London walking routes: twelve, with distances and timings
Twelve routes, from an hour and a half to a nine mile day. This is the index: how long each one is, how many stops, what it is for, and which one to take depending on the weather, the legs and the time you have. Every route here runs in a single direction, because doubling back on yourself is how a good walk turns into a long one.
- Distance
- 1.5 to 9 miles each
- Time
- 2 hours to a full day
- Cost
- Free to walk, all of them
- Best for
- Choosing what to do with a whole day on foot
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How to read this
The minutes between stops are the walk between those two stops as written, not the time a mapping app gives you from the nearest station. They run slightly long, because they include the bit where you stop and look at something.
Every route runs in one direction. Nothing here doubles back, and where the order matters, the guide says why.
Distances are rounded to the nearest half mile. The time range assumes you stop, because everybody stops.
The full-day routes
London in a day, west to east
8 to 10 miles · 10 stops · a full day
The one to do first. British Museum, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Westminster, the South Bank, Leake Street, Millennium Bridge, Borough, Tower Bridge. Single direction, no doubling back, timed so Westminster lands in the flattering light and Tower Bridge lands at blue hour.
The Queen's Walk, Westminster to Tower Bridge
3 miles · 13 stops · 4 to 6 hours
The south side of the river, properly. More free things per mile than anywhere else in Britain. Contains the best free view, the best free art gallery and the best £5 ticket in London.
Greenwich in a day
3.5 miles · 11 stops · 6 to 7 hours
Arrive by boat, do the museums first, take the hill in the middle and finish in three riverside pubs in the right order, the last one the local most visitors never reach.
Regent's Canal, Little Venice to Coal Drops Yard
4 miles · 9 stops · 4 to 5 hours
Behind the back of the city on the towpath, through a zoo and under a bridge that was blown up by a gunpowder barge. One gap in the path, at Maida Hill Tunnel, which is why almost nobody finishes this walk.
London markets, the Sunday route
5 miles · 7 markets · a Sunday
Columbia Road at opening, Brick Lane for breakfast, Spitalfields, Petticoat Lane, over Tower Bridge, Maltby Street, Borough. It has to be a Sunday and it has to be in that order, because Columbia Road is the only stop with a hard deadline.
The half-day routes
The City: Garden at 120 to Tower Bridge
3 miles · 8 stops · half a day
Garden at 120, Leadenhall Market, the Royal Exchange, Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern, Borough, Maltby Street, Tower Bridge. The Garden at 120 is a free roof terrace that needs no booking, which is the thing nobody knows and the Sky Garden queue proves.
Sloane Square to Battersea Power Station
3.5 miles · 8 stops · 4 to 5 hours
King's Road, the Physic Garden, Albert Bridge, Battersea Park and the Peace Pagoda, finishing inside the power station. Sloane Square, the shops, a botanical garden older than most countries, the prettiest bridge on the river, and a power station you can go up the inside of. It ends at a tube station, which matters after three and a half miles.
Notting Hill and Portobello
3 miles · 5 stops · 3 hours
The pastel terraces at the hour they are quiet, Portobello end to end, and the Carnival route on the ground it happens on. Friday is the local version, Saturday is the full market and the full crowd.
Hampstead Heath
4 miles · 11 stops · half a day · not yet published
Hampstead Heath station, Parliament Hill, the Hill Garden and Pergola, Kenwood House, the Bishops Avenue, Hampstead Village, Flask Walk, Burgh House. The Pergola is the best thing on it and almost nobody outside north London has been. Publishing this autumn.
The shopping routes
Carnaby to Daunt Books, the Selfridges route
3 miles · 15 stops · half a day
Carnaby, New Bond Street, Burlington Arcade, Fortnum, Berkeley Square, Oxford Street, Selfridges, then north through St Christopher's Place to Marylebone High Street, Chiltern Street and Daunt Books. It ends at Baker Street, which matters when you are carrying things.
Covent Garden and Seven Dials
1.5 miles · 5 stops · 2 hours
Covent Garden Piazza, Seven Dials, Neal's Yard, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus. Short, dense, and the only route here you can do properly in an evening.
Westfield to Westfield
9 miles · 15 stops · a full day
White City to Stratford on foot, across the whole city: Shepherd's Bush, Holland Park, Kensington High Street, Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Oxford Circus, Holborn, Old Street, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Hackney, Mile End, Stratford. Nine miles and both Westfields. Nobody asks for this and the people who do it never forget it.
The no-walking route
One route on this site is deliberately not a walk. The Jubilee line day covers twelve miles of London with under two miles of walking in it, plus one river boat from Canary Wharf to Greenwich, which makes it the right answer for a short stay, a wet day, sore legs or a group with a thirty year age range. Big Ben, London Bridge, Canary Wharf, Greenwich, the O2 and Stratford, and a six-hour version if that is all you have.
Which one to pick
- First visit, one day
- London in a day
- Second visit
- Greenwich or the Queen's Walk
- Rain
- The Jubilee line day
- A Sunday
- The markets route
- Somewhere quiet
- Regent's Canal
- Shopping
- The Selfridges route
- Sore legs
- The Jubilee line day
Ten stops, everything you came for, one direction
Both are a proper day and neither is on the standard list
Or the museums, which are the same argument
Columbia Road only runs on a Sunday, so the whole day builds backwards from it
Four miles of towpath and you will pass more runners than tourists
Ends at a station rather than in the middle of Oxford Street
Under two miles of walking for twelve miles of city
What we have not written yet, and why
No full Richmond or Kew guide yet. Richmond has a short section in Hidden London, and Kew has not been worked out properly against the rest of a trip. No east London street art route, because the good version of that changes every six weeks and a guide that goes stale in a month is worse than no guide at all.
When those are ready they will appear here. Nothing gets published to fill a category.
Questions people actually ask
What is the best walking route in London?
For a first visit, the ten-stop west to east route through central London. For a second visit, the Queen's Walk along the south bank or a full day in Greenwich. For somewhere quiet, the Regent's Canal towpath from Little Venice to King's Cross.
How long does it take to walk across London?
West to east from Westfield London at White City to Westfield Stratford City is about nine miles and a full day on foot, including the stops. Straight through without stopping it is closer to three and a half hours.
Are these routes free?
Every route here is free to walk. Individual attractions along them cost money, and each guide lists what you can expect to spend on the day, with real ranges and the places we would actually stop, so nothing is a surprise.
Are the walking times accurate?
They are the walk between the two stops as written rather than an app estimate from the nearest station, and they run slightly long because they allow for stopping. Add a third again if you are with small children.
What is the best London walk in the rain?
None of them, honestly. In real rain, take the Jubilee line day instead, which covers twelve miles of the city with under two miles of walking, or spend it in the free museums.