One of 20 self-guided London walks on this site. See every walk, from the South Bank to Hampstead Heath.
In this guide
Most people do Hampstead Heath as one hill. They come out of Hampstead Heath station, climb Parliament Hill for the view and go home, and never reach the free house full of Old Masters twenty minutes further on, or the second skyline view to the south.
This route joins them up. It starts in Hampstead village, crosses the Heath to Kenwood House, comes down past the bathing ponds to Parliament Hill, and finishes on top of Primrose Hill: ten numbered stops, about 9km and four to five hours with stops. It is hilly, and almost all of it is free.
The trap is the two small houses. Burgh House and Keats House both close on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays, and Keats House shuts for an hour at lunch.
For the rest of the area, see the Hampstead area guide.
💡 The Short Version: Walk it on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Sunday, when every stop is open. Kenwood House is free, opens daily from 10am and holds a Vermeer and a Rembrandt. Parliament Hill, known to some as Kite Hill, has the view that is protected by law. Keats House closes from 1pm to 2pm. Finish on Primrose Hill late in the day, when the skyline has some definition instead of haze.
A quiet pond near North End.
The route
Map of the walk, numbered in walking order
Loading the map…
Open the whole route in Google Maps → — all ten stops in walking order, set to walking directions, which is the version to put on your phone. The Heath’s paths are not signposted, so you will want it.
| # | Stop | Cost | Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flask Walk | Free | Always; the Flask from 11am, Sun from noon |
| 2 | Burgh House | Free | Wed–Fri and Sun, 10am–4pm |
| 3 | The Vale of Health | Free | Always |
| 4 | Kenwood House | Free | Daily from 10am; closes 5pm, 4pm in winter |
| 5 | The Ladies’ Pond and the Highgate ponds | Free to pass; £5 to swim | Swimming daily from 7am |
| 6 | Parliament Hill | Free | Always |
| 7 | The Mixed Pond | Free to pass; £5 to swim | Swimming April–October only |
| 8 | Keats House | Ticketed; garden free | Wed, Thu, Fri and Sun, 11am–1pm and 2–5pm |
| 9 | Regent’s Park Road and Chalcot Square | Free | Always |
| 10 | Primrose Hill | Free | Always, except 10pm–6am Fri–Sun nights in summer |
1. Flask Walk
Hampstead was a spa town, and this narrow passage off the high street is where its well water was bottled and sold in flasks. It is two minutes from Hampstead station, the deepest on the Underground.
The Flask is still here at number 14: a Young’s pub in a Grade II listed building, open 11am to 11pm Monday to Saturday and noon to 10.30pm on Sunday, with food from noon.
2. Burgh House
A Grade I listed Queen Anne house with the Hampstead Museum inside, a minute up from Flask Walk on New End Square. Entry is free.
It opens Wednesday to Friday and Sunday, 10am to 4pm, and is closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays. The café keeps longer hours and does open on Saturdays: 10am to 5pm Wednesday to Friday, 9.30am to 5.30pm at weekends.
Leave along Well Walk, which runs straight to the edge of the Heath.
3. The Vale of Health
The wooded dip below the Vale of Health.
A hamlet with the Heath on every side, reached by a single lane off East Heath Road. It began in 1714, when a harness maker called Samuel Hatch built a workshop here, and the spot became known as Hatch’s, or Hatchett’s, Bottom. The name Vale of Health was recorded in 1801, in what might be London’s most successful piece of rebranding.
From here to Kenwood is the longest stretch of open Heath on the route, about 1.7km and uphill most of the way. Hampstead Heath covers 320 hectares, and it is easy to get turned around in.
4. Kenwood House
A stately home that costs nothing to walk into. Robert Adam remodelled it in the 1760s and 1770s, and it holds the collection Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, left to the nation in 1927: 63 paintings to start with, including Vermeer’s The Guitar Player and Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait with Two Circles, alongside Gainsborough, Turner and Constable.
