Best Walks in London: 15 Self-Guided Routes with Maps (by Locals)

These free self-guided London walking routes range from urban strolls in the city centre to wild hikes in royal parks and gentle ambles along canals. Each includes a map with easy-to-follow instructions for a great day out.

Paul and I have lived and worked in London for the last 30 years — between us, we’ve called Notting Hill, Fulham, Barbican and Belsize Park home.

Exploring on foot is simply how we’ve always got to know the city,

We have designed a series of free self-guided walking tours that take you through many of the capital’s most interesting areas. These walks are the routes we actually do ourselves, updated whenever something changes.

Every walk starts and finishes at a tube or railway station and ranges from 1 to 4 hours. Each includes a map you can follow on your smartphone.

Walk all 15, and you’ll know London like a local.

If you’re visiting for the first time, our four-day London itinerary weaves together many of the walks that are best geared towards tourists.

For green spaces beyond the city, take a look at our best country walks near London.

The Best Walks in London for…

This post covers 15 walks in total, but here are our favourite 6 and why you should do them.

• The best walk for iconic landmarks: South Bank Walk
• The best walk for royal grandeur: Royal Parks Walk
• The best walk for street art: Shoreditch Street Art Walk
• The best walk for colourful neighbourhood: Notting Hill Walk
• The best walk for nature and swimming: Hampstead Heath Walk
• The best walk for hidden history: London City Walk

If you are a tourist visiting London for the first time, we highly recommend the South Bank Walk, the Royal Parks Walk, the Notting Hill Walk, and the Shoreditch Street Art Walk.

Together they see the iconic sights of London and delve into two fascinating neighbourhoods.

How to Use This Guide

This guide includes 15 walks, split into Easy, Medium & Longer.

Easy – These walks range from 2 to 4 miles, are very easy, and explore many of London’s major tourist sights and top neighbourhoods.

Medium – A step up in distance at 4 to 6 miles, these walks are great for seeing a mix of green spaces and urban neighbourhoods.

Longer – At 6 to 8 miles, these walks are quite long but take you to some of our favourite spots on the edge of the city centre.

Each walk includes a Google Maps link you can open on your smartphone. Tap the top-right corner to open it in the Google Maps app, then tap the star icon to save it to your account. You can then track yourself as you follow the walking tour.

Finally, to help you get you bearing, the location of each walk is on the map below.

Practical Tips

All these walks are completely free, although many recommend sights that you may want to pay to enter.

They all start and end at a tube or railway station, making it easy to get to the walk and get home. Oyster cards or contactless payment can be made at every station.

London is a great place to walk around any time of year. However, it does get its fair share of rain. Check the weather forecast and, if necessary, bring an umbrella.

Almost all the walks are on pavements or on paved roads, except for Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest and Richmond Park, which go through parks and may be muddy after rain.

London is a very safe city, but please be aware of people around you when using your phone on the streets.

Finally, some of the walks end where others begin, enabling you to string some together. We will highlight this in the sections below.

Easy Walks in London

1. Queen’s Walk

Best short walk for first-time visitors

• Distance – 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometres)
• Walking Time – 1 to 2 hours (full day with stops)
• Best Time – Early morning when the riverbank is quiet

Few cities can match what this walk delivers in such a short distance.

In just over 2 miles, you’ll pass Westminster Palace, the London Eye, the Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe and St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Along the way, you’ll see some of our favourite street art in London, take in wonderful views over London, and enjoy a scenic stroll by the Thames.

The official Queen’s Walk (sometimes called the Queen Elizabeth Walk) runs between Lambeth Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge on the South Bank. We’ve amended it slightly so the route starts and finishes at tube stations, and added St Paul’s Cathedral as a worthy final destination.

This is the version we’d recommend to anyone visiting London for the first time — and one we still regularly walk after 30 years of living here.

The walk takes just over an hour without stops. But there is so much to see that you could easily make it the basis for a full-day out. 

