London in a day: the 10-stop walking route
Most one-day London itineraries are written by people who have not walked them. They start at a museum before it opens, send you back and forth across the river, and book dinner at a market that shut two hours earlier. This one runs in a single direction, west to east along the river, so you never double back, and the times are the ones that work.
- Distance
- 8 to 10 miles
- Time
- A full day, 9.45am to blue hour
- Start
- British Museum, Great Russell Street gates
- End
- Tower Bridge
- Cost
- Free to walk. Nothing on the route needs a ticket
- Best for
- A first visit, good shoes, and anyone who wants the famous list done in one day
9 min readChecked
Before you start
Wear the shoes you would walk a half marathon in. Contactless or a phone works on every bus and tube, so you do not need an Oyster card. Bring a refillable bottle: there are fountains along the South Bank.
Nothing on this route needs a ticket. If you want to go up the Sky Garden as well, it is free but the tickets release three weeks ahead, so book before you fly.
The route, stop by stop
British Museum, 9.45am
Great Russell Street WC1B 3DG · free · doors at 10am
Doors open at ten. Be at the gates at quarter to and you are first to the Rosetta Stone and the Egyptian rooms, which are packed by half past ten. Pick three things, see them and leave. Seventy-five minutes is enough on a day like this.
What to see in 90 minutes12 minute walk
Covent Garden and Seven Dials, 11.15am
WC2 · free
Street performers in the piazza, then north through Seven Dials to Neal's Yard, a courtyard of painted buildings most people walk straight past. Eat here: Seven Dials Market is the covered food hall.
10 minute walk
Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace, 12.30pm
SW1 · free
Nelson's Column, then through Admiralty Arch and down The Mall. The best photograph is not at the palace gates. It is halfway down The Mall, looking back, with the trees framing it.
15 minute walk through St James's Park
Westminster and Big Ben, 1.45pm
SW1 · free to look · the Abbey is ticketed
Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower. Then walk out onto Westminster Bridge. The shot everyone takes works best from the far, south end.
Across the bridge, 5 minutes
The South Bank and the London Eye, 2.45pm
SE1 · free · the Eye from £29 booked online
Turn left off the bridge. The Eye is worth it at dusk and a waste at midday, so walk underneath it and look up through the spokes. Then the skate undercroft, the book market under Waterloo Bridge and the National Theatre terraces, all free.
The South Bank in full6 minute walk inland
Leake Street tunnel, 3.40pm
Leake Street SE1 7NN · free, open 24 hours
A tunnel under Waterloo station where painting the walls is legal. It is repainted constantly, so it is never the same twice, and there is almost always someone working in there. Twenty minutes.
25 minute walk along the river
Millennium Bridge and St Paul's, 4.15pm
Free to cross · St Paul's £27
Stand in the middle of the bridge, get low and let the cables lead into the dome. That is the photograph.
12 minute walk east
Borough, for dinner, 5.15pm
Borough Market SE1 9AL · market closes 5pm, 4pm Sundays, shut Mondays
Borough Market packs up at five, so this is not dinner at the stalls, whatever other guides tell you. Walk through what is still trading, then eat in the streets round it, where the restaurants and pubs stay open late.
15 minute walk along the river
Along the river to Tower Bridge, 6.30pm
Free
The last stretch, past HMS Belfast and City Hall, walked rather than ridden.
5 minute walk
Tower Bridge, at blue hour
Free at road level · the high walkways are ticketed
Blue hour is the half hour after sunset, when the lights and the sky are the same brightness. In summer that is late evening and in winter it is before five, so the route moves with the season. Walk to the middle, then carry on to the Butler's Wharf side and look back. That is the photograph you came for.
The bits people regret
- The London Eye at midday, when the queue is longer than the ride.
- Leicester Square, which has nothing in it.
- Adding the Tower of London. It needs two to three hours of its own and breaks the day.
- Planning dinner at Borough Market. It closes at five.
What it costs
With your own guide
London in a Day
Everything you came for, walked properly, in one go. 8 hours.
- Up to 5 people
- £300
- 6 to 8 people
- £420
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.
- Travel
- Nothing
- Tickets
- Nothing
- Lunch
- £12 to £20
- Dinner
- £20 to £40
It is one walk, end to end. One tube fare to the start and one home
Every stop is free to see. The Eye is from £29 and St Paul's £27 if you want inside
Seven Dials Market
Round Borough Market, once the market itself has closed
Questions people actually ask
Can you see London in one day?
The famous list, yes, if you walk it in one direction. This route runs west to east from the British Museum to Tower Bridge in about eight to ten miles, and every stop on it is free to see.
What time does the British Museum open?
Ten in the morning, every day. Be at the Great Russell Street gates at quarter to ten and you are first to the Rosetta Stone.
What time does Borough Market close?
Five in the afternoon from Tuesday to Saturday and four on Sunday, and it is shut on Mondays. Eat in the streets around it in the evening.
What if I cannot walk ten miles?
Take the Jubilee line and one river boat instead. It covers Big Ben, London Bridge, Canary Wharf, Greenwich and the O2 with under two miles of walking, and fits into six hours.