London may be England's biggest urban area but did you know that roughly 20 percent of the city is public green space? In fact, seen from above, 50 percent of London is a mosaic of green and blue, thanks to a vast network of woodlands, parks, gardens, rivers and canals.
All this nature makes the Big Smoke a surprisingly good place to go walking. So, where are the best trails?
We asked a handful of London locals for their favourite spots – here, we reveal the top 10, from Hampstead Heath and Richmond Park to Great British Gardens and Abney Cemetery.
London walks
Hampstead Heath
2.9 miles / 4.7km | 2 hours | easy | 73m ascent
Hampstead Heath is London’s green lung, a 760-acre sprawl of meadows, woodland and deep pools.
In the 18th century, the Heath became a popular escape for city dwellers in need of fresh air, and it’s still a peaceful haven for Londoners today – and so vast that you might feel like you’re in a rural idyll even in the heart of the city, and find yourself with a sweep of green space all to yourself.
The Heath’s crowning glory are its three bathing pools – one for women, one for men and one mixed – and this walk starts and ends by the first two, known as the Highgate Ponds, and also passes the mixed pool along the way.
This iconic parkland has so many trails criss-crossing it that you can make your walk as short or as long as you like, but this three-mile circular is a great introduction to the delights of the Heath.
Finsbury Park and Abney Park Cemetery
3.8 miles / 6.1km | 2 hours | easy | 23m ascent
This route between the stations at Finsbury Park and Stoke Newington takes in two parkland lakes, a lengthy riverside walk, a scenic reservoir and a wetland nature reserve – it's a water-lovers’ dream.
The walk includes Finsbury Park – look out for moorhens, coots, pochards and tufted ducks; the New River and its unexpected crop of reeds; the Woodberry Wetlands Nature Reserve (open 9.30am-4pm); Clissold Park with its Grade II-listed mansion; and Abney Park, a wildlife haven that’s not so much a cemetery as a wood with gravestones.
The walk ends in Stoke Newington, home to a coterie of quirky independent cafés, restaurants, pubs and bars.
Hampton Court Park and Bushy Park
5 miles / 8km | 4 hours | easy | 7m ascent
From Hampton Court Palace – home of Tudor King Henry VIII, rich in intriguing history and surrounded by verdant gardens – this stroll traces the bucolic banks of the River Thames around a colourful curve in the majestic river to Kingston.
The route returns via leafy Bushy Park, a great green breathing space in the midst of a heaving city, with the Diana Fountain at its heart. Birthplace of the Parkrun phenomenon, this former royal hunting ground attracts walkers and wildlife lovers who come to decompress while watching deer wander through ancient oak trees, skylarks hover over breeze-stoked meadows and statuesque herons hunt in fish-filled waterways.
Sydenham Hill Wood
1.5 miles / 2.4km | 1 hour | easy | 52m ascent
Sloping from one of London’s highest points down to the South Circular, this is the last remnant of the ancient Great North Wood that once stretched from the Thames to Croydon.
Now home to rare fungi, insects, birds and mammals, and more than 200 tree and plant species – there are plenty of fallen trees, branches and logs to climb, swing from or sit on. The dense tree cover blocks out the city’s sounds and sights, and reveals a railway tunnel that took Victorians to the Crystal Palace, a folly, and a memorable bridge – and a spectacular view of central London landmarks.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
2.8 miles / 4.5km | 1.5 hours | easy | 58m ascent
Head to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for an easy, inspiring stroll through a network of biodiverse habitats from curated gardens to wilder wetlands and meadows.
Since opening for the 2012 Olympic Games, the park now includes 102 acres of managed green space around the River Lea and its canals including nearly 6,000 trees, over 120,000 flowers and plants, 6.5km of waterways, and designated landscaping for birds, bats, pollinators, and other insects.
For self-directed walks there’s an online series of mapped routes such as the nature-led Parkland and Wildlife Trail (described below). Or sign up for a 90-minute guided tour with a Park Volunteer Champion.
Kew Gardens to Richmond Park
7.8 miles / 12.6km | 4 hours | easy | 55m ascent
Beginning at Mortlake, itself noted in the Doomsday Book, this is a walk through the pages of history. Taking in fascinating Kew Palace, majestic Richmond Park and a veritable procession of kings and queens, if you can ignore the constant Heathrow traffic, you might almost expect to hear a royal hunting party galloping by.
This walk along the Thames Path from Kew Gardens to Richmond Park is one of the the very best routes in London, offering both city residents and tourist alike a chance to escape the bustle of the capital.
Parkland Walk
4.9 miles / 8km | 3.5 hours | moderate
Trundling through trees in North London, tracing the course of an extinct Victorian-era railway line, the Parkland Walk is a traffic-free trek that can be explored in two parts, or done in one.
The southern section detailed here chugs along London’s longest linear nature reserve, a hidden (possibly haunted), wildlife-rich green corridor, stretching from Finsbury Park, around Crouch End to Highgate, passing ghost platforms and railway arches splattered with stunning street art.
A verdant link section through ancient woodlands leads to the northern half, which steams around Muswell Hill and climbs to the iconic antennae-topped broadcasting bastion of Alexandra Palace, delivering sensational views over London.
Wanstead Park
3.3 miles / 5.2km | 2 hours | easy
Wanstead Park provided an al fresco lifeline to East London locals in recent lockdowns, thanks to 140 acres of roamable public space and a legacy of naturalistic features from its former incarnation as a stately home.
Now managed by the City of London, there are walking trails, a system of five lakes, trees to climb, dens to make, an abundance of wildflowers and wildfowl and one of the most beautiful displays of native bluebells in or around the capital. Tea and ice cream are also served in an unpretentious café near the park’s historic Temple.
Walk or run the 3.25-mile Chestnut Trail through Epping Forest from a choice of entrances east and south of the park. Spot herons and egrets nesting on the Perch Pond and Ornamental Waters.
Wormwood Scrubs
3.1 miles / 5km | 2 hours | easy | 74m ascent
Deep within urban west London lies an oasis known as Wormwood Scrubs. At first glance, the Scrubs, as it is affectionately known, may not look like the sort of place that would attract birdlife.
Covering 183 acres and surrounded by urbanity, it is an attractive park encircled by a thin band of woodland, dominated by sycamore, birch and plane. Over half the park’s centre is taken up by sports fields. But there is a special magic about the place that is never more evident than in the spring.
WWT London Wetland Centre
The London Wetland Centre is the embodiment of what you can achieve through urban rewilding. It is a remarkable achievement of naturalised landscaping featuring that all important giver of life – water.
It all began 25 years ago when the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust proposed to convert four square bland-looking redundant reservoir basins into a wetland wonderland for nature and people. All under the watchful eye of their founder; the late and definitely great Sir Peter Scott.
Situated on a north-facing bend of the Thames, the area has long attracted birds using the river to migrate and in particular waterfowl and waders such as avocet and black-tailed godwits.
Also known locally as Barnes Wetlands, the site covers some 100 acres (40 hectares). To wander around its many paths that encompasses wet woodland, wet meadows and the wetlands itself is a joy.
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