Best Places to See Autumn Foliage in London
Updated: 1 day ago
London is a city of about eight and a half million trees, and for three weeks a year it stops pretending otherwise. This is where I go to see them turn, park by park, with a note on when each one actually peaks.
If you only have one afternoon, make it Hampstead Heath. If you only have one hour, make it Kynance Mews.
When Do London's Leaves Actually Turn?
In most years the colour peaks between mid-October and the first week of November, though the season is longer than that suggests because different trees go at different times. Horse chestnuts and limes start early and can be bare by the end of October. Beech and maple hold the middle of the season. London planes and oaks are the stragglers, often still turning in early November, which is why the riverside walks stay good after the parks have dropped.
A wet, windy week will strip a park in days, so if you see a forecast of still, cold, bright weather in the second half of October, go then.
Where's the Best Autumn Colour in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens?
Henry VIII took this land from Westminster Abbey in 1536 and enclosed it as a deer park, and the 350 acres have been public for long enough that the trees are properly mature. Plane and sweet chestnut above all, with limes and maples filling in. The Italian Gardens at the Lancaster Gate end are the set piece, and the slope above them collects a deep carpet of beech leaves.
For a different angle, take a pedal boat out on the Serpentine while the water is still flat. Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Lancaster Gate and Knightsbridge are all a short walk away.
Is Regent's Park Worth It for Autumn Leaves?
Yes, and for a reason the other parks can't match. The Avenue Gardens keep their formal bedding going well into the season, so you get hot pinks and reds at ground level under trees that have gone gold. Queen Mary's Gardens holds a few late roses among the maples and horse chestnuts. The Boating Lake is the quiet end, and the Japanese maples are worth hunting for.
Frieze Sculpture runs in the English Gardens each September and October, and it is free. If your visit lands during it, the combination of contemporary sculpture and turning trees is the best free hour in the park.
Why Does Kynance Mews Turn Red in Autumn?
Because what covers those walls is Virginia creeper, not ivy. Ivy is evergreen and stays green all winter; Virginia creeper is deciduous, and it goes scarlet before it drops. The stone arch at the Gloucester Road end is the picture everyone comes for, and it is worth arriving early. Both for the low light down the cobbles and because this is a street where people live. Go in the last week of October and the arch is usually at its reddest.
Where's the Best Autumn Walk on Hampstead Heath?
Start at the Hill Garden and Pergola on the West Heath. Lord Leverhulme commissioned it and Thomas Mawson began laying it out in 1906 as a raised garden walk beside his house. It is free, open in daylight hours, and in late October the creeper along the stonework turns the whole colonnade rust-red.
From there the Heath is yours: up to Parliament Hill for the view back over the city, across to the ponds, or north to Kenwood House, which is also free. This is the wild end of London autumn — ancient woodland and rough grass rather than bedding schemes — and it is the one walk I'd choose over all the others.
What's Greenwich Park Like in Autumn?
Charles II had André Le Nôtre design the avenues here in the 1660s, and that formal layout is still the shape of the park, which means the autumn colour arrives in straight lines. The climb to the Royal Observatory gives you turning trees in the foreground and the river, Canary Wharf and the whole east of the city behind them. The Flower Garden at the Blackheath end holds colour late. Entry to the park is free, and the Prime Meridian line is a two-minute detour once you're up the hill.
Is Little Venice Good in Autumn?
It is the easiest good walk on this list — ten minutes from Paddington, flat, and short. The trees along the canal drop their leaves straight onto the water, so you get the colour twice, once overhead and once in the reflection between the moored narrowboats. Walk the towpath towards Camden if you want to keep going; stop at one of the canalside cafes if you don't.
Where Are the Best Autumn Views in Richmond?
From the station, walk down to the river by way of Richmond Green, then follow the towpath south and climb into Terrace Gardens. The view from Richmond Hill over the bend in the Thames is protected by its own Act of Parliament, the Richmond, Petersham and Ham Open Spaces Act of 1902. And in late October it is worth the hill. Richmond Park is a bus ride further on, and if you are coming back in spring, Isabella Plantation inside the park is the other end of the same year.
Is Kew Gardens Worth the Ticket in Autumn?
Kew is the one place on this list that charges admission, and autumn is the season that most justifies it, because the collection is planted for succession. Dahlias, asters and chrysanthemums still going at ground level while the acers and liquidambars turn overhead. The Japanese Landscape around the Chokushi-Mon gateway is the single best corner for maples. There is more on that part of the gardens in Discover Japan at Kew Gardens.
Where Are the Japanese Maples in Holland Park?
In the Kyoto Garden, at the top of the park. It opened on 17 September 1991, designed by Shoji Nakahara and given by the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce ahead of the 1992 Japan Festival. And it is built around a tiered waterfall, a koi pond, stone lanterns and a stand of Japanese maples that turn a red nothing else in London matches. It is free, it is small, and it gets busy by mid-morning at the weekend, so go early.
Where Is the Classic Bridge at Chiswick House?
It crosses the lake in Chiswick House Gardens, a few minutes' walk from Chiswick station. James Wyatt designed it and it was built in 1774 for Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Which makes it one of the prettiest things to point a camera at in west London once the trees around the water turn. The gardens are free and open daily from 7am, so this is the easiest sunrise on the list; the house itself is ticketed and keeps shorter hours.
Which Trees Line