In this guide
At a glance
- Vibe
- Post-Olympic parkland and one of Europe's largest malls, side by side
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Best day
- Weekdays for the park; weekends are busy at Westfield
- Travel zone
- 2–3
- Walkability
- 4/5
- Typical spend
- ££
Best for
Nearest stations
- StratfordElizabeth lineCentralJubileeDLRLondon OvergroundNational Rail
- Stratford InternationalSoutheastern high speedDLR
- Hackney WickLondon Overground
Stratford was a rail junction and a shopping centre until 2012, when the Olympics rebuilt 560 acres of contaminated industrial land into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Unlike most Olympic sites, it is genuinely used: the pool is a public pool, the stadium is a football ground, the velodrome takes bookings.
It is also one of the best-connected places in London — six lines meet at Stratford, and the Elizabeth line reaches Liverpool Street in nine minutes.
Stratford 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 have children, or you want to swim in an Olympic pool, or you like modern landscape design. The park is free, large, full of waterways, and far less crowded than the royal parks.
Skip it if you want historic London. Almost nothing here predates 2012 and the older parts of Stratford were largely swept away. There is no old street pattern to explore.
Top sights and activities
- Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park — 560 acres, free and open daily. Waterways, wildflower meadows, play areas and the River Lea running through it.
- ArcelorMittal Orbit and The Slide — Anish Kapoor’s 114-metre sculpture, the tallest in Britain, with Carsten Höller’s 178-metre tunnel slide wrapped around it. Forty seconds, and the longest slide in the world. Ticketed, with height limits.
- London Aquatics Centre — Zaha Hadid’s wave-roofed building. You can swim in the Olympic pool for the price of an ordinary session, which is the best-value thing in Stratford.
- London Stadium — Now West Ham’s ground, with tours on non-event days including the pitch and the dressing rooms.
- East Bank — The cultural quarter: V&A East, Sadler’s Wells East, BBC Music and university campuses, opening in stages.
- Lee Valley VeloPark — The Olympic velodrome, open for taster sessions on the boards, plus BMX and mountain bike tracks.
- Hackney Wick and the canal — West across the water. Warehouse studios and canal-side breweries, twenty minutes on foot.
The planted river valley running through the Olympic Park. Most of the park is this rather than the venues. Photo: Peter O’Connor aka anemoneprojectors, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Key streets and micro-districts
The Olympic Park (south)
The busy half, built around the main waterways. The ArcelorMittal Orbit is here — Britain’s tallest sculpture, with the world’s longest tunnel slide wrapped around it — along with the London Stadium, the Aquatics Centre, and East Bank, the new cultural quarter bringing the V&A, Sadler’s Wells and the BBC onto the park.
The Aquatics Centre is open to the public to swim in, in the actual Olympic pool, for the price of an ordinary leisure-centre session.
The park itself is free and always open. The Orbit and the slide are ticketed and seasonal, so check before making the trip for them.
The Olympic Park (north)
Quieter parkland, and the half most visitors never reach. The VeloPark is here — the Olympic velodrome, open for public track sessions and taster rides — along with the Copper Box Arena.
The landscaping is deliberately wilder up here: reedbeds, meadow planting and the River Lea running through rather than the formal lawns to the south.
Free, open at all times, and genuinely quiet on a weekday. It is about twenty minutes’ walk from Stratford station to the northern end, so allow for the distance.
The ArcelorMittal Orbit and the park fountains. The fountains run through the summer and are free.
Westfield Stratford City
Between the station and the park, with around 250 shops — and you have to walk through it to reach the park, which is by design rather than accident.
It is one of the largest shopping centres in Europe, with a cinema, a casino and a bowling alley alongside the retail.
Typically 10am to 9pm, and the Sunday six-hour trading rule applies to the big units. Allow ten minutes to cross it, more at a weekend.
Stratford town centre
East of the station, and the Stratford that existed before 2012 — a covered market, an ordinary high street, and a completely different feel from the park side.
Theatre Royal Stratford East is the anchor: a Victorian producing house on Gerry Raffles Square with a long history of new and community work, and considerably cheaper tickets than the West End.
Five minutes east of the station, and the answer if the park and Westfield have started to feel like an airport.
Hackney Wick
West across the canal, and reached from the park by footbridge in a couple of minutes. Warehouse studios, breweries and taprooms, with painted walls that change constantly.
It is a drinking and wandering destination rather than a sightseeing one, and much of the original studio space has been redeveloped — though enough remains to give it the character.
