Mid-range · 3-hour walk · London
Greenwich in three hours
The tea clipper, the Painted Hall, the market, the meridian line and the view back over London from the hill.
The South Bank route is London's riverside at its busiest; Greenwich is the same river an hour downstream and a different world — maritime, royal and green. Come by boat from Westminster or the Embankment, which is the best way to arrive and takes about forty-five minutes. The hill is steep but short, and the view from the top is the one the whole trip is for.
The route, stop by stop
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Cutty Sark
One of the fastest tea clippers ever built, launched in 1869 and now raised on a glass collar so you can walk underneath the hull.
20 min here Walk here → -
Painted Hall
Wren's naval hospital, with Thornhill's ceiling of 1707 to 1726 — the finest painted interior in Britain, and the reason people call it Britain's Sistine Chapel.
40 min here Walk here → -
Greenwich Market
A covered market since the 1830s, with street food and makers' stalls. Take lunch up the hill.
25 min here Walk here → -
Royal Observatory
The home of Greenwich Mean Time and the prime meridian, where you can stand with a foot in each hemisphere. The red time-ball on the roof drops at one o'clock every day.
45 min here Walk here → -
General Wolfe statue
The top of the hill: the Queen's House and the naval college below you, the river bending round, and Canary Wharf and the City behind them.
15 min here Walk here →
More in London
Every walking route in London, or the full London guide for where to stay and what a day costs.