Full instructions and a map are in our Queen’s Walk London guide. If you have a bit more time, consider extending the walk and completing the South Bank Walk below.

2. Shoreditch Street Art

• Distance – 3.3 miles (5.4 kilometres)
• Walking Time – 2 hours (but allow half a day)
• Best Time – Overcast days to see the best of the art

Best walk for street art and vintage shops

There is no gallery in London with a collection quite like the streets of Shoreditch.

Bright, vivid paintings stretch across railway arches, warehouses and storefronts. Political statements and intricate portraits compete for space on every available surface, from tiny stencils tucked into doorways to murals five storeys high.

Artists flock from all over the world to paint in Shoreditch. Some pieces have stood for a decade; others disappear overnight, painted over by the next artist or the next commission.

That rotating lifecycle is what makes it so compelling — and why no two visits to these streets are ever quite the same.

The walking tour includes the Banksy on Rivington Street, a hidden gem tucked into Heneage Street, Ben Eine’s 45-metre typography mural on Ebor Street, and plenty of pieces you won’t find on any other walking tour.

It also delves into Shoreditch and the East End of London, where you’ll find vintage clothes stores, old record shops & some excellent pubs and restaurants.

It’s one of our favourite walks in London and one we keep coming back to. Full instructions and a map are in our Shoreditch Street Art Walk.

3. Notting Hill Walk

Best walk for antiques market and colourful houses

• Distance – 3 miles (4.7 kilometres)
• Walking Time – 2 to 3 hours
• Best Time – Friday & Saturday

Notting Hill is one of those rare places that lives up to its reputation.

The colourful painted terraces, the sprawling antiques market and the Notting Hill film locations all deliver exactly what the postcards promise.

Yet underlying the sights, this is a genuinely multicultural neighbourhood. Portuguese delis and Moroccan food stalls sit alongside Jamaican reggae stores and Spanish Tapas restaurants.

It’s also a great place for a half-day out. The brunch options are excellent, and Golborne Road’s bric-a-brac market and delis are a hidden gem that few visit.

Paul and I have lived in Notting Hill for over 20 years, and we still find new things to love about it. We have designed this walk to pass all the best things to do in Notting Hill, including the key film locations and most colourful streets.

The best time to visit is on Friday and Saturday, when all stall types are open. Try to arrive about 9 am to avoid the worst of the crowds and see the stall holders setting up for the day.

Full instructions and a map are on our Notting Hill self-guided walking tour.

4. London Christmas Lights

Best walk for bright lights and seasonal cheer

• Distance – 3.2 miles (5.1 kilometres).
• Walking Time – 1 hour, 30 minutes.
• Best Time – late-November to early January evenings

Few cities display Christmas Lights with the same sense of extravagance as London, each year gloriously illuminating grand streets.

The best way to see the lights is on this walk which starts at Mayfair, passes through Soho, and ends in Covent Garden.

You’ll visit the vibrant Carnaby Street, elegant Regent Street and the spectacular Fortnum & Mason display. Highlights include the annual façade at Annabel’s and the beautiful lights on New Bond Street.

The walk includes many of our favourite things to do in London at Christmas, and we update it every year with the new displays.

It is best done from late-November to early January when the Christmas lights are on and festivities have begun.

Full instructions and a map are on our London Christmas Lights self-guided walk.

5. South Bank Walk

Best walk for London’s iconic landmarks

• Distance – 3.8 miles (6.2 kilometres).
• Walking Time – 2 to 3 hours (full day with stops)
• Best Time – Start early morning before the crowds arrive

Few walks deliver as many big-ticket sights as this one.

Over the walk’s four miles, you’ll pass Westminster Palace, the London Eye, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Shard, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

Along the way, you can stop at our favourite modern art gallery, the best London food market, some excellent street art and a 40-year-old book market tucked under a Victorian bridge.

The walking route follows the south bank of the Thames from Westminster Tube Station to Tower Hill Tube Station, and takes about two to three hours.

