Explore London

The Best Tour Of London By Foot

Touring London By Foot

The greatest thing about London is certainly the thousands of ways in which you can tour it. One of our personal favourites, is doing so by foot! If the weather allows for taking the pedestrian route without getting drenched, this quick tour of London’s most famous pit stops is going to bring your pedometer to a new high score.

We’re going to take you through a seasoned Londoner’s favourite tour using what3words to give you specific check points.

what3words is a really simple way to talk about location. We have divided the world into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and assigned each one a unique 3 word address. It means anyone can accurately find any location and share it more quickly, easily and with less ambiguity than any other system.

You can download the free app on your phone, or check their
website map

for the locations we provide!

Step 1: Get to Waterloo!

Your London tour of dreams is going to start at Waterloo station. Wherever you’re staying, the first thing you’ve got to do is travel to Waterloo.

From the station, make your way towards South Bank. Your first w3w checkpoint is caring.match.jaws

This is an iconic part of London where you can walk along the river, get a wide-angle view of the Big Ben and stop for some food.

Throughout the year, there are various street performers on this strip to keep passers-by entertained.

If you fancy a pit stop, you have several options:

Insider tip: You can get the greatest view of Big Ben from dices.ships.bills on what3words

Step 2: Walk towards Westminister

w3w checkpoint: crown.adjust.juror

Walking across Westminister Bridge is a London tour essential. If you’re lucky, you will find London’s usual street performer playing the bagpipes.

This is one of London’s most popular places to get photos, so be sure to look our for roque selfie-sticks while you make your way towards your next checkpoint.

At this point, you should be directly under the Big Ben!

Step 3: Follow the road towards the Household Cavalry Museum

This is one of our favourite parts of this tour. Make your way to the Household Cavalry Museum (theme.sunset.ships). Along the way, you will pass several red telephone boxes to fill all your corny London photograph needs.

The Household Cavalry Museum is usually guarded by a few guards on horses, and marching guards often tour the grounds. You can walk straight through and make your way to your next check point: deputy.this.token

Step 4: Say hello to the Queen

Hooray, you’ve made it to The Mall! This long strip leads straight towards Buckingham Palace.

You can’t literally say hello to the Queen of England, but you can certainly walk the grounds and get as close as you possibly can. In fact, if you’re visiting between the end of July and late September, you might find yourself able to visit the State Rooms in Buckingham Palace while they’re open to the public!

Take your time exploring this area before moving onto your next check point: regime.tunes.shield

Step 5: Walk towards Trafalgar Square

Once you walk through the Admiralty Arch, you will have arrived in Trafalgar Square (hook.bunch.slave)

This is a great place to sit and rest if you’re feeling the need for a break. The square is filled with beautiful fountains and places to sit. You will also see the iconic 4 lions surrounding Nelson’s Column (bronze.rich.rings), which is another epic London photo opportunity if you’re feeling up for trying to climb on.

If you’ve got some time to kill, you can visit the National Portrait Gallery (bulb.appeal.doors) for free and look around the exhibitions. You might have to fight through several Yoda street performers to get in, but we promise it’s worth it!

Once you’re done here, you’re ready to get moving towards your next check point: composers.dwell.tubes

Step 6: You’re in Leicester Square

You definitely know where you are now – you’ve made it to Leicester Square! If you haven’t taken a second to rest yet, you might want to do so now. Leicester Square is filled with different food options, famous shops and lots to see.

While you’re here, definitely stroll up towards China Town (impact.upper.soft). Depending on the time of the year, this area is usually decked out in decorations. This is also the perfect time to grab a bite and explore the side roads.

Step 7: Piccadilly Circus is your next stop

If you’re exhausted and/or planning to do some shopping, you might want to skip Steps 8 – 10 and save that for another day. We won’t judge.

Piccadilly Circus is just a moment’s walk away from Leicester Square, so you definitely don’t want to miss this. The Piccadilly Lights (runs.truck.nests) have been recently refurbished, and they’re looking as impressive as ever! Did you even visit London if you didn’t get a photo here?

This is where we will offer you the choice between two paths. You will have the choice to either walk around in a large circle (not for the faint of heart), or you can call it a day and go rest up in Covent Garden. For this option, go straight to Step 10.

For the brave, follow along…

Step 8: Walk up Regent Street

Your next challenge is to successfully walk from helps.rally.detail to began.taking.open without bumping into anyone.

Get your wallets out, it’s shopping time! It is generally accepted as a London fact that one is unable to walk up this road without at least wanting to go into one shop. This street is known for its high-end selection of shops, featuring beautiful displays all the way across.

We recommend you take a slight detour into Carnaby Street (losses.rams.spared) – one of London’s most famous shopping destination streets. This street is always heavily decorated, and provides the perfect opportunity to grab a bite in Kingly Court (apron.young.nation).

Insider tip: You should also take a peek around Liberty (lance.appear.fonts) if you have time!

We probably should have warned you that this entire street is uphill – sorry. We promise this is the final uphill stretch before you get to sit down!

Step 9: Shopping dreams in Oxford Circus

It wouldn’t be a tour of London without walking through Oxford Street. This is your opportunity to get your bearings around the shops! If you’re coming back here later, take a mental note of all the places you wanna go. However, if you’re just passing through, you might wanna budget time for mooching around some of the shops!

From here (began.taking.open), you’re going to want to make your way across towards Tottenham Court Road (headed.they.forks). You will cover the majority of the shopping strip, see all the cool storefront windows, and probably bump into hundreds of people along the way.

Step 10: Good job! You’re on your way to Covent Garden!

If you’ve skipped steps 8 – 10 and are heading to Covent Garden straight from Leicester Square, we have good news! You’re almost there. Covent Garden is a quick walk away. Head from composers.dwell.tubes to spent.fence.hardly.

However, if you’re heading downwards from Tottenham Court Road, your walk will be slightly longer but downhill, so don’t worry! Make your way from headed.they.forks to spent.fence.hardly.

Congratulations! You dit it! Your pedometer should be showing around 40,000 steps, which may or may not be your new high score.

Covent Garden is a great place to shop, to eat and to relax. We wanted to make sure you ended your tour in a place that would suit everyone’s tastes, so let us know how you did!

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