Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Holland Park and the Thames lead 9 walks near Kensington, with distances, gate times, dog rules and stations, checked Oct 2026.

The walks most people in Kensington start with are a loop of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, about 3 miles round each; the seven-mile Diana Memorial Walk, marked by plaques in the ground; the woodland paths and Kyoto Garden of Holland Park; and the Thames Path along Chelsea Embankment. Every entry was checked against the owner’s or the route’s own pages on 26 October 2026.

We have not walked these routes for this guide, and nothing here is a rating. Each entry sets out what the people who run the park, cemetery or route publish: distances, gate times, dog rules, toilets, cafes and the nearest stations. The clocks went back on Sunday, so the closing times below are the winter ones, and several gates now shut at 5pm or earlier.

The Royal Parks

Kensington Gardens

Created as the grounds of Kensington Palace and opened to everyone long since, the gardens are “dreamed up by Queen Caroline in the 18th century”, the Royal Parks says. The park covers about 107 hectares (265 acres), and the Royal Parks FAQs put the perimeter at about 2.7 miles, or 3.3 miles if you also walk round the Long Water. On the way are the Round Pond, the Albert Memorial, the Italian Gardens, the Peter Pan statue by the Long Water and the North and South Flower Walks. Dogs can be off the lead under control, except at the edges of the Round Pond and Long Water, the Italian Gardens fountains and the Flower Walks. Cycling is allowed only on marked routes such as the Broad Walk. There are two cafes, the Italian Gardens Cafe and the Broad Walk Cafe, and toilets cost 20p, contactless only. Open 6am to dusk (5pm this week). Nearest stations: Queensway, Lancaster Gate, Bayswater and High Street Kensington.

Hyde Park and the Serpentine

Henry VIII took the park from the monks of Westminster Abbey in 1536, Charles I opened it to the public in 1637 and Queen Caroline added the Serpentine in the 1730s, the Royal Parks records. It covers about 142 hectares (350 acres), with a perimeter of about 3 miles, so a circuit of the Serpentine and Long Water joins it to Kensington Gardens for a longer loop. Dogs can generally be off the lead, but not in the Rose Garden or round the Serpentine. There are four main cafes, including the Serpentine Bar and Kitchen and the Serpentine Lido Cafe, and 20p contactless toilets. Blue Badge holders park free for up to four hours in the West Carriage Drive car parks. Open 5am to midnight every day. Nearest stations: Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner, Lancaster Gate and Marble Arch.

Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk

A seven-mile route “charted by 90 plaques set in the ground”, the Royal Parks says, through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, The Green Park and St James’s Park. It passes three palaces and two mansions linked to the Princess: Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, St James’s Palace and Spencer House. The plaques, by the sculptor Alec Peever, carry a heraldic rose. The walk opened on 30 June 2000, on the same day as the Diana Memorial Playground. The Royal Parks has a downloadable route map on the same page. Because it starts and finishes by Kensington Palace, you can walk any section and leave at a Tube station along the way.

Brompton Cemetery

The largest of London’s “Magnificent Seven” Victorian cemeteries at about 16 hectares (39 acres), with a perimeter of about 1.1 miles, the Royal Parks says. It is still a working cemetery. The Royal Parks describes avenues of lime trees from the Great Circle colonnades along Central Avenue to the chapel, and the graves of Emmeline Pankhurst and Dr John Snow. Dogs must be on a lead at all times and keep to signed paths; cycling is allowed only on Central Avenue; no cars except on cemetery business. Cafe North Lodge and a volunteer-run Information Centre are at the north end. Pedestrian gates open 7am to 5pm this week. West Brompton station is metres from the north gate; Earl’s Court and Fulham Broadway are under ten minutes away.

Jubilee Greenway: Buckingham Palace to Little Venice

The 60km Jubilee Greenway was completed in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic Games, and is waymarked by glass paving slabs, Transport for London says. Its first section runs from Buckingham Palace through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to the canal at Little Venice; the Walk London route table, quoted by the London Gardens Trust, gives it as about 3.5 miles (5.5km), roughly an hour’s walk. The Trust’s writer notes the official line follows cycle-permitted paths and suggests the quieter south side of the Serpentine instead. TfL points walkers to Go Jauntly for the maps.