However, if you grab lunch at Borough Market, explore the Tate Modern, and stop at any one of the major sights, it will take most of the day.

This London walk is an extension of the Queen’s Walk mentioned above, but longer and covers more major sights. It is one of the walks we highly recommend to first-time tourists visiting London.

Full instructions and a map are on our South Bank Walking Tour.

Medium Walks in London

6. Regent’s Canal Walk

Best walk for a relaxed traffic-free canal stroll

• Distance – 4.5 miles (7.3 kilometres)
• Walking Time – 3 hours (half-day with stops)
• Best Time – Spring when flowers dot the banks of the canal

Regent’s Canal was built between 1812 and 1820 to connect the Grand Union Canal at Paddington with the Thames at Limehouse, creating a continuous waterway route from the Midlands into the heart of London.

At the time, canals were the motorways of the industrial age, and the Regent’s Canal was central to supplying a rapidly growing city.

By the 20th century, the canal had largely fallen quiet. Today it carries a very different kind of traffic — narrowboat residents, joggers, cyclists, and walkers — and the towpath has become one of the most pleasant traffic-free routes in the city.

This walk explores the best section of the canal.

Over the course of 4.5 miles, it passes the glass and steel of newly regenerated Paddington, drifts past the mansions and narrowboats of Little Venice, and follows a leafy towpath through the back of Regent’s Park.

The walk then emerges in Camden Market before a final stretch takes you through the most impressive urban regeneration project in London, ending at King’s Cross / St Pancras, two of the great Victorian railway stations.

A towpath runs along most of its route, allowing for a traffic-free walk to explore some of London’s finest neighbourhoods. It’s a great option for a leisurely stroll.

Full instructions and a map are on our Regent’s Canal Walking Tour.

7. London Royal Parks

Best walk for royal and imperial grandeur

• Distance – 5.1 miles (8.25 kilometres)
• Walking Time – 2 to 3 hours
• Best Time – Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday for changing of the guard

Few walks in any city can match this one for sheer grandeur, and it is another walk we highly recommend for first-time visitors.

In the space of five miles, you move from the leafy avenues of Kensington through four royal parks, past four royal palaces, and into the political heart of the country — finishing at one of the most photographed buildings in the world.

Paul and I have walked this route more times than we can count. It never gets old.

Whether it’s the pelicans in St James’s Park, the mounted cavalry at Horse Guards, or the moment Westminster Palace comes into view at the end of Whitehall, there’s always something that stops you in your tracks.

This self-guided walk takes around two and a half hours at a steady pace, but with Westminster Abbey, the Churchill War Rooms, and Buckingham Palace all worth going inside, a full day is easily spent.

Every stop is within easy walking distance of the next, and the route is almost entirely traffic-free through the parks, which, in central London, is no small thing.

Full instructions and a map are on our London Royal Parks Walk. The walk ends where the Queens Walk and South Bank Walk begin, so start early and you can cobble them together.

8. Hampstead Heath Walk

Best walk for nature and swimming

• Distance – 4.3 miles (6.9 kilometres)
• Walking Time – 2 hours, 10 minutes
• Best Time – Summer: to swim in the ponds.

Hampstead Heath is a 320-hectare ancient parkland in north London. Wild and rugged, it is a mix of rough heathland, bobbly hills, woodlands, and natural swimming ponds – that has barely changed in centuries.

On its edge is Hampstead Village, a smart London neighbourhood with Victorian and modernist architecture and plenty of old-school pubs. 

Paul and I have explored the neighbourhood many times and have designed a circular walking route that takes in the best sights.

The walk is 4.3 miles and very varied. It passes quirky independent shops, crosses open heathland to one of the finest free art collections in the country, stops at several bathing ponds, and climbs to one of the best viewpoints in London.

The walk is circular, starting and finishing at Hampstead tube station, and takes around two hours at a steady pace.

But this is not a walk to rush. Book a slot at the bathing ponds, stop for lunch at the Kenwood House café, and linger on Parliament Hill and you can spend a whole day.

