London City DIY Walking Tour
London City DIY Walking Tour
Distance: 6.5 km (about 4 miles); Duration: 2-8 hours
This circular London City DIY Walking Tour covers a totally flat distance of 6.5km, and takes in the most-popular attractions in the City of London that you’ll want to visit/see, including:
Tower of London > Tower Bridge > former City Hall > HMS Belfast > Hay’s Galleria > View From The Shard > Golden Hinde > Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre > Tate Modern Art Gallery > Millennium Bridge > St.Paul’s Cathedral > One New Change > Bank of England > Royal Exchange > Mansion House > Leadenhall Market > Monument (to the Great Fire of London) > Sky Garden.
As “normal” walking speed is around 7kmh (or 4mph), then if you were to simply rush round, the route would take just 1-2 hours. But I’d allow for at least 4 hours (possibly a whole day) as there is just so much to see and do on this circular London City DIY Walking Tour.
And because this London walk is indeed circular, you can start/finish at any point on the route (wherever is closest to your London hotel perhaps?).
Spending time at the London attractions which interest you, speeding past those that don’t – and stopping to eat and drink wherever and whenever you want (and for as long as you’d like).
However, the lower section of this DIY Walk (the section of the walk along the south bank of the River Thames) is simply a duplication of the eastern section of the London Thames DIY Walking Tour (THE best walk in central London). So my advice would be to do the complete London Thames DIY Walking Tour first (starting from Westminster Abbey and then heading East to Tower Bridge / the Tower of London), then add just the northern Thames section of this walk (going east to west, from Tower Bridge to St.Paul’s Cathedral).
If you do decide to follow my suggestion, then I would really recommend that you skip The Shard completely, and visit the Sky Garden instead!
True, The Shard is really high. But it’s just too high. When the cloud cover is low, the top of the Shard is in the middle of a cloud (and that’s all you can see – the inside of a cloud). The Shard is also very expensive. And very busy.
Whereas the food, drink and views from the Sky Garden are all pretty sensational.
Enjoy the very best of central London – and at YOUR pace!
London City DIY Walking Tour: Step-by-Step Walking Instructions
Detailed step-by-step walking instructions are based on Google StreetView, and include 360-degree photographs of every street-crossing and junction (and for other wheelchair users/stroller-pushers, the location of every dropped kerb), and cost just £5*.
* Your support enables me to create even more DIY Walking Tours. And, for other wheelchair-users, allows me to continue creating/updating informative accessibility articles for the attractions found along each route.
There are currently 4 different London DIY Walking Tours. And all 4 are connected:
Tower of London > Tower Bridge > former City Hall > HMS Belfast > Hay’s Galleria > View From The Shard > Golden Hinde > Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre > Tate Modern Art Gallery > Millennium Bridge > St.Paul’s Cathedral > One New Change > Bank of England > Royal Exchange > Mansion House > Monument (to the Great Fire of London) > Sky Garden.
The London City DIY Walking Tour connects with the London Docklands DIY Walking Tour at Tower Bridge. It also connects with the London Thames DIY Walking Tour at either St.Paul’s Cathedral, or again at Tower Bridge (depending on your walking direction).
London Docklands DIY Walking Tour:
Tower Bridge and the Tower of London > Docklands Light Railway > City Hall > Greenwich Cable Car > Greenwich Peninsula > Tide Art Trail > O2 Arena/the Millennium Dome > Old Royal Naval College > Greenwich > Cutty Sark > and finishing with an evening cruise along the River Thames – seeing central London from the river.
The London Docklands DIY Walking Tour connects with the London City DIY Walking Tour at Tower Bridge. The London Docklands DIY Walking Tour also connects with the London Thames DIY Walking Tour at The London Eye.
London Thames DIY Walking Tour:
Westminster Abbey > Houses of Parliament and Big Ben > Westminster Bridge > County Hall > London Eye > Golden Jubilee Bridges > Southbank Centre > Waterloo Bridge > National Theatre > OXO Tower > Tate Modern > Millennium Bridge to St.Paul’s Cathedral (side-trip) > Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre > Golden Hinde > London Bridge > Hay’s Galleria (and access to The Shard) > HMS Belfast > former City Hall building > Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.
The London Thames DIY Walking Tour connects with all other DIY Walking Tours of London. It connects with the London City DIY Walking Tour at either St.Paul’s Cathedral, or again at Tower Bridge (depending on your walking direction). It also connects with the London Docklands DIY Walking Tour at Tower Bridge. And, finally, the London Thames DIY Walking Tour connects with the London West End DIY Walking Tour at Westminster Abbey.
London West End DIY Walking Tour:
Houses of Parliament and Big Ben > Westminster Abbey > St.James’s Park > Buckingham Palace > Green Park > Piccadilly Circus > Leicester Square > Trafalgar Square > National Gallery > Whitehall > Horseguard’s Parade > Downing Street > and finally returning to Westminster Underground Station.
The London West End DIY Walking Tour connects with the London Thames DIY Walking Tour at Westminster Abbey.
At a very minimum, I would do all four London DIY Walking Tours over three or four days though (but even more time simply means more London attractions to actually visit – so a whole week would be even better!).