Kensington Gardens: London Travel Guide (4.7★)

A palace on one side, a pond below

Start on the Broad Walk. This wide, tree-lined path runs north to south past the east front of Kensington Palace, and the rest of the gardens spread out from it. On your right is the red-brick palace, with a white marble Queen Victoria seated outside. On your left, the grass slopes down to the Round Pond.

Kensington Gardens used to be the western half of Hyde Park. In the 1720s and 1730s Queen Caroline, wife of George II, had it laid out as grounds for the palace. The long avenues and the Long Water both come from her plans. Today West Carriage Drive marks the boundary between the two parks, where it crosses the Serpentine Bridge.

Most of what you’ll find here is open lawn and avenues of trees, not wall-to-wall flowerbeds. At an easy pace the main sights take two to three hours. Allow more if you have children with you or plan to go inside the palace.

Gates and stations

Four Tube stations each leave you a short walk from a gate:

• Queensway (Central line): the north-west corner, nearest the Diana playground.
• Lancaster Gate (Central line): the north-east side, a few minutes from the Italian Gardens.
• High Street Kensington (Circle and District lines): the south-west, best for Kensington Palace.
• South Kensington (Piccadilly, Circle and District lines): a longer walk up Exhibition Road to the Albert Memorial. It works well if you’re combining the park with the museums.

The park lists the same hours every day, 6am to 9:30pm. Kensington Palace has its own tickets and its own hours, so check the Historic Royal Palaces website before you plan the day around it.

From the Round Pond to the Italian fountains

The Round Pond sits in the middle of the gardens. It is a wide, shallow basin with a low rim, and swans, geese and ducks crowd its edges. Paths lead away from it in every direction like spokes, which makes it the easiest place to find your bearings.

Head north-east and you come to the Italian Gardens at the top of the Long Water. They date from the 1860s and are traditionally said to be Prince Albert’s gift to Queen Victoria. You’ll find four formal basins with fountains, surrounded by stone urns and balustrades. Queen Anne’s Alcove, a stone seating niche, stands nearby.

Then walk south along the west bank of the Long Water to the Peter Pan statue. J.M. Barrie paid for this bronze by George Frampton and had it put up overnight in 1912, so that it seemed to have appeared by magic. Fairies, rabbits, squirrels and mice climb its base. It stands where Peter lands in Barrie’s earlier story, The Little White Bird.

Pirate ships and a carved oak

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground is in the north-west corner. It opened in 2000 and takes its theme from Peter Pan. The centrepiece is a large wooden pirate ship sitting in sand, with tepees and a sensory trail around it. The playground has its own gate and its own entry rules for adults without children, so check The Royal Parks website before you go.

Right beside it is the Elfin Oak, an ancient tree stump. In 1930 the illustrator Ivor Innes carved it with tiny elves, gnomes and woodland animals. It now sits behind a protective cage, so you look through the bars.

Gilt and modern art on the south side

The Albert Memorial is impossible to miss. George Gilbert Scott designed it, and it opened in 1872. A gilded Prince Albert sits under a tall Gothic canopy, surrounded by marble groups representing the continents. Across Kensington Gore stands the Royal Albert Hall, and the two are best seen together.

The Serpentine Galleries show contemporary art in two buildings. Serpentine South is a former 1930s tea pavilion. Each summer an invited architect builds a temporary pavilion on its lawn. Serpentine North is a converted gunpowder store, with an extension designed by Zaha Hadid. In between, look for Physical Energy, G.F. Watts’s bronze of a horse and rider.

When to go: early mornings and weekends

The crowd data for Kensington Gardens marks 7am–9pm as the quiet window on both weekdays and weekends. On a weekday you’ll rarely have to share much more than a path.

Weekends are different. Try not to arrive between 11am and 7pm on a Saturday or Sunday, when the park is at its busiest. The playground gate and the Italian Gardens fill first. If a weekend is your only option, go early. The gates open at 6am, and by 7am the Broad Walk mostly belongs to dog walkers and runners. Or come after 7pm, while there’s still time before the 9:30pm close.

Manners on the Broad Walk

This is a Royal Park, and a few unwritten rules keep it running smoothly:

• Cyclists may only ride on marked shared paths such as the Broad Walk. Walkers have priority, so ride slowly.
• Feeding the birds with bread at the Round Pond is discouraged. It harms the birds and fouls the water.
• Barbecues aren’t allowed. Picnics are fine anywhere on the grass.
• Litter goes in the bins or home with you. On busy weekends the bins fill fast, so bring a bag.
• Deckchairs are rented out in the warmer months. The current rate is posted on the deckchair stands.

There are cafés and kiosks around the park, and most take cards and contactless payment. If you want a slow, quiet hour, sit on a bench by the Italian Gardens fountains with a coffee. Nobody will hurry you along.