Best on a summer afternoon, and fairly bleak in the rain. Hackney Wick has its own Overground station if you would rather not walk back through the park.
The velodrome from the 2012 Games. You can book taster sessions and ride the boards yourself. Photo: kevin.gale, CC BY 2.0.
Go deeper
- The best parks and gardens in London — the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is the newest large park in London and the least like the others.
- Shopping in London — where Westfield Stratford City sits against the West End streets and the department stores.
Where to eat and drink
| Spot | Style | Price | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westfield food court | Mixed | ££ | Around 70 options; the practical choice with children |
| Crate Brewery | Brewery and pizza | ££ | Canal-side at Hackney Wick, twenty minutes west |
| The Cow | Pub | ££ | In Westfield but genuinely pub-like, with outdoor seating |
| Stratford covered market | Market stalls | £ | East of the station; cheap and entirely local |
| Barge East | Restaurant on a barge | ££ | A restored Dutch barge moored on the River Lea |
| Hackney Wick canal bars | Various | ££ | Best on a summer afternoon |
See all 8 places to eat and drink in Stratford
Getting there
By Elizabeth line. Nine minutes from Liverpool Street, about eighteen from Bond Street. The fastest way in and fully step-free.
By Tube. The Central and Jubilee lines both serve Stratford, plus the DLR and Overground. Six lines in total.
By high speed. Stratford International connects to St Pancras in seven minutes on Southeastern high speed — though the station is a ten-minute walk from Stratford proper, despite the name.
Walking in. From Stratford station the signed route goes through Westfield. It is unavoidable but well marked; follow signs for the Olympic Park.
How long to spend, and when to go
| If you have | Do this |
|---|---|
| Two hours | The southern park, the Orbit and the waterways |
| Half a day | Add a swim at the Aquatics Centre or a stadium tour |
| A full day | Walk the canal west to Hackney Wick and on to Victoria Park |
Best time: Weekday mornings. The park is quiet and Westfield is bearable. Summer evenings are good for the waterways and the Hackney Wick bars.
Check first: East Bank venues have been opening in stages, and the London Stadium closes to tours on event days.
Map of Stratford
Open the map16 places: 8 places to eat · 6 things to do · 2 places to stay
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Eat & drinkThings to doStay
What's on in Stratford
Limited runs and the annual fixtures. Anything already finished is removed automatically.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.
The Music Is Black: A British Story
Not open yetA flagship show at the brand-new V&A East, telling a specifically British story rather than importing an American music history.
V&A East is at Stratford, not South Kensington - a different building entirely.
Phantom Peak
Not open yetA whole built town with more than twenty parallel storylines running at once - you pick which to follow and cannot see them all in one visit.
OPENS 4 DECEMBER 2026 at Westfield Stratford City. The original Canada Water venue CLOSED on 28 February 2026 after 625 performances - older guides still send people there.
Things to do in Stratford
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.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Free560 acres of the 2012 park with the waterways replanted, the Tumbling Bay playground, and free walking routes between every venue - the rare Olympic site that got a second life.
Free and step-free throughout, which makes it one of the easiest large parks in London with a pushchair. Tumbling Bay Playground is free and excellent.
ArcelorMittal Orbit and the Slide
Anish Kapoor's 114-metre tower, with the world's longest tunnel slide wrapped round it - 178 metres, twelve turns, forty seconds, at up to fifteen miles an hour.
THE SLIDE HAS LIMITS: minimum age 8, minimum height 130cm, maximum weight 130kg, and under-18s need an adult. The viewing platform alone has no such restrictions.
Draughts Stratford
The newer of the two sites, on the Olympic Park by the Aquatics Centre, with the same thousand-game library and rules-explaining staff.
Opened 2025. A cover charge per person to play, on top of food and drink. Good rainy-day answer on the Olympic Park.
Lee Valley VeloPark
Book a taster session and ride the actual Olympic velodrome boards, or take the BMX track, mountain bike trails and road circuit outside it.
Track sessions need booking and a short induction - you cannot just turn up and ride the velodrome. The outdoor trails are far more casual.
London Aquatics Centre
You can swim in the actual Olympic pool, under Zaha Hadid's wave of a roof, for the price of an ordinary council swim.
A public leisure centre, not an attraction - book a lane swim online. The diving pool is separate and usually reserved for clubs.
London Stadium Tour
The dressing rooms, the players' tunnel and the pitchside seats of the stadium that held the 2012 opening ceremony, now West Ham's ground.
Does not run on match days or event days, which is most weekends in season - check the fixture list before booking anything around it.
Rooftop Cinema Club Stratford
Summer onlySister site to the Peckham rooftop screen, on top of a Stratford car park turned street-food and mini-golf deck - same curated seasonal programme, different skyline.
Ticketed, seasonal (summer), sells out for popular titles - check the site for the current programme before travelling.
Hidden Stratford
Free, self-guided and easy to walk past without knowing it's there.
London Aquatics Centre
Filming locationBridget Jones's Baby (2016) - the ante-natal class
Zaha Hadid's wave-roofed Olympic pool, used for the ante-natal swimming scenes. It is one of the few 2012 venues that works better as a building than as a sports facility.
A working public pool - you can swim in it for a standard session fee, which is the best way to see the roof. Stratford or Stratford International, ten minutes' walk.
Where to stay
Superbly connected and much cheaper than Zone 1, with the trade-off of a modern, retail-led setting.
- Stratford and Westfield — Large modern hotels beside the station and the mall.
- Hackney Wick — Warehouse conversions on the canal, quieter and more characterful.
- Shoreditch — Twenty minutes west, with far more to do 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.
Premier Inn London Stratford
££HotelAccessible roomsUnder two hundred metres from Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - the closest hotel to it of any kind, inside the Westfield complex.
KEPT ON MERIT after the 2026-08-20 chains review, on the same basis as County Hall - the proximity to the Olympic Park is a genuine standout, not just cheap-and-present.
Hyatt Regency London Stratford
£££HotelAccessible roomsBuilt into the Westfield Stratford City complex itself, with Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the ArcelorMittal Orbit a short walk away.
The shopping centre is genuinely attached - useful in bad weather, less useful if the point of the trip is not shopping.
Make a day of it
Combine Stratford with
Walking times are from the centre of Stratford. Each of these works as an afternoon once you have finished here.
Hackney
20 min walkWest along the canal through Victoria Park to London Fields and Broadway Market.
Shoreditch
20 min walkWest on the Central line or Overground for markets and street art.
Canary Wharf
15 min walkSouth on the Jubilee line or DLR for the docks and the roof garden.
The City of London
15 min walkWest on the Elizabeth line to Liverpool Street in nine minutes.
Suggested half-day route
- Start: Stratford station. Follow signs through Westfield to the park.
- The Orbit: South into the park for the sculpture, and the slide if you are up for it.
- Aquatics Centre: Next door — swim in the Olympic pool, or just look at the roof.
- The waterways: North-west along the River Lea through the planting.
- Hackney Wick: Cross the canal to the warehouse studios and breweries.
- Finish: Hackney Wick Overground, or walk on to Victoria Park.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Confusing Stratford and Stratford International. They are a ten-minute walk apart and serve different lines. International is domestic high speed, not Eurostar.
- Paying for a view at the Orbit without doing the slide. The slide is what makes the ticket worth it.
- Turning up to swim without checking the timetable. The Aquatics Centre runs club and school sessions that close lanes.
- Trying to avoid Westfield. The signed route from the station goes through it.
- Expecting East Bank to be complete. It has been opening in phases; check individual venues.
- Coming for old London. There is essentially none here.
Common questions
Can you go inside the Olympic venues?
Some of them. The **London Aquatics Centre** is a working public pool — you can swim in the Olympic pool for the price of a normal session. The **Lee Valley VeloPark** offers taster sessions on the Olympic track. The **London Stadium**, now West Ham's ground, runs guided tours on non-event days. The Copper Box Arena hosts community sport.
What is the ArcelorMittal Orbit?
A 114-metre red steel sculpture by Anish Kapoor, and the tallest sculpture in Britain. It has two viewing platforms, and wrapped around it is **The Slide** — a 178-metre tunnel slide by Carsten Höller, the longest in the world, which takes about 40 seconds. Both are ticketed; the slide has height and age restrictions.
Is Westfield Stratford City the biggest mall in Europe?
It was when it opened in 2011 and is still among the largest urban shopping centres in Europe, with around 250 shops. It sits directly between Stratford station and the Olympic Park, so you will almost certainly walk through it whether you intend to or not.
What is East Bank?
A cultural quarter on the Olympic Park bringing together V&A East, Sadler's Wells East, BBC Music studios and campuses for UCL and the London College of Fashion. It has been opening in stages — check what is open before planning a visit around a specific venue.
Is the Olympic Park free to visit?
Yes. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a free public park, open daily, with waterways, play areas, gardens and walking routes throughout. Only the individual attractions — the Orbit, the swimming pool, stadium tours — charge.
