When walking on Regent’s Canal from Kings Cross to Little Venice, you experience London outside of the busy city it’s known for. If you love exploring beautiful nature and escaping the busyness of London, then this self-guided walk will equip you with everything you need to know about walking this section of the Regent’s Canal towpath.
This self-guided walk guide will go through each stretch of Regent’s Canal from Kings Cross to Little Venice, including Camden, Primrose Hill and Regent’s Park. You’ll also find things to do at each of these stops to really explore London’s beautiful nature and culture, which will all be on a saveable map too!
Don’t have time to read everything? Check out the map below! You can save it onto your Google Maps and refer back to it when taking this self-guided walk!
What Is Regent’s Canal?
Regent’s Canal is an 8.6 mile (13.8km) long waterway that runs just north of central London. It was originally built to link the River Thames via Limehouse Basin in east London to the Paddington Arm of the Grand Junction Canal in central London. Today, this canal is a path for everyday Londoners and tourists to have a stroll, run or boat ride!
The idea of Regent’s Canal was first proposed by Thomas Homer in 1802 and later supported and planned by John Nash, an architect who was building Regent’s Park. In 1812, the Regent’s Canal Act was passed and by 1816, the first part of the canal, from Paddington to Camden, was opened and included a 251 metre long tunnel in an area which is now known as Little Venice.
By 1820, the canal was completed and opened at 11 am on August 1st, costing £772,000 to build!
Kings Cross to Little Venice: A Self-Guided Regent’s Canal Walk
As previously mentioned, Regent’s Canal is a long waterway starting at Limehouse Basin. If you fancy the challenge of beginning your walk from there, passing through Mile End, Hackney and Islington then through King’s Cross to Little Venice, then feel free (and good luck)! But this Regent’s Canal walk starts from Kings Cross. This walk is about 2.5 hours more or less, including time to explore each stop mentioned on the journey.
Start at King’s Cross
There’s a good reason why this Regent’s Canal walk starts at King’s Cross. This area has tons of places where you can grab a quick coffee to wake you up or some breakfast (or lunch, depending on the time you start this walk).
King’s Cross is home to Coal Drops Yard, a shopping and dining hotspot. Whether you want a cup of coffee from Caravan or a slightly overpriced but yummy sandwich from Sons + Daughters, this is a great spot to fuel up before starting your journey.
The part of the canal where you’ll start your walk is at the Canalside Green Steps at Granary Square, just around the corner from Coal Drops Yard.
King’s Cross to Camden
Within the first 5 minutes of this walk, you’ll see rowboats docked on the canal as well as huge trees on the opposite side. These trees are part of Camley Street Natural Park, an urban nature reserve run by the London Wildlife Trust.
As you walk further down, you’ll come across St Pancras Lock and St Pancras Basin. At St Pancras Lock, you’ll see a traditional canal lock cottage sitting on an island as well as a water tower from the 1870s behind it, which used to provide water for steam engines.
Overlooking St Pancras Basin is a tall iron frame. King’s Cross’ gasholder frames date back to the 1850s and were used for processing coal to provide gas to parts of London until the late 20th century. In 2011, the frames were taken down and refurbished as part of a new landscape which is now known as Gasholder Park.
You’ll know you’re in Camden when you reach Hawley Lock. If you’re lucky, you might be able to see how the lock operates when a canal boat passes through!
Once you’re at Camden, you’ll have to walk around the market food stalls to reach the towpath again on the other side. But before that, you might as well have something to eat (this is the best, most convenient place to do that, after all) and explore a little bit of Camden!
Things to Do in Camden
The main things to do in Camden are explore Camden Buck Street Market (where the original Camden Market used to be), Camden Lock Market and Camden Stables. You’ll find tons of different shops ranging from vintage thrift stores, anime and manga stores, and jewellery/accessories stalls. Of course, you can’t miss out on the food too!
But there are other things to do in Camden too, such as:
- Grab a coffee at Camden’s best cafes!
- Visiting the iconic EDM shop, Cyperdog (notable by the two 8-foot-tall robot statues at the entrance)
- Seeing the famous Camden street art
- Seeing the Amy Winehouse statue.
Once you’ve explored Camden, head back to the towpath and continue on the next stretch of this canal walk: Camden to Primrose Hill.
Camden to Primrose Hill
This stretch of the Regent’s Canal walk is pretty exciting (for me anyway), mainly because you get to see a really cool floating restaurant and part of ZSL London Zoo!
