A Stroll Along the South Bank

From Waterloo Station along the river to Shad Thames, across Tower Bridge, and back along the north bank to where it started. Choose a stop on the model or in the list.

A model of central London along the Thames, seen from above the south: the walk runs along the South Bank from Waterloo Station to Tower Bridge and back along the north bank, with twenty-two numbered stops

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Drag to turn and tip, right-drag or Shift-drag to move, scroll to zoom. The arrow keys step through the walk. Drag to turn and tip, two fingers to move and zoom. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Heights of buildings and trees © Environment Agency 2022, under the Open Government Licence.

1 Waterloo Station
Where the walk starts. Out of the station, and follow the signs to the river.
2 Southbank Centre
The Royal Festival Hall, from the 1951 Festival of Britain, and the skaters in the Undercroft beneath Queen Elizabeth Hall.
3 BFI Southbank
The cinema, and the second-hand book tables under Waterloo Bridge.
4 National Theatre
Denys Lasdun’s concrete terraces, from 1976. Loved and hated in about equal measure.
5 Gabriel’s Wharf
A little cluster of shops and cafés right on the river.
6 Oxo Tower Wharf
Look up for the letters O, X, O in the tower’s windows.
7 Tate Modern
The old Bankside Power Station, an art gallery since 2000.
8 Millennium Bridge
The footbridge, with St Paul’s Cathedral straight across. It wobbled when it opened in 2000.
9 Shakespeare’s Globe
A reconstruction of Shakespeare’s theater, open since 1997, a short walk from where the original stood.
10 Golden Hinde
A full-size replica of Sir Francis Drake’s ship, tucked into its own little dock.
11 Southwark Cathedral
One of the oldest churches in London, right next to the market.
12 Borough Market
One of London’s oldest food markets. Come hungry.
13 HMS Belfast
A Second World War cruiser, moored for good as a museum.
14 Tower Bridge
The one everyone pictures. Walk across, or just stand and look.
15 Shad Thames
Old warehouses, cobbles, and walkways overhead. The Design Museum was here until 2016.

Across Tower Bridge, and back along the north bank

16 Tower of London
Nearly a thousand years old, and a fortress, a palace, and a prison in its time. The Crown Jewels are kept here.
17 The Monument
Christopher Wren’s column to the Great Fire of 1666. It is 61 meters tall, and stands 61 meters from where the fire started.
18 St Paul’s Cathedral
Wren again, finished in 1710. Up Peter’s Hill from the river, the dome fills the end of the street.
19 Somerset House
A palace of government offices from the 1770s, around a courtyard that becomes an ice rink in winter.
20 Cleopatra’s Needle
An Egyptian obelisk about 3,500 years old, on the Embankment since 1878. It has nothing to do with Cleopatra.
21 Big Ben
The clock tower of the Houses of Parliament. Big Ben is the bell; the tower is the Elizabeth Tower. Cross Westminster Bridge here.
22 London Eye
A wheel 135 meters tall, turning since 2000. Waterloo Station is a few minutes from here, and the loop is closed.