London’s South Bank

The Houses of Parliament, as seen from the South Bank

The first instinct of many tourists staying in central London hotels is often to head straight for the city’s Underground network when setting out to explore the capital. But while the colourful tangle of ‘tube’ lines and exotic station names (Swiss Cottage, Elephant and Castle, Seven Sisters) is undoubtedly a good way of getting around, it’s easy to forget just how much of the city can also be seen on foot.

Of the many great walks in and around central London, perhaps one of the best, in terms of the sheer number of sights that can be seen in one go, is the South Bank trail.

The South Bank of the River Thames was historically outside the boundaries of the City of London, which meant that lots of activities that were heavily-regulated within the city walls – gambling, drinking, theatre-going and fun-fairs, to name but a few – flourished here. Today the South Bank retains something of that air of artistry and merriment, with some of the biggest and best theatres, cinemas, music venues and art galleries in the country clustered together along the river front.

Start your walk at the Houses of Parliament (Westminster Underground station) and cross the river for a proper view of Big Ben in all of its morning (or evening) glory. Turn left and walk along the Thames Path, past the ever-popular London Eye and on to the The Royal Festival Hall, the National Film Theatre and The National Theatre, impressive but rather brutalist blocks of concrete that grew up in preparation for, and in the aftermath of, the Festival of Britain in 1951.

The London Eye

If you wander out into the middle of Waterloo Bridge, which crosses the Thames right above the National Film Theatre, you’ll be rewarded with some pretty nice views along the river in both directions.

Continuing along the South Bank, you’ll then need to take a brief diversion inland at Blackfriars Bridge (at the time of writing a small section of the Thames Path is closed here because of construction work) before re-emerging by the Tate Modern, a cavernous former power station now converted into Britain’s foremost contemporary art gallery. If you wander inside into the central Turbine Hall (admission free), you’d be very unlucky not to find a huge, often specially-commissioned piece of artwork staring you in the face. Past Turbine Hall exhibits have included a series of giant spider-like sculptures by Louise Bourgeois, a whale-sized elongated tulip/trombone by Anish Kapoor and, most recently, a installation made up of millions of hand-crafted ceramic sunflower seeds by the dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

Stepping back out onto the river bank, you’ll see the slim, elegant figure of the Millennium Bridge jutting out across the river to the North Bank. Now is as good a time as any for some nice mid-river views: if you walk out onto the bridge you’ll see the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral to the north, the top of Norman Foster’s iconic ‘gherkin’ building at 2 o’ clock and, most impressively perhaps, Tower Bridge and the blinking, triangulated summit of the Canary Wharf Tower off in the distance to the east.

The Millennium Bridge and the dome of St. Paul's

Continuing along the South Bank, you’ll soon come to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, a modern reconstruction of the Elizabethan building in which many of the Bard’s plays had their debut. Then, following a twisty, cobbled path under Southwark Bridge and past The Clink Prison Museum, you’ll find yourself by Southwark Cathedral, next to London Bridge.

Southwark Cathedral is, I think you’ll agree when you see it, pretty small as cathedrals go. The building that we see was constructed between the 13^th and 15^th Centuries, but the site has been used for Christian worship since at least the 11^th Century, and this area of the South Bank has a long, continuous history. Very near here, for example, is the site of the tavern from which Chaucer’s pilgrims set off in The Canterbury Tales.

Look skyward and you’ll see the more modern face of the South Bank, in the shape of The Shard, a new glass-fronted residential and commercial building currently under construction. Already dwarfing the surrounding skyline, The Shard is set to become Western Europe’s tallest building and is due for completion in 2012.

Next, follow your nose from the Cathedral to Borough Market next door, one of London’s busiest and, it has to be said, most tourist- and visitor-infested food markets. On sale you’ll find everything from farm-reared ostrich burgers to a nice selection of stinky cheeses. It’s not cheap, and it can be hideously crowded, but the sights and smells are always interesting, and I can recommend the little Lavazza kiosk on Stoney Street for a good Italian-style coffee.

Curries, bunnies and pheasants at Borough Market

If you want to continue the walk, then you’ll need to climb the steps from the Cathedral gardens up to the bridge, cross the road, then go down the steps on the other side to rejoin the river path. From here, it’s around 10 minutes’ walk to Tower Bridge. On the way you’ll pass the ageing hulk of HMS Belfast, a decommissioned Royal Navy cruiser now pressed into service as a floating museum, and the modern, slightly-drunk looking City Hall, seat of the London Assembly.

From Tower Bridge, where traitors’ heads used to be mounted on spikes, you can either walk across to the North Bank and the Tower of London, or head back towards London Bridge and catch a river boat back upstream to Westminster.

For more details on accommodation near Tower Bridge, check Hotelclub.