The floating restaurant is called Feng Shang Princess, located in Cumberland Basin. It’s the first restaurant of its kind in London, serving Chinese cuisine on the river! If you’ve seen The Gentlemen (2019), you may also realise that this part of the Regent’s Canal Towpath was used as a filming location, with Feng Shang Princess in the background! After passing Feng Shang Princess, you’ll soon see a large aviary, signifying ZSL London Zoo. If you take a peak, you might be able to see some exotic birds!
After passing London Zoo, you’ll find a passage on the right, just after Bridge 10, Broad Walk Bridge. Turn right and follow the path onto Prince Albert Road (the opposite way from the bridge), cross the road and you’ll reach Primrose Hill!
Primrose Hill
Primrose Hill Park is where you can get some of the best free views of London! You might recognise Primrose Hill and its iconic city views from TV shows and movies like One Day, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Paddington. And speaking of Paddington, you can also see the filming location of the Brown’s house and neighbourhood on Chalcot Crescent nearby!
Additionally, since The Novelsphere is a travel and literary blog, I couldn’t leave out book shopping at Primrose Hill Books, which is also nearby!
Once you’re done exploring Primrose Hill, head back the same way you came to get on Regent’s Canal Path and continue to the next stretch!
Primrose Hill to Regent’s Park
As you carry on walking along this stretch, look out for Bridge 8. Just before this bridge, you’ll see a path on the right. This will lead you out of the canal where you can walk on said bridge and enter Regent’s Park!
Things to Do in Regent’s Park
Regent’s Park is one of London’s famous Royal Parks, sitting on over 5000 acres of land, which is pretty big! So for this reason, I’ve narrowed down the best areas of Regent’s Park that you should see. Keep walking straight ahead until you reach the Inner Circle and you will find:
- St John’s Lodge Garden – Located north of the Inner Circle, this is a secret public Garden on a private estate. The garden features several benches, beautiful flowers and plants, a fountain with a statue of Hylas, and a sunken lawn overlooked by the villa.
- Queen Mary’s Rose Garden – This garden is London’s largest collection of roses, located in the Inner Circle! It features about 12,000 roses sitting on a total of 85 single beds. It’s absolutely beautiful to see, especially when they’re in full bloom!
- Japanese Garden Island – Similarly to Kyoto Garden in Holland Park, this Japanese Garden Island has a tranquil nature to it, featuring a beautiful waterfall, bridge and Japanese garden lanterns. It’s just a 3 minute walk from Queen Mary’s Rose Garden
Once you’ve explored the best of Regent’s Park, head back to the canal the way you came and continue to the final stretch of the canal!
Regent’s Park to Little Venice
As walk along this section of the towpath, look to the left and you’ll see Hanover Lodge. This is a Grade II listed house that overlooks Regent’s Park designed by John Nash (the same guy mentioned before, who built Regent’s Park and supported the Regent’s Canal idea)!
The coolest part of this Regent’s Canal Walk, in my opinion, is the Lisson Grove Moorings. Walking past them on the towpath is like walking through the coolest yet cutest garden centre. There are rows of pretty flowers on both sides of the towpath and you’ll most likely come across a cat too!
Before you reach Little Venice, you’ll come across Maida Hill Tunnel. You can’t walk through it so you’ll have to go up the stairs, walk down Aberdeen Place and continue through to Blomfield Road and rejoin the towpath after passing the private mooring site.
Continue walking and you’ll reach a basin which is Little Venice, marking the end of this self-guided walk! But I can’t leave it as that without some suggestions for things to do here!
Things to Do in Little Venice
Little Venice (also known as Maida Vale) is a cute little area not too far from Paddington Station. It features some waterside bars, restaurants, a Canal Cafe Theatre and a Puppet Barge! If you’re looking to explore and enjoy more of Little Venice, here’s a list of places to check out:
- Restaurants – Cafe Laville, The Bridge House, The Waterway
- Cafes – Waterside Cafe
After you finish this walk with a lovely coffee or some food, you can always take a boat ride back (taking you as far as Camden) with the London Waterbus Company or Jason’s Trip. Otherwise, enjoy the rest of Little Venice, Paddington and the surrounding London neighbourhoods!
Kings Cross to Little Venice: Final Thoughts
So with that, the Kings Cross to Little Venice Regent’s Canal walk is complete! This walk is lovely to do for Londoners and tourists alike, to see and explore the city’s nature. It’s very easy to do too, with tons of stops where you can choose to explore or skip, depending on how you feel!
Check out more of my London travel guides to help you plan your trip:
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