Full instructions and a map are on our Hampstead Heath Walking Tour.

9. Regent’s Park & Camden Town Walk

Best walk for music, markets, and nightlife

• Distance – 4.4 miles (7.2 kilometres)
• Walking Time – Just over 2 hours (Half day with stops)
• Best Time – Mid-morning with lunch at Camden Market

No walk combines one of London’s grandest parks, prettiest neighbourhoods, and biggest markets as well as this one.

Starting in the heart of Regent’s Park, this 4.5-mile route winds through rose gardens and past a boating lake before climbing up Primrose Hill to one of the best views in London.

Then it drops into the colour and chaos of Camden, where four connected markets spill across cobbled lanes, canal-side yards, and converted railway arches.

This walk is a great way to explore the area north of central London, a vibrant neighbourhood known for eclectic markets, live music, old-school pubs, and beautiful green spaces.

It’s a walk of two halves with a very satisfying contrast. The first half is quiet, green and elegant. The second is loud, eclectic and alive.

Paul and I regularly take this walk. We usually start mid-morning, grab a coffee in Primrose Hill, and end up at the food stalls of Camden Market for lunch.

Walk it briskly, and you’ll be done in just over two hours. Take your time — and you should — and it easily fills a half day.

Full instructions and a map are on our self-guided Camden Walking Tour.

10. London City Walk

Best walk for hidden history

• Distance – 4.5 miles (7.25 kilometres).
• Walking Time – 2 hours, 15 minutes.
• Best Time – Any time, but book a slot for the Sky Garden in advance

The City of London, known as the square mile, is the historic heart of the capital. It’s where the city first came to life before its rapid expansion in the 17^th century.

There is more history packed into this tiny area than in many other cities in the world. Within its boundaries are one of the greatest Norman Castles, Wren’s masterpiece St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the church of the Knights Templar.

But what makes it unique is the contrast between the settings.

Ancient street patterns that haven’t changed since the medieval period wind between glass skyscrapers. A medieval city wall stands next to a trading exchange opened by Queen Victoria. A third-century Roman temple sits in the basement of a 21st-century corporate headquarters.

Paul and I loved putting together this walk. The city has so many hidden historic corners, and we discover something new every time.

The walk is 4.5 miles and runs from Holborn to Tower Bridge, taking just over two hours, but pop into St. Paul’s, go up the Sky Garden, and it can easily take half a day.

Full instructions and details are on our free City of London Walking Tour.

Longer Walks in London

11. Olympic Park & the Line

Best walk for sculptures and architecture

• Distance – 6.1 miles (9.8 kilometres).
• Walking Time – 3 hours.
• Best Time – Any time, but avoid West Ham home games at London Stadium.

This walk is a great exploration of art and architecture, and if you have the time, a brilliant longer walk in London.

It starts at Stratford Station, then follows the Lea River through east London before ending in North Greenwich.

The hike consists of two sections.

Firstly, at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the slightly indirect route (due to building work) passes the velodrome, the aquatics centre, London stadium and the recently opened V&A East.

Secondly, it follows The Line, an ambitious public art project that connects the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with the O2 in Greenwich.

The artworks along the route includes Birds by Tracey Emin, DNA DL90 (Shopping Trollies) by Abigail Falls, Demon with Bowl by Damien Hirst, and Quantum Cloud by Antony Gormley.

We have marked some of our favourite pieces of art on the map below; the complete list is on the official Line guide.

This London walk requires a ride on the IFS Cloud Cable Car. You can pay using contactless, and the views over the O2 and the Isle of Dogs are excellent.

Although a little longer than some others, Paul and I like this walk because it explores an area of London that few people get to.

You can follow the route on our Olympic Park & The Line Walk Map.

12. Chelsea to Tower Hill

Best walk for a grand riverside day out

• Distance – 6.3 miles (10.1 kilometres)
• Walking Time – 3 hours
• Best Time – Early morning: for the reflections across the Thames

This walk is a longer version of the South Bank Walk above.

