WALKING IN LONDON
Walking is the cheapest single way to get round London. If you’re even moderately fit and not encumbered by very young children this is, in my opinion, the best way to soak up the atmosphere not just of London but of any city: you just see more.
Wandering aimlessly is fun!
London is gorgeous to walk round. I’ve lived here for years and still find little signs of its extraordinary history everywhere I look – small plaques commemorating bombing in world war one; crusader tombs; tiny churches tucked away down small alleyways. Despite the fact that London as a whole is as big as Paris and Manhattan combined, the centre is remarkably small, a couple of miles square at most.
Get a decent map
If you’re going to do this I suggest arming yourself with a decent map – I've got reviews of my two favorites elsewhere on the site. And once you've got one - here's the best thing to do: keep it firmly closed open your eyes wide, and just wander around. There are no ‘no-go’ areas in central London. Once you need to find yourself again you can look at the map – it’s also easy to take the bus to get you back somewhere more mainstream.
Travel from A to B the scenic route
If you need to get from A to B you can use the map to guide you down quirky sidestreets where normal tourists never venture. London's not built on a grid pattern and just turning off the mainer streets can reveal a whole different side to an area - remember, London's street patten is the product of thousands of years of making and remaking of the city.
Walking is more fun and often better than the tube
Every year tourists waste millions of pounds on pointless tube journeys. From Charing Cross to Leicester Square. From Bond Street to Oxford Circus. Why pointless? These tube stations are so incredibly close to each other that by the time you’ve gone underground, waited for a train and then gone back above ground you could have walked there and back twice over. You waste time, money and experiences by traveling underground all couped up in a tube train all the time. In fact if you’re relatively fit, as a rough rule of thumb everywhere inside the circle line is easily walkable.
Despite this, the problem has been that you can’t tell how close the tube stations are to each other in reality, and how long it would take to walk, but now some very clever students at one of London’s top design schools came up with this great map which solves that very conundrum. Print it and take it with you!
Walking has the brilliant benefit of being free, good for your heart, good for the soul and oh, you can also change your mind on your way or stop for a coffee and a bagel. How good is that? What a fabulous form of transport.
Where should I go?
The South Bank walk – One of my favorite walks through London, along the glorious River Thames. First, walk to Borough Market and see the fabulous tasty goodies there. Then head on past the Clink prison museum, Shakespeare’s Globe (the original site of Shakespeare’s theater), then on to Tate Modern – the largest modern art museum in the world, and free before heading to the South Bank with its street performers and then to the London Eye at County Hall before finally seeing the Houses of Parliament. The whole thing takes about 90 minutes at most even with stopping (though longer if you want to go into the buildings). Lovely. There’s a great map here for a slightly longer walk that encompasses this route too. It’s got all sorts of lovely trivia in it too.
Other favorite walks include: Oxford Circus to Charing Cross - start at Oxford Circus tube and then go down Regent street. Take a left onto Carnaby Street and see where swinging London was based in the 1960s. Carry on walking through Soho - it doesn't matter which streets you take, there are cool coffee shops, record shops and book stores. Then eventually make your way to Trafalgar Square where you can pop into the National Gallery and view some old Masterpieces, before seeing St Martins in the Fields church and Charing Cross, the traditional center of London. Takes about 90 minutes, including browsing a couple of shops.
If you want a walk that's greener, go to Westminster tube station and head through St James' Park and see the beautiful gardens and the Pelicans. Carry on walking and you'll see Buckingham palace. Then head across the adjacent Hyde Park, taking in the sights of Londoners enjoying the open spaces. You can get a coffee and a snack at one of the small stands. All this area is directly owned by the Queen. Maybe bring a soccer ball to kick round if you have kids with you. Then, head to Speaker's Corner to hear democracy in action! Takes about 2 hours.
Further away from the tourist trail, there's a lovely walk along the towpath of one of London's canals. You start in Camden Lock and then follow the towpath all the way to Little Venice by Paddington Station. It's a lovely way to see London, and I guarantee you'll be the only non-Londoner doing the walk. Time taken: about three hours.
MORE ADVANCED WALKS
Guided walks
If you fancy a bit more of a structured saunter within London with someone who will explain what you’re seeing then definitely consider taking one of the excellent guided London Walks – one of the best £7 per person you’ll spend in your time here. You don’t book in advance, you just turn up. The only thing you need to do beforehand is decide which of the frankly dizzying variety of walks you want to take. Each lasts about two hours, during which the guide will regale you with wild and wondrous tales of the places you’re seeing. The pace is gentle too – not, as their website insists, a “yomp.” It’s the guides who really make these tours: mostly highly educated, successful people in their fields who’ve downsized to a less stressful and far more fun job – sharing the secrets of London with tourists and locals alike. Recommended.
Walking by yourself
If you want to walk outside London there are hundreds of gorgeous walks in the English countryside within easy reach of London by public transport and easily doable in a day. They’re rated from easy to difficult. You get on a train and before you know it you’re on an easy to follow path through verdant green countryside and tiny village churchyards, perhaps picking blackberries as you go and stopping at a country pub for a lunch of cheese and local ale! Highly recommended if you want to get totally off the tourist trail just for a day! (Best done in the sunshine!) Luckily there’s a book that tells you all you need to know: 'Time Out London Walks' (Get it from Amazon.)
This guide was updated in Autumn/Fall 2010 and is refreshed every year to make sure it's all spick and span and up to date.
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