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London's wildest park: 320 hectares of meadow, ancient woodland and bathing ponds four miles from Trafalgar Square. Climb Parliament Hill for the most famous free view of the city, then wander north to a Georgian mansion full of Old Masters.
The Heath is not a manicured park but a patchwork of rough grass, hedgerows, ponds and old woods, saved from building by Victorian campaigners. Within ten minutes of the station you can lose sight of every house.
This loop takes in its three great set pieces. Parliament Hill, 98 metres above sea level, looks south over the whole city: St Paul's, the towers of the City and the Shard lined up on the horizon, with a protected sightline that stops anyone building in the way. To the east lie the bathing ponds, where hardy Londoners swim all year. To the north, past old oaks and the lakes of the Kenwood estate, stands Kenwood House, a white Georgian villa remodelled by Robert Adam and free to enter, with a Vermeer and one of Rembrandt's late self-portraits on its walls.
Finish in Hampstead village, among Georgian lanes and old pubs, or at the Spaniards Inn on the northern edge of the Heath.
Early morning in any season, when mist lies in the hollows; autumn for the colours around Kenwood; and a clear winter day for the sharpest view. Go on a weekday if you can: on sunny Sunday afternoons, half of north London is here too.
There is no single marked path; the Heath is a web of tracks. This is the classic line.
From Hampstead tube, walk down Flask Walk and Well Walk, lined with Georgian houses, to the edge of the Heath at East Heath Road.
Cross the open heath south-east, past the Hampstead ponds, and climb the gentle slope of Parliament Hill. Benches face the city; an orientation board names the towers.
Drop east to the chain of Highgate ponds: the men's and the ladies' bathing ponds lie among the trees, with the model-boating pond in between. On the west side of the Heath is the mixed pond.
Head north through Ken Wood, one of the Heath's oldest woods, to the lawn and lake below Kenwood House. Visit the paintings, then have tea in the old stables.
Exit by the Spaniards Inn, a 16th-century pub on the old Hampstead road, or loop back across the West Heath to Hampstead for a pint at the Holly Bush.
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Hampstead station is on the Northern line (Edgware branch). Hampstead Heath and Gospel Oak stations on the Overground drop you at the southern foot of the Heath, closest to Parliament Hill.
The ponds are run by the City of London and are open all year with lifeguards. Tickets are booked online in advance in busy periods; check the current rules before you go.
The café at Parliament Hill Lido, Kenwood's stable café, the Spaniards Inn, and the Holly Bush in a lane above Hampstead's high street.
Food in the guide →
The Tamsin Trail round London's largest royal park.
Narrowboats from Little Venice to Camden Lock.
Ancient pollards, Connaught Water and High Beach.
Chalk cliffs from Seaford to Eastbourne via Beachy Head.
Stepping stones, chalk slopes and a vineyard lunch.
London's two circular walks, a section at a time.
Wikimedia Commons photographs are used under their Creative Commons licences; Pexels photographs under the Pexels licence.
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