Best Places to Visit Near London
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best places to visit near London are The Smallest Police Station in the UK, Churchill War Rooms, Pickering Place, Serpentine Waterfall, Little Venice, Kyoto Garden, Hampstead Bathing Pond and Folly House Beach.
London hides some of its best corners in plain sight, tucked between the landmarks that draw the crowds. Right in the middle, around Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, you can find the tiny stone Smallest Police Station in the UK, drop underground into the Churchill War Rooms, and slip through a low passage off St James's Street into the Georgian courtyard of Pickering Place.
A short way west, Hyde Park hides the Serpentine Waterfall in its leafy Dell, while the canals of Little Venice and the calm Kyoto Garden in Holland Park lie a little further out in the west and north-west. Head north to Hampstead Heath for its open-air bathing ponds, then east to the Isle of Dogs, where Folly House Beach appears on the Thames foreshore only as the tide falls.
Together they gather curiosities, gardens, water and wild swimming into one varied wander. Here are eight places to visit near London.
The Smallest Police Station in the UK
Photo: John Salmon via Geograph.org.uk
The Smallest Police Station Easy to miss among the crowds, the so-called smallest police station in the country is a tiny one-person post built into a hollowed-out stone lamp-holder at the south-east corner of Trafalgar Square. Little more than a round stone box with slit windows, it was made in the 1920s so that police could keep watch over demonstrations in the square and telephone for help, and it stayed in use until radios made it needless.
Despite the nickname it was never really a police station, with no cells or desk. It still stands on the corner, topped by its lamp, a curiosity right at the heart of London.
Churchill War Rooms
Photo: David Dixon via Geograph.org.uk
Churchill War Rooms The Map Room and Cabinet Room sit much as they were left in 1945, part of a warren of wartime offices sealed underground beneath Whitehall in Westminster. These original Cabinet War Rooms now stand alongside a modern Churchill Museum, which follows the wartime leader's life through personal objects and an interactive timeline.
The complex went into use in 1939, closed at the end of the war, and stayed shut until it opened to the public in 1984. A branch of the Imperial War Museums runs it, and the way in is at Clive Steps on King Charles Street.
Book ahead and descend into the dark.
Pickering Place
Photo: Colin Smith via Geograph.org.uk
Pickering Place Tucked off St James's Street, Pickering Place is a tiny enclosed Georgian courtyard reached through a narrow, low passage beside the wine merchants Berry Bros and Rudd. Often said to be one of the smallest public squares in the city, it keeps its eighteenth-century brick fronts, iron railings and gas lamps.
A plaque on the passage wall records that the Republic of Texas had its London legation here between 1842 and 1845. Tales of duels once fought in the yard belong to its lore rather than proven history.
It is one of central London's easiest surprises to walk straight past.
Serpentine Waterfall
Photo: DS Pugh via Geograph.org.uk
Serpentine Waterfall A little over a mile from the centre, the Serpentine Waterfall is a small ornamental cascade at the eastern end of the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park, hidden in a tucked-away landscaped garden known as the Dell. Water runs over rock among the planting near the lake's outflow, once the course of a buried river, a quiet, leafy corner rather than a dramatic natural fall.
It is easy to miss on a walk around the lake, close to the cafes and paths at the busier end of the Serpentine, and stands as a piece of Victorian garden design at the heart of the park.
Little Venice
Photo: Robin Sones via Geograph.org.uk
Little Venice A couple of miles north-west, Little Venice is a canalside district on the border of Paddington and Maida Vale, where the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal meets the Regent's Canal. At its heart lies a roughly triangular basin known as Browning's Pool, with a small island in the middle and moored narrowboats and houseboats lining the water.
White stucco Regency terraces stand along Blomfield Road and Maida Avenue. Towpaths follow the water, waterbus trips head off toward Regent's Park, Camden and the zoo, and there are canalside cafes and small venues, including a puppet theatre barge.
Each early-May bank holiday the basin hosts the Canalway Cavalcade boat gathering, held here since 1983.
Kyoto Garden
Photo: Marathon via Geograph.org.uk
Kyoto Garden Around three miles west, the Kyoto Garden is a Japanese garden within Holland Park, given by the city of Kyoto and opened in 1991. A pond of koi carp lies at its heart, fed by a tiered waterfall and ringed by Japanese maples, stone lanterns and stepping stones.
Peacocks from the wider park often wander through it. It is a calm, ornamental garden, free to enter and tucked among the trees, and it makes a peaceful pause on a walk through this leafy corner of west London.
It is small but rewards a slow, unhurried visit.
Hampstead Bathing Pond
Photo: Richard Rogerson via Geograph.org.uk
Hampstead Bathing Pond Some four miles north on Hampstead Heath, the bathing ponds are natural freshwater pools set among the trees and grassland of the heath. Three of them are open for swimming, the Men's Pond and the Ladies' Pond on the Highgate side and a Mixed Pond nearer Hampstead, all with lifeguards.
The Men's and Ladies' ponds stay open all year, drawing cold-water swimmers even in winter, while the Mixed Pond opens in the warmer months. The water is chilly and silty, alive with ducks and other wildlife, and a swim here feels a world away from central London.
Folly House Beach
Photo: David Anstiss via Geograph.org.uk
Folly House Beach Out east on the Isle of Dogs, roughly five miles from the centre, Folly House Beach is a small stretch of Thames foreshore at Cubitt Town near Folly Wall, one that appears only as the tide falls. At low water a compact strip of sand, shingle and river-worn debris is uncovered below the river wall, used for mudlarking and for river views across to the Greenwich Peninsula and the O2.
At high tide it disappears under water. The name comes from the old Folly House, an eighteenth-century riverside building and later a tavern, remembered now in the street name Folly Wall.
FAQs
Where can you go wild swimming in London?
The bathing ponds on Hampstead Heath, about four miles north of central London, are open-air freshwater pools with lifeguards. The Men's and Ladies' ponds swim all year, while the Mixed Pond opens in the warmer months.
Is there really a tiny police station in Trafalgar Square?
There is a small stone post built into a lamp-holder at the corner of Trafalgar Square, often called the smallest police station in the UK. Despite the nickname, it was never truly a police station, with no cells or desk.
Which hidden gardens are worth seeing in London?
The Kyoto Garden in Holland Park is a serene Japanese garden with a koi pond and waterfall, while Hyde Park hides the small Serpentine Waterfall in its leafy Dell, both quiet corners within a few miles of central London.
Conclusion
London keeps its quieter pleasures close to its best-known sights, and this eight proves the point. In the middle you can seek out the stone Smallest Police Station on Trafalgar Square, the underground Churchill War Rooms and the hidden Georgian courtyard of Pickering Place.
West of there, Hyde Park's Serpentine Waterfall, the canals of Little Venice and the serene Kyoto Garden reward a gentle wander. Head north for a bracing dip in the Hampstead bathing ponds, then east to the Isle of Dogs, where Folly House Beach surfaces only at low tide.
Curiosities, gardens, water and wild swimming, all within easy reach: these are the places to visit near London.
