In this guide
At a glance
- Vibe
- A hilltop village with 800 acres of half-wild heath behind it
- Time needed
- A full day
- Best day
- Any day; the Heath is best on a clear morning
- Travel zone
- 2–3
- Walkability
- 3/5
- Typical spend
- ££
Best for
Nearest stations
- HampsteadNorthern
- Hampstead HeathLondon Overground
- Golders GreenNorthern
Hampstead is a hilltop village that London grew around without ever quite absorbing. It has Georgian lanes too narrow for buses, a pub the highwayman Dick Turpin is supposed to have used, and behind it 800 acres of half-wild heath — three times the size of Hyde Park.
It also has a free house full of Old Masters, and three ponds you can legally swim in year-round.
Hampstead has its own share of the commemorative plaques marking where notable people lived or worked - see them on our interactive map.
Why visit — and who should skip it
Come here if you want a day outdoors that still feels like London. The Heath is the best walking in the city, Parliament Hill has a legally protected view over the whole skyline, and Kenwood House at the top is free and holds a Rembrandt and a Vermeer.
Skip it if you have three days in London. Hampstead is Zone 2–3 and takes most of a day to do properly. It is also genuinely hilly — the walkability rating here is lower than anywhere else in this guide for a reason.
Top sights and activities
- Hampstead Heath — 800 acres of woodland, meadow and pond, deliberately left semi-wild. Easy to get lost in.
- Parliament Hill — The protected view south over the City, the Shard and St Paul’s. A short but real climb.
- Kenwood House — Free. A Robert Adam interior and a collection including a Rembrandt self-portrait, a Vermeer, Gainsboroughs and a Turner. The grounds run down to a lake.
- The bathing ponds — Men’s, Ladies’ and Mixed, all lifeguarded and open year-round. Small charge. Unheated and properly cold in winter.
- Hampstead village — Georgian lanes off the high street: Flask Walk, Well Walk, Church Row. Narrow, quiet and largely unchanged.
- The Spaniards Inn — A 1585 coaching inn on the Heath’s northern edge, associated with Dick Turpin and mentioned in Dracula. Big garden.
- Keats House — The Hampstead villa where Keats wrote Ode to a Nightingale. Small, ticketed and quiet.
The Hill Garden and Pergola, built as a private Edwardian folly and now free to walk. Most visitors to the Heath never find it.
Key streets and micro-districts
Hampstead village and the high street
Around the Northern line station, and genuinely village-like in a way almost nowhere else this close to central London manages — independent shops, cafés and bookshops rather than chains, on streets that predate the grid.
Hampstead is the deepest station on the Underground, 58 metres down, with the longest lift shaft on the network. Take the lift; the 320-step emergency staircase is not a shortcut.
The high street is steep. Everything runs downhill from the station towards the Heath, which is easy on the way there and less so coming back.
Flask Walk and Well Walk
Narrow Georgian passages running east off the high street, and the prettiest short walk in Hampstead — a covered alley of shopfronts that opens into a lane of eighteenth-century houses.
The names are literal: Hampstead was a spa town, and these streets are where the chalybeate well water was bottled and sold in flasks. The Flask pub is still at the top.
Two minutes end to end, and the natural route from the station down towards the Heath rather than taking the main road.
Parliament Hill and the south Heath
The south-east corner, and the part of the Heath most people mean. The view from the top is one of London’s protected vistas — St Paul’s and the City are legally guaranteed to stay visible, so nothing can be built into it.
The bathing ponds are here, open year-round: separate men’s and women’s ponds and a mixed one, plus the lido, which is a chlorinated 60-metre pool rather than a pond.
Hampstead Heath Overground is the closest station, five minutes from the foot of the hill, and considerably easier than walking down from Hampstead village and back up.
Kenwood and the north Heath
The top of the Heath, and the quieter half. Kenwood House is free — a Robert Adam villa holding a serious art collection, including a Rembrandt self-portrait and a Vermeer, which is an extraordinary thing to walk into without paying.
The lake below it has a concert bowl used for summer performances, and the Spaniards Inn sits just beyond the northern edge, a coaching inn of 1585 with a toll house still narrowing the road outside.
Free and open daily, but it is a twenty-five-minute walk uphill from Hampstead station — allow for it, or take a bus along Spaniards Road.
Church Row
A single street of unbroken early-Georgian terrace, generally reckoned the finest in London outside Bloomsbury — built in the 1710s and almost unaltered since, with the original ironwork and door cases intact.
St John-at-Hampstead stands at the western end, and its churchyard holds John Constable, among others.
It takes five minutes and costs nothing, and it is a minute from the high street — the single best thing to do in Hampstead if you only have a short time and do not want the Heath.
One of Hampstead’s Georgian terraces — this is the general character of the village’s back streets, not only Church Row itself.
The Vale of Health
A genuine hamlet marooned inside the Heath itself, near North End — a handful of ivy-covered cottages down a single lane, easy to walk past without noticing the turning.
