markets, built on canal land that sat fenced off for years.
Umbrella Alley, the Stables and the Amy Winehouse statue
Chalk Farm Road NW1 · stalls open at 10am
Umbrellas hang over Saddle Row, which is the photograph. The Stables Market was once stables, saddle workshops and a hospital for the horses that pulled the barges. The bronze statue of Amy Winehouse is by Scott Eaton and was unveiled on 14 September 2014, what would have been her 31st birthday.
The towpath and the Pirate Castle
Regent’s Canal towpath · free · head west, away from the High Street
The towpath opened to walkers in 1972, and a plaque by the lock says so. The Regent’s Canal is 8.6 miles long, from Paddington to Limehouse. The Pirate Castle, a boating and kayaking centre that looks like a castle, opened in 1977.
The Feng Shang Princess and the climb to Primrose Hill
The canal bend · then the ramp up to Prince Albert Road
A floating Chinese restaurant moored in what is left of the old Cumberland Basin, and the most photographed boat on this stretch. Leave the canal by the ramp, cross at the lights and climb for about ten minutes.
Primrose Hill
Free · always open · about 63 metres
The Crown bought the hill in 1841 and it has been a public park since 1842. The view of central London is a protected one, so the trees are kept low. You have walked through all three lives of Camden and this is the whole city in front of you.
When to go
- Start time
- 9.30am
- Busiest
- Friday to Sunday
- Market hours
- 10am to 7pm daily
- Camden Market’s own free tour
- Unconfirmed
The stalls open at 10am, so you walk the markets just as they fill
A weekday morning is calm. The Electric Ballroom hall is a market at weekends only
All of Camden Market’s markets keep the same hours
We could not confirm that it still runs. Its booking page was returning an error on 10 October 2026
What it costs
With your own guide
Camden’s three lives
Markets, music and the canal, from the station to Primrose Hill. 2.5 hours.
- Up to 5 people
- £150
- 6 to 8 people
- £210
Want a tailor-made London trip? Tell us who’s coming and what you’d love to see. Request your personalised quote
What else you will spend
Rough, and on the day, whether you come with us or not.
- The walk
- Free
- Coffee and a snack
- £5 to £12
- Getting back
- About 20 minutes on foot
Every stop is free to see
The Lock Keeper’s Cottage, or a stall at the Stables
Or the tube from Chalk Farm, the nearest station to Primrose Hill
If you want more
The same canal carries on west to Little Venice and east to King’s Cross. The full length is in the canal guide, and Camden is one of the places people miss in the Hidden London guide.
Questions people actually ask
How long does the Camden walk take?
About two and a half hours at an easy pace, with a ten minute break at the Stables Market. It is about 2.5 miles from Camden Town station to the top of Primrose Hill.
What time do the Camden markets open?
The stalls open at 10am and keep going until 7pm, every day. The Electric Ballroom hall is a market at weekends only.
Is Camden Market one market?
No. It is six markets side by side: the Electric Ballroom, Buck Street, Inverness Street, Hawley Wharf, Camden Lock Market and the Stables Market. This route passes all of them.
Can I walk the canal from Camden to Primrose Hill?
Yes. Join the towpath at Camden Lock heading west and stay by the water until the ramp up to Prince Albert Road, then climb Primrose Hill. The whole route is level, apart from the hill.