London’s Royal Parks

Where to go and what to see in London to get the most from your trip – a 3-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Annabelle Thorpe.

Where to go and what to see in London to get the most from your trip – a 5-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Annabelle Thorpe.

Where to go and what to see in London to get the most from your trip – 9 brilliant, bucket list-packed days recommended by destination expert and travel writer Annabelle Thorpe.

Right on the Thames where the Cutty Sark museum ship is moored, you’ll find this grand royal park, home to 17th-century landscaping, the Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory, the National Maritime Museum and one of London’s oldest deer enclosures.

The largest of the four royal parks forming a leafy chain from Kensington Palace to Green Park and Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park is central London’s green lung. Join swimmers in the Serpentine, art lovers in the adjacent gallery or pause at Speaker’s Corner on a Sunday morning to hear all manner of opinions.

Founded in the name of Britain’s 18th-century ‘Playboy’ Prince Regent, this is London’s most elegantly manicured park, where public lawns and seasonally planted flower beds encircle ‘secret’ rose-scented gardens, an outdoor theatre, a boating lake, and London Zoo.

Charles I’s deer-roamed royal park that remains little changed since the Middle Ages. Woodland, grassland, and cycleways make for a rural treat of a city retreat.

World-class culture, fashion, music, food and history – and a mind-boggling array of bucket list experiences – packed into one extraordinary, incomparable destination.