One of the Vale of Health’s cottages. D.H. Lawrence lived here in 1915, at 1 Byron Villas — reportedly the only London address he ever called home.
The pergola walkway. It is at its best in late spring when the wisteria is out.
Go deeper
- The Hampstead Heath and Primrose Hill walk — the Heath end to end, with Parliament Hill, the ponds and the route down to Primrose Hill.
- The best parks and gardens in London — where the Heath sits against the royal parks, and why it feels nothing like them.
Where to eat and drink
| Spot | Style | Price | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Holly Bush | Historic pub | ££ | 18th-century, gas-lit, up an alley off Heath Street |
| The Spaniards Inn | Historic pub | ££ | 1585 coaching inn with a large garden on the Heath edge |
| Kenwood House Kitchen | Cafe | £ | In the old brew house; terrace over the grounds |
| Ginger & White | Cafe | £ | Small, good coffee, popular with locals |
| Parliament Hill Cafe | Park cafe | £ | At the foot of the hill, useful before or after the climb |
| The Wells Tavern | Gastropub | ££ | Between the village and the Heath |
One of the Heath’s bathing ponds. They are open year-round, and there are separate men’s, ladies’ and mixed ponds.
See all 10 places to eat and drink in Hampstead
Getting there
By Tube. Hampstead on the Northern line serves the village. It is the deepest station on the Underground at 58.5 metres, served by lifts rather than escalators — allow a few extra minutes.
By Overground. Hampstead Heath puts you at the south-east corner, closest to Parliament Hill and the ponds. This is the better choice if the Heath is your main target.
Best approach. Arrive at Hampstead Heath Overground, walk up Parliament Hill for the view, cross the Heath north to Kenwood, then down into the village and out via the Northern line. That way the climbing is front-loaded.
The Heath is 790 acres and genuinely easy to get lost in, which is the point.
How long to spend, and when to go
| If you have | Do this |
|---|---|
| Two hours | Parliament Hill and the south Heath |
| Half a day | Add Kenwood House and the walk across |
| A full day | Add the village, Keats House and a pub on the Heath edge |
Best time: A clear morning, for the view. Autumn for the colour across the Heath.
Note: The Heath is unlit and genuinely dark after sunset. Plan to be off it by dusk.
Map of Hampstead
Open the map20 places: 10 places to eat · 3 things to do · 5 hidden spots · 2 places to stay
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Eat & drinkThings to doHidden LondonStay
Things to do in Hampstead
Beyond eating and drinking. Free things are listed first.Links marked ad are affiliate links. If you book through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects what goes on this list.
Hampstead Heath
FreeSeven hundred and ninety acres left deliberately wild, with Parliament Hill giving one of London's protected views - and unlike the royal parks, it feels like countryside.
Free and open at all hours. It is genuinely easy to get lost - the paths are unsigned and the Heath is not laid out on a grid like a royal park.
Kenwood House
FreeRobert Adam's library, and the Iveagh Bequest hanging in it - a Rembrandt self-portrait, a Vermeer and a Gainsborough - all of it free.
FREE, which almost nobody expects of a house with those paintings in it. On the northern edge of the Heath, about twenty-five minutes uphill from Hampstead station.
Highgate Cemetery
Overgrown Victorian funerary architecture at its most theatrical - the Egyptian Avenue and the Circle of Lebanon on the West side, Marx and George Eliot on the East.
Ticketed, and the WEST side is by guided tour only - the Egyptian Avenue is on that side, so a ticket for the East side alone does not get you to the famous part.
The Hampstead Bathing Ponds
16+Three lifeguarded natural ponds on the Heath - Men's, Ladies' and Mixed - open 365 days a year, including when there is ice on them.
A small charge, and MINIMUM AGE 16 at the Men's and Ladies' ponds - under-16s are not admitted even with an adult. Unheated: winter water is close to freezing.
Hidden Hampstead
Free, self-guided and easy to walk past without knowing it's there.
Bohemian Rhapsody's Rehearsal Studio (Air Studios)
Filming locationBohemian Rhapsody (2018) - the band rehearsing before Live Aid
A genuine working recording studio, converted from a church, used for the film's rehearsal scenes - Air Studios has recorded film scores and major albums for decades, film connection aside.
A working commercial recording studio - not open to casual visitors, viewable from the street only.
Jim Henson's Hampstead Home
Blue plaqueJim Henson (1936–1990), creator of the Muppets
One of English Heritage's newest plaques (2021) - a genuinely unexpected name to find on a Hampstead street among the poets and psychoanalysts.
A private residential building - viewable from the street only.
Keats House
Blue plaqueJohn Keats (1795–1821), Romantic poet
The oldest-issued plaque of this batch (1896) - Keats wrote Ode to a Nightingale reputedly under a plum tree in this garden. Now a small paid museum.
Keats House is a paid museum with set opening hours, not just a street plaque.
Kenwood House
Filming locationNotting Hill (1999) - the period film shoot William walks into
The stately home where William blunders onto the set of Anna's costume drama and overhears her dismiss him through a headset. The house is genuinely free to enter and holds a Rembrandt self-portrait and a Vermeer.
Free entry to house and grounds, 10am to 5pm with last entry 4.30pm. Gospel Oak or Hampstead Heath by rail, or the 210 bus. The viewing gazebo in the grounds is one of London's best free panoramas.
Richard Burton's Hampstead Home
Blue plaqueRichard Burton (1925–1984), actor
A relatively recent plaque (2011) for one of the best-known screen and stage actors of the 20th century.
A private residential building - viewable from the street only.
Sigmund Freud's Final Home
Blue plaqueSigmund Freud (1856–1939), founder of psychoanalysis
Freud fled Vienna for this house in 1938 and lived here until his death the following year - now the Freud Museum, with his original consulting couch preserved inside.
The Freud Museum is a paid museum with set opening hours, not just a street plaque.
Where to stay
Quiet, green and expensive, with a slow commute into the centre — a good base for a longer trip.
- Hampstead village — A few small hotels and inns. Charming and pricey.
- Belsize Park and Swiss Cottage — One or two stops south on the Northern and Jubilee lines, cheaper and better connected.
- Camden — Twenty-five minutes south, much cheaper, and lively in the evening.
Cheapest first. Prices are a typical starting rate per night, not a quote.Links marked ad are affiliate links. If you book through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects what goes on this list.
La Gaffe
££BoutiqueBreakfast includedA small family-run hotel and Italian restaurant on the site of an 18th-century shepherd's cottage, five minutes' walk from the Heath.
Small and genuinely family-run rather than corporate, which is rare in this price band this close to the Heath. No lift; check room location if stairs are a problem.
NOX Hotels Belsize Park
££BoutiqueA converted pub in Belsize Park, walkable to both the Heath and Primrose Hill and handy for the Belsize Park Northern line stop.
Rooms retain some of the building's pub-era character rather than a stripped, corporate refit - worth knowing if that appeals or does not.
Make a day of it
Combine Hampstead with
Walking times are from the centre of Hampstead. Each of these works as an afternoon once you have finished here.
Camden
25 min walkSouth on the Northern line for the markets, the canal and Primrose Hill.
Islington
30 min walkSouth-east for Upper Street's restaurants and Camden Passage.
King's Cross
25 min walkSouth for Coal Drops Yard, the British Library and the Eurostar.
Highgate
40 min walkAcross the Heath on foot for Highgate Cemetery and another village high street.
Suggested full-day route
- Start: Hampstead Heath Overground.
- Parliament Hill: Up for the protected view over the City.
- The ponds: North past the bathing ponds — swim if you have brought a towel.
- Kenwood House: Across the Heath to the free collection and the lake.
- The Spaniards Inn: North-west for a drink in the garden.
- Finish: South into Hampstead village for Flask Walk and Church Row, then the Northern line.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Using the wrong station. Hampstead for the village, Hampstead Heath for Parliament Hill and the ponds.
- Underestimating the hills. This is the steepest area in this guide. Wear proper shoes.
- Missing Kenwood House. Free, and holds a Rembrandt and a Vermeer.
- Turning up to swim without checking. The ponds charge, and the Mixed Pond fills up in summer.
- Staying on the Heath after dark. It is unlit and easy to get lost in.
- Trying to combine it with central sightseeing. Hampstead needs most of a day on its own.
Common questions
Can you swim in the Hampstead Heath ponds?
Yes. There are three: the Men's Pond, the Ladies' Pond and the Mixed Pond. All are open year-round, including winter, and all are lifeguarded. There is a charge, and in summer the Mixed Pond in particular can reach capacity by late morning. The water is natural, unheated and genuinely cold — around 4°C in winter.
Is Kenwood House free?
Yes. The house and its art collection are free to enter, as are the grounds. The collection includes a Rembrandt self-portrait, a Vermeer, Gainsboroughs and a Turner — an extraordinary set for a free house on the edge of a park. It is run by English Heritage and closes on some days, so check before travelling.
What is the view from Parliament Hill?
A protected panorama south across the whole of London — the City cluster, the Shard, St Paul's, the Eye. It is one of a small number of legally protected sightlines in London, meaning buildings cannot be put up to block it. The hill is a short but real climb from the south side of the Heath.
How big is Hampstead Heath?
About 800 acres — roughly three times Hyde Park — and much of it is deliberately left semi-wild rather than landscaped. It contains woodland, meadows, 25 ponds, a lido and Kenwood House. It is easy to get genuinely lost in, and that is much of the appeal.
Which station should I use for Hampstead Heath?
Depends where you are going. **Hampstead Heath** on the Overground puts you at the south-east corner, closest to Parliament Hill and the swimming ponds. **Hampstead** on the Northern line puts you in the village, on the west side. Hampstead is also the deepest station on the Underground at 58.5 metres, with lifts rather than escalators — allow time.
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