London · self-guided walk

Westminster to St Paul's

The most rewarding 90 minutes in central London, tracing the ceremonial spine from Westminster Abbey along Whitehall and the Strand to Wren's great dome at St Paul's.

10 stops · 3.5 km · about 90 min

Distance is measured in straight lines between the stops, so the streets add a little. Time is our curators' estimate, stops included.

The stops

The short version of each stop. In aiGuide, open London, choose “Westminster to St Paul's” and tap Begin walking tour; then lock your phone, and each story starts as you reach the stop.

1. 1Westminster Abbey

   Medieval to modern, 1065-present

   

   You're standing before Westminster Abbey, the great Gothic church where every English coronation since 1066 has taken place. Look up at the soaring 101-foot nave, then think of the 3,300 people buried inside, from Geoffrey Chaucer and Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking. Sixteen royal weddings have unfolded behind those doors.

   • Forty English and British monarchs crowned here since 1066
   • Rebuilt in Gothic style by Henry III from 1245

   Open in OpenStreetMapWikidata record

2. 2Palace of Westminster

   Medieval to Victorian Gothic Revival, 1097-1876

   

   You're looking at the Palace of Westminster, home of the House of Commons and House of Lords. Behind that intricate Gothic Revival facade lie 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases, and three miles of passageways. Charles Barry won the rebuilding competition after fire gutted the medieval palace in 1834. Only Westminster Hall survived.

   • Rebuilt by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin from 1840
   • Contains over 1,100 rooms and three miles of passageways

   Open in OpenStreetMapWikidata record

3. 3Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower)

   Victorian Gothic Revival, 1843-1859

   

   You're at the foot of Elizabeth Tower, better known as Big Ben after the great bell that booms inside. Look up 96 metres to four clock faces, each seven metres across. The bell weighs 13.5 tonnes and first chimed in July 1859. The tower was renamed in 2012 for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.

   • Tower stands 96 metres tall, completed 31 May 1859
   • Great Bell weighs 13.5 long tons, first rang July 1859

   Open in OpenStreetMap

4. 4The Cenotaph, Whitehall

   Inter-war, 1919-1920

   

   You're at the Cenotaph, Britain's national war memorial, unveiled by George V on Armistice Day 1920. Edwin Lutyens cut every face with subtle entasis: the apparently vertical surfaces would meet 1,000 feet above your head. The inscription, THE GLORIOUS DEAD, was chosen by Rudyard Kipling. Wreaths arrive every Remembrance Sunday.

   • Unveiled by King George V on 11 November 1920
   • Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in Portland stone

   Open in OpenStreetMapWikidata record

5. 5Banqueting House, Whitehall

   Stuart Palladian, 1619-1649

   

   You're outside Banqueting House, Inigo Jones's revolutionary 1622 building that introduced pure Palladian classicism to England. Step inside and look up: nine vast ceiling canvases by Peter Paul Rubens, installed in 1636, glorify James I. From a first-floor window here, Charles I stepped onto the scaffold and was beheaded on 30 January 1649.

   • Designed by Inigo Jones, completed 1622 for 15,618 pounds
   • Main hall is a perfect double cube, 110 by 55 feet

   Open in OpenStreetMapWikidata record

6. 6Trafalgar Square

   Early Victorian, 1820s-1840s

   

   You're in Trafalgar Square, opened to the public on 1 May 1844 and designed by Charles Barry to celebrate Nelson's naval victory of 21 October 1805. Look around: Edwin Landseer's four bronze lions, Edwin Lutyens' fountains from the 1930s, and the National Gallery filling the north side. The Fourth Plinth still rotates contemporary art.

   • Opened to public on 1 May 1844, laid out by Charles Barry
   • Commemorates Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805

   Open in OpenStreetMapWikidata record

7. 7St Martin-in-the-Fields

   Georgian, 1722-1726

   

   You stand before James Gibbs's most copied church. Built 1722-1726 with its Corinthian portico and elegant steeple, it became the template for Anglican churches across America. Step inside for daily candlelit concerts, or descend to the crypt cafe where you walk over 18th-century gravestones. The parish has fed London's homeless since 1948.

   • Present church built 1722-1726 by James Gibbs in Portland stone
   • Design copied by colonial American churches from Charleston to New York

   Open in OpenStreetMapWikidata record

8. 8Somerset House

   Georgian neoclassical, 1776-1801

   

   You're inside London's first purpose-built government office complex, a 1796 neoclassical quadrangle commissioned by George III. Walk into the central courtyard where fifty-five fountain jets dance in summer and become a frozen ice rink each winter, fringed by Sir William Chambers's Portland-stone facades and the Strand-front river terrace.

   • Designed by Sir William Chambers, built 1776-1796
   • Replaced Tudor palace of Lord Protector Somerset of 1547

   Open in OpenStreetMapWikidata record

9. 9Royal Courts of Justice

   Victorian Gothic, 1873-1882

   

   You're standing before a Victorian Gothic cathedral of justice. Architect G. E. Street designed every detail before dying in 1881, exhausted by the project. Queen Victoria opened the building in December 1882, and behind the spiky Portland-stone facade lie eighty-eight courtrooms, three and a half miles of corridors, and a 238-foot vaulted main hall.

   • Designed by George Edmund Street, opened by Queen Victoria 1882
   • Street died December 1881 before completion, reportedly from overwork

   Open in OpenStreetMapWikidata record

10. 10St Paul's Cathedral

    English Baroque, 1675-1710

    

    You crane your neck at the second-largest church dome in the world. Christopher Wren spent 35 years rebuilding St Paul's after the Great Fire of 1666 swallowed its medieval predecessor. Climb 528 steps to the Golden Gallery for a panoramic City view, or test the Whispering Gallery's acoustics 30 metres up under the dome.

    • Designed by Sir Christopher Wren, built 1675-1710
    • Dome rises 111 metres; second-largest church dome worldwide

    Open in OpenStreetMapWikidata record

More walks in London

All of London: must-see places and FAQOther cities