It’s one of the most beautiful walks in London and a great choice if the weather is good.

Beginning at Sloane Square Station, it ambles through Chelsea and past the Royal Hospital before reaching the banks of the River Thames.

You can take an optional detour across the bridge to explore the newly renovated Battersea Power Station area or continue along the river’s north bank to visit Tate Britain (free) to see the best of British art.

Next up is the stunning Victorian gothic architecture of Westminster Palace, after which you cross Westminster Bridge and join the South Bank Walk. 

You can follow the route on our Chelsea to Tower Hill Map.

13. Epping Forest

Best walk for escaping the crowds in thick forest

• Distance – 7.5 miles (12 kilometres)
• Walking Time – 3 hours, 30 minutes
• Best Time – Spring: flowers are out, and buds are on the trees.

Epping Forest is almost 6,000 acres of ancient woodland that cuts a narrow green corridor in the urban landscape. It’s a wonderful place to hike near London.

Most of the walking is under a gentle swaying canopy of leaves. Periodically the trees part to reveal small patches of heath or ponds which are home to a variety of wildlife.

There are plenty of routes to choose from. The Oak Trail is the most popular, but, in our opinion, it’s the least good because it spends most of its time in trees with little variation.

Our pick is this 7.5-mile walk which starts and ends at Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge near Chingford Station.

You’ll experience the forest, but also visit the hunting lodge, beautiful ponds and stroll through open sections with lovely views.

You can follow the route on our Self-Guided Epping Forest Walk Map.

14. Wapping to Greenwich Walk

Best walk for historic pubs and maritime history

• Distance – 7.6 miles (12.2 kilometres).
• Walking Time – 3 hours, 30 minutes.
• Best Time – Pub lunch in Wapping and afternoon in Greenwich

This walk, mainly along the Thames River, explores three very different sides of London.

First, it heads through the old docklands of Wapping and Limehouse. What used to be bustling docks and industrial spaces are now modern residences perched over the waterfront. Only the excellent old pubs seem to have survived.

Secondly, it weaves through Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs where gleaming new skyscrapers tower above the waterways.

Finally, it ends at historical maritime Greenwich, where we recommend you see the impressive Painted Hall in the Old Royal Naval College, stand on the meridian, and admire magnificent views over London from the Greenwich Observatory.

You can follow the route on our Wapping to Greenwich Walk Map.

15. Richmond Park Walk

Best walk for wildlife and country homes

• Distance – 9 miles (14.5 kilometres).
• Walking Time – 4 hours.
• Best time – Autumn: when the leaves are changing colour and the stags are rutting.
• Map –

Despite being consumed by the city, Richmond Park still retains a wild, rugged feel.

Tucked within the sweeping grasslands, you’ll find wild deer and stag, as well as colourful gardens and grand lodges.

From Henry’s Mound, Windsor Castle can be seen glimmering in the distance. To the east, the skyscrapers of the city loom above the trees.

Taking advantage of its proximity to the Thames, this walk heads along the banks of the river. You’ll visit Richmond town at one end (home of many filming locations in Ted Lasso) and Ham House (a giant 17th-century pile peering over the water) at the other.

Richmond Park is one of our favourite free places to visit in London, and this walk captures the best of it.

You can follow the route on our Richmond Park Walk Map.

More Guides to Plan Your London Trip

• To get an idea of what you might like to do, read our guide to the best things to do in London.
• Our London Itinerary helps you plan 3 or 4 amazing days in the city.
• Find your perfect accommodation with our Where To Stay in London guide, which includes a review of the best areas.
• A great neighbourhood to explore is Notting Hill – this guide covers the highlights.
• For a completely different area, take our Shoreditch Street Art walk.
• Read our Hackney neighbourhood guide for all the best things to do in this East London area.
• Our guide to accommodation in Soho includes our hotel recommendations and things to do.
• Get out and about with our top walks in London – each with a detailed map.