Holland Park and the north of the borough

Holland Park and the Kyoto Garden

The borough’s largest park, 54 acres of woodland and gardens round the ruins of Holland House, a Jacobean mansion built by Sir Walter Cope and badly damaged in the Second World War, the council says. The Kyoto Garden was made for the 1992 Japan Festival with the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce. Dogs must be on a lead in the woodland and formal gardens and are not allowed in the Kyoto Garden. Level entrances are at North Abbotsbury Road, Ilchester Place, Duchess of Bedford Walk and Kensington High Street; the Holland Park Road and Abbotsbury Road South entrances are steep. Disabled toilets, including a Changing Places toilet, are at the Stable Yard. Open 7.30am to dusk, with some gates shutting up to 20 minutes early. Ilchester Place, W8 6LU.

Kensal Green Cemetery and the canal

Seventy-two acres beside the Grand Union Canal, and “Britain’s most prestigious cemetery” in the words of the Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery, who run two-hour guided tours at 2pm from the Anglican Chapel steps: every Sunday from March to the end of October, then on the first and third Sundays from November to February. Tours cost £12, or £10 for students, over-65s and English Heritage members; book ahead, as a tour may not run without bookings. Under winter hours, the cemetery’s own site gives the West Gate as open 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sunday; the pedestrian East Gate near Ladbroke Grove is locked at 4.30pm. The cemetery closes without notice when winds of 45 to 55mph are forecast. Harrow Road, W10 4RA.

Chelsea and the river

Thames Path, Chelsea Embankment

The Thames Path National Trail runs on both banks through central London. National Trails gives the north bank from Putney to Tower Bridge as 10.3 miles (16.5km): after a detour inland through Hurlingham Park, it reaches “elegant Chelsea” and follows the Embankment towards Westminster. In Chelsea it runs past Albert Bridge and the Chelsea Physic Garden towards Chelsea Bridge. Between Teddington and the Isle of Dogs there are 16 bridges, the trail notes, so a short walk can cross and come back on the other bank. Sloane Square is the nearest Tube station to the Embankment.

Battersea Park, over Albert Bridge

Across Albert Bridge from Chelsea, Battersea Park is a 200-acre Victorian park built between 1854 and 1870, with a riverside promenade, a large lake, notable trees, wildlife areas, a children’s zoo and the Pump House gallery, Wandsworth Council says. The council is restoring the park’s historic Cascades waterfall with National Lottery Heritage Fund money. Pedestrian entrances are on Albert Bridge Road, Prince of Wales Drive and Queenstown Road. The council lists the park gates as open 6.30am to 10.30pm. The park is run by Enable for Wandsworth Council. Battersea Park, SW11 4NJ.

How we chose

These are the walks Kensington, Chelsea and Notting Hill people search for, chosen because they are the big public green spaces and waymarked routes within reach on foot, not on taste. The facts come from the Royal Parks’ pages and FAQs for Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and Brompton Cemetery and its Diana Memorial Walk page; the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s Holland Park page; Transport for London’s Jubilee Greenway page; National Trails’ Thames Path route description; Wandsworth Council’s Battersea Park page; and the Kensal Green Cemetery and Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery websites. All were read on 26 October 2026. Gate times change with the season and for events, so check the park’s page before an early or late walk.

Run a park cafe or a Friends group, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@thekensingtonpost.co.uk.

More in Kensington

Frequently asked questions

How long is a walk round Kensington Gardens?

The Royal Parks puts the perimeter of Kensington Gardens at about 2.7 miles if you leave out the Long Water, and about 3.3 miles if you walk round it too. Hyde Park, next door, has a perimeter of about 3 miles, so the two parks together make a loop of roughly 6 miles.

Can I walk my dog off the lead in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park?

Generally yes, as long as the dog is under control, the Royal Parks says. The exceptions in Kensington Gardens include the edges of the Round Pond and Long Water, the Italian Gardens fountains and the North and South Flower Walks; in Hyde Park, the Rose Garden and the area round the Serpentine. Dogs must be on a lead at all times in Brompton Cemetery, and in Holland Park they must be on a lead in the woodland and formal gardens and are not allowed in the Kyoto Garden.

What time do the parks close in Kensington in winter?

Hyde Park is open 5am to midnight all year. Kensington Gardens opens at 6am and closes at dusk, which the Royal Parks gives as 5pm this week. Holland Park is open 7.30am to dusk, and some gates close up to 20 minutes early. Brompton Cemetery’s pedestrian gates are open 7am to 5pm this week, and Kensal Green Cemetery’s West Gate closes at 5pm in winter, with the East Gate near Ladbroke Grove locked at 4.30pm.