It opens every day except 24 to 26 December. The house runs from 10am to 5pm, or 4pm in winter. The grounds open at 7am, and the café at 9am, closing between 4pm and 6pm depending on the season.
You can book a free ticket online until 8.45am on the day; after that there are walk-up tickets, subject to availability. Some exhibitions charge.
5. The Ladies’ Pond and the Highgate ponds
South-east from Kenwood, the Heath drops to a chain of ponds along its eastern edge. Kenwood Ladies’ Pond comes first, for women only, and further down is Highgate Men’s Pond.
One of the Heath’s bathing ponds.
Both are natural, unheated and open all year from 7am. A swim is £5, or £3 for concessions and under-16s. Closing time follows the daylight: last entry ranges from 8.15pm in high summer to 2pm in November. From late May to early September some sessions have to be booked in advance.
Walking past them costs nothing.
6. Parliament Hill
The view this whole walk is built around. The hill is 98 metres high, and its highest part is known to some as Kite Hill, for the obvious reason. From the top the panorama takes in Canary Wharf, the City and St Paul’s Cathedral in one sweep.
The view is protected by law, so nothing can be built tall enough in between to block it. It is one of very few London skylines that cannot be developed away. The hill is free and never closes.
On a warm weekend it fills with picnickers and kite-flyers. Early morning is emptier, and the view has more definition then too.
7. The Mixed Pond
Down the west side of Parliament Hill, the Hampstead Mixed Pond is the only one of the three that anyone can swim in. It opens from April to October only, and costs £5, the same as the others.
Follow the ponds south to the edge of the Heath, and Keats Grove is a couple of minutes further.
8. Keats House
The Regency villa where John Keats lived, and in whose garden he wrote Ode to a Nightingale.
It opens Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, 11am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm, so it is closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays and over lunch. There is no need to book: tickets are sold at the door, by card only, and admission is free if you are 18 or under. Volunteers give free 30-minute tours of the ground floor on most Thursday, Friday and Sunday afternoons at about 2.15pm.
The garden is free, whether or not you go in.
The next leg is the longest, about 2.4km without a stop: from South End Green down through Belsize Park to Chalk Farm, then over the railway onto Regent’s Park Road. Belsize Park station is on the way if you want to stop here.
9. Regent’s Park Road and Chalcot Square
Primrose Hill’s village street, with independent shops and cafés at the foot of the hill. Lemonia at number 89 is a family-run Greek restaurant that has been here since 1979.
Two plaques are a minute apart. Friedrich Engels lived at 122 Regent’s Park Road and Sylvia Plath at 3 Chalcot Square, a few steps off it. Both are in our guide to London’s blue plaques. They are private homes, so look from the pavement.
10. Primrose Hill
The second view, and the finish. At 64 metres Primrose Hill is lower than Parliament Hill, but it is a different view rather than a repeat: central London straight ahead, Hampstead and Belsize Park behind you, and a William Blake quotation engraved in the paving at the summit.
The Royal Parks keep it open 24 hours on weekdays. From 3 April to 8 November it is locked from 10pm to 6am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
It is at its best at golden hour. Regent’s Park is across Prince Albert Road at the bottom if you want to keep walking.
Where to eat
- The Flask (££) at stop 1. Food from noon every day, until 9.30pm (9pm on Sundays). Better as a finish than a start, but it is the one proper pub on the route.
- Kenwood’s café (£) at stop 4. Open from 9am every day, and it comes at the right point for lunch.
- Burgh House café (£) at stop 2. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
- Lemonia (££) at stop 9. Lunch until 3.30pm last orders and dinner from 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday; Sunday is lunch only, last orders 4pm.
For more, see the Hampstead area guide and the Camden area guide, which covers Primrose Hill village.
The best day to go
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Sunday, when everything is open.
| Day | What you get |
|---|---|
| Wed–Fri | Everything open, and the quietest Heath. The best days |
| Sunday | Everything open, Keats House’s tour included, but both hills are busy |
| Saturday | Burgh House and Keats House closed. Burgh House café still open |
| Mon–Tue | Burgh House, its café and Keats House all closed. Kenwood and the Heath as normal |
What closes: Burgh House on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays, and its café on Mondays and Tuesdays. Keats House on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays, and from 1pm to 2pm on the days it opens. The Mixed Pond from November to March. Primrose Hill at 10pm on summer Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Kenwood only from 24 to 26 December. Lemonia on Sunday evenings.
What does not care what day it is: the Heath, the Vale of Health, Parliament Hill, Kenwood, the Ladies’ and Men’s ponds and Primrose Hill by day, which make up most of the walk.
The case for a Thursday or Friday: every door is open, the Keats House tour runs, the Heath is close to empty, and you will get a walk-up ticket at Kenwood without trying.
On time of day: start at 10am. You reach Burgh House as it opens, Kenwood late in the morning in time for lunch at its café, Keats House after it reopens at 2pm, and Primrose Hill in the late afternoon. In winter Kenwood shuts at 4pm and the Heath gets dark early, so aim to be past Parliament Hill before dusk.
Getting there and back
Start: Hampstead (Northern line), two minutes from Flask Walk. It is the deepest station on the Underground and runs on lifts, so allow a few minutes.
Finish: Chalk Farm (Northern line), at the far end of Regent’s Park Road from the hill.
Cutting it short: Hampstead Heath (Overground) is 250 metres from Keats House and close to the foot of Parliament Hill, so you can end there after stop 8 and skip the long leg. Belsize Park (Northern line) is on the way between stops 8 and 9.
Walked the other way, it works, but you finish with a climb up to Hampstead rather than on a view.
Carry on walking
- Baker Street to Marylebone through Regent’s Park — Regent’s Park is across the road from Primrose Hill.
- King’s Cross to Camden along the canal — ends at Camden Market, a short walk from Primrose Hill.
What to do with the rest of the day
- The Hampstead area guide: Church Row, the Spaniards Inn and the Hill Garden and Pergola, which this route skips.
- The Camden area guide: the markets and the canal, down the hill from Primrose Hill.
- King’s Cross to Camden by canal: ends at Camden, so walk it back towards King’s Cross.
- The best views in London: Parliament Hill and Primrose Hill against the rest.
- Historic houses in London: Kenwood and the others worth the trip.
- The best parks and gardens in London: where the Heath sits against the royal parks.
Common questions
How long does the Hampstead Heath to Primrose Hill walk take?
About 9km, which is two hours of walking. With stops it takes four to five hours. It is hilly, which is unusual for a London walk: up to Kenwood, up Parliament Hill, and up again at the end to the top of Primrose Hill.
Is Kenwood House free to visit?
Yes. English Heritage runs it free, paintings included, and they include Vermeer's The Guitar Player and Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with Two Circles. You can book a free ticket online until 8.45am on the day; after that there are walk-up tickets, subject to availability. It opens every day except 24 to 26 December, from 10am.
What is Kite Hill?
The name some people give the highest part of Parliament Hill, 98 metres up on the south-east side of Hampstead Heath, because it is where the kites go up. The view from Parliament Hill over the City and St Paul's is protected by law, so nothing can be built to block it.
What is the best day for the Hampstead Heath walk?
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Sunday. Burgh House and Keats House both close on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays. Kenwood House, the Heath and Primrose Hill are open every day.
Can you swim in the ponds on the walk?
Yes. The route passes the Ladies' Pond and the Men's Pond, which open year-round from 7am, and the Mixed Pond, which opens April to October only. A swim costs £5, or £3 for concessions and under-16s. From late May to early September some sessions have to be booked in advance.
Is Hampstead Heath free?
Yes. The Heath, Parliament Hill and Primrose Hill are all free. The Heath is run by the City of London Corporation and Primrose Hill by the Royal Parks, which locks it from 10pm to 6am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in summer. Kenwood House and Burgh House are free to enter; Keats House charges.
