London is a walking city disguised as a Tube city. Visitors tap their Oyster cards for two stops when the walk would have been faster, cheaper, and far more interesting. Central London is compact. Most of the best sights sit within a few miles of each other, connected by riverside paths, park lanes, and streets that have been walked for a thousand years.
This guide covers six London walks with real distances and a few places where your feet beat the Underground.
South Bank: Tower Bridge to Westminster
This is the walk that sells London. Start at Tower Bridge and head west along the Thames Path on the south bank. You'll pass the Tower of London across the water, City Hall, HMS Belfast, Borough Market, the Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe, the Southbank Centre, the London Eye, and finally Westminster Bridge with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament straight ahead.
The full stretch is about 3.5 miles (5.6 km). At a steady pace that's 90 minutes, but most people take 3 to 4 hours with stops. Borough Market alone can swallow an hour if you're hungry.
The path is flat, paved, and pushchair-friendly the entire way.
Royal Parks: Hyde Park to Buckingham Palace
London's royal parks connect in a green corridor that runs right through the centre. Start at the Serpentine in Hyde Park, walk south through the rose gardens, cross into Green Park via Hyde Park Corner, and arrive at Buckingham Palace. The walk from Hyde Park to the Palace gates is about 1.2 miles (2 km) and takes around 25 minutes.
For a longer route, continue past Buckingham Palace down The Mall to Trafalgar Square and then into St James's Park. The full loop through four royal parks and past four royal palaces covers roughly 5 miles (8 km).
Time it for 11:00am on a Changing of the Guard day to arrive at the Palace at exactly the right moment.
Shoreditch street art and the City of London
East London is a different city from the Westminster postcards. The streets around Brick Lane and Rivington Street hold one of Europe's largest open-air street art galleries, with work by Banksy, ROA, Stik, and dozens of rotating artists. Budget 2 hours to wander properly.
From Shoreditch, it's a short walk south into the City of London, the old Square Mile. St Paul's Cathedral to the Bank of England is just 0.7 miles (10 minutes on foot). Along the way you pass the remains of the Roman wall, Guildhall, and narrow lanes that predate the Great Fire. The contrast between glass towers and medieval churches only registers on foot.
Camden to Little Venice via Regent's Canal
Camden Market is loud and crowded. The canal towpath 30 seconds behind it is quiet and green. Pick up the Regent's Canal at Camden Lock and walk west through Regent's Park, past London Zoo (you can hear the animals over the hedge), through Maida Hill Tunnel, and into Little Venice where the canal meets the Grand Union.
The walk is 2.5 miles (4 km), flat the entire way, and takes about an hour. It feels nothing like London. Narrowboats, herons, overhanging willows. This is one the tourist buses never show you.
When the Tube is slower than your feet
On short central London journeys, walking often beats the Underground once you factor in stairs, escalators, and platform waits. A few examples:
- Covent Garden to Leicester Square: 4-minute walk vs. 2 minutes on the train plus 5 minutes on the lifts and stairs. Walking wins.
- Charing Cross to Embankment: 3-minute walk. The stations share an entrance hall. There is genuinely no reason to tap in.
- Tower Hill to Monument: 5-minute walk vs. a line change. Walking is faster and free.
- Covent Garden to Soho: About 10 minutes on foot through some of London's best streets. No Tube line connects them directly anyway.
The rule of thumb: if the Tube journey is two stops or fewer on the same line, walk. You'll save money, see more, and often arrive first.
Walk London with a local voice in your ear
A self-guided audio tour turns these walks into something richer. With AudaTours, you get GPS-triggered walking tours of London that play narration automatically as you approach each landmark. No staring at your phone. No keeping up with a group. Just stories told by people who know the city.
Every tour downloads fully to your phone, so you don't need mobile data while you walk. Tours are available in 50+ languages, narrated by native speakers.
Pick a neighbourhood, download a tour from the full collection, and go. Individual tours start at a few pounds, or unlock every city with an Unlimited subscription. Either way, you'll see more of London than any hop-on bus could show you.
