Luxury · 6-hour walk · London
Mayfair and St James's in six hours
The palace guard, the pelicans, the royal grocer, the Regency arcade, the Royal Academy, Savile Row, Bond Street and afternoon tea at Claridge's.
This is the London of the establishment: the palace, the park, the shops that have held royal warrants for three centuries and the tailors who dress the people who hold them. It is also the one route in London where the shopping is the sightseeing. Everything here is within a mile and a half, and the day ends at a table set for tea in one of the great hotels of the world. Book the tea; the rest you can walk into.
The route, stop by stop
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Buckingham Palace
The Changing of the Guard is at eleven on set days, and the schedule changes — check it before you plan around it. The state rooms open only in summer.
30 min here Walk here → -
St James's Park
The oldest royal park, with pelicans that have lived on the lake since a Russian ambassador gave the first ones in 1664. They are fed in the early afternoon.
20 min here Walk here → -
Fortnum & Mason
Grocer to the Crown since 1707. The tea counter and the food hall downstairs are the part to see; the hampers are the part to buy.
40 min here Walk here → -
Burlington Arcade
A covered Regency arcade of 1819, still patrolled by beadles in top hats, who will stop you whistling if you try.
20 min here Walk here → -
Royal Academy of Arts
Burlington House, home of the Academy since 1868. The collection rooms are free; the major exhibition is the reason to buy a ticket.
60 min here Walk here → -
Savile Row
Bespoke tailoring since the 1800s, with the cutters visible at their benches through the basement windows. The Beatles played their last concert on the roof of No. 3 in 1969.
20 min here Walk here → -
New Bond Street
Every luxury house in the world, one after another, with the auction room of Sotheby's among them. Its exhibitions are free to walk into.
40 min here Walk here → -
Claridge's
Afternoon tea in the Art Deco foyer: sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and pastries. Book weeks ahead, and dress for it.
90 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.