Free self-guided walking tour of Westminster: palaces, Parliament and the West End

This free self-guided walk through Westminster and the West End is about 6.4 km long, with about 1 hour 25 minutes of walking and 14 stops. It starts at Buckingham Palace and ends at Somerset House. Every stop below has a short summary and a link to the source it is based on.

Distance and walking time come from the OpenStreetMap foot router (routing.openstreetmap.de), calculated along streets between the stops of Guidera's curated tour "London: Royal Westminster & The Heart of Power".

What does the route look like?

The route starts at Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace, goes to Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, up Whitehall past Downing Street to Trafalgar Square, and continues through Leicester Square, Chinatown and Piccadilly Circus to Covent Garden and Somerset House.

What will I see on this walk?

1. Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is the official residence and administrative headquarters of the British monarch. The core of today's palace was a townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703; George III acquired it in 1761 as a private residence for Queen Charlotte. In the early 19th century John Nash and Edward Blore enlarged it with three wings around a central courtyard.

Source: Wikipedia: Buckingham Palace

2. St James's Palace

St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London and gives its name to the Court of St James's, the monarch's royal court. King Henry VIII built it in the 1530s on the site of a leper hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less. It is still the ceremonial meeting place of the Accession Council.

Source: Wikipedia: St James's Palace

3. Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey has hosted the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs since 1066 and is the burial site of 18 monarchs. Edward the Confessor commissioned its first large church in the 1040s and is buried inside; the present church was begun in 1245 under Henry III. At least 16 royal weddings have taken place there since 1100.

Source: Wikipedia: Westminster Abbey

4. Houses of Parliament

The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the UK Parliament, home to the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It was first built in the eleventh century as a royal palace. It has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Source: Wikipedia: Palace of Westminster

5. Big Ben

Big Ben is the nickname of the Great Bell of the clock in the Elizabeth Tower, which was called the Clock Tower until it was renamed in 2012 for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. The tower was designed by Augustus Pugin and Charles Barry in the Perpendicular Gothic style and completed in 1859. It stands 316 feet (96 m) tall.

Source: Wikipedia: Big Ben

6. 10 Downing Street

10 Downing Street, off Whitehall, is the official residence and office of the UK prime minister. The building is over 300 years old, Grade I listed and has about 100 rooms; the prime minister's private flat is on the third floor.

Source: Wikipedia: 10 Downing Street

7. Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square commemorates the British naval victory at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. The area around it, Charing Cross, has been a landmark since the 1200s, and distances from London are measured from there. Redevelopment began under John Nash, and the square opened in 1844.

Source: Wikipedia: Trafalgar Square

8. The National Gallery

The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square was founded in 1824 and holds more than 2,300 paintings from the mid-13th century to 1900. Entry to the main collection is free. It began when the government bought 38 paintings from the heirs of John Julius Angerstein.

Source: Wikipedia: National Gallery

9. Leicester Square

Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square at the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, named after Leicester House. Its 19th-century theatres were converted into cinemas in the 20th century, and it is home to major cinemas such as the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square.

Source: Wikipedia: Leicester Square

10. Chinatown

London's Chinatown is centred on Gerrard Street, between Soho and Theatreland, with Chinese restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets and shops. The first area in London known as Chinatown was in Limehouse in the East End.

Source: Wikipedia: Chinatown, London

11. Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus is a road junction built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly; "circus" comes from the Latin word for circle. It is known for the video display and neon signs on the building on its north side, and for the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain with its statue of Anteros.

Source: Wikipedia: Piccadilly Circus

12. Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district on the eastern edge of the West End, known for the former fruit-and-vegetable market in its central square, now a shopping area with street performers. The area was once the heart of the Anglo-Saxon trading town of Lundenwic. The London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, are also here.

Source: Wikipedia: Covent Garden

13. Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first theatre on the site opened in 1732, and George Frideric Handel's opera seasons began there in 1735. The current building is the third theatre on the site, after fires in 1808 and 1856.

Source: Wikipedia: Royal Opera House

14. Somerset House

Somerset House is a large neoclassical building on the south side of the Strand, overlooking the Thames. It stands on the site of a Tudor palace that belonged to Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset; the present building was designed by Sir William Chambers and begun in 1776. Since the early 21st century it has been a cultural centre.

Source: Wikipedia: Somerset House

Can I do this walk with an audio guide?

Yes. This route is one of the curated tours in Guidera, the iPhone app I build ("London: Royal Westminster & The Heart of Power", 14 stops). In Guidera, text stories are free (5 per day); audio narration and Walkman mode, which narrates each stop automatically as you walk, are part of Premium. You can stop and resume the tour where you left off. You can also download the tour and walk it offline: on the free tier one featured tour at a time, text only, after a short video; with Premium, up to 10 tours with audio. Map tiles aren't saved, so open the tour map once while online. Guidera runs on iPhone, not Android.

Also in London: London: Bankside & Thames Landmarks.

Sources

English Wikipedia articles, checked 1 October 2026: Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace, Westminster Abbey, Palace of Westminster, Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, Leicester Square, Chinatown, London, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Royal Opera House, Somerset House. Route and distances: OpenStreetMap foot router, map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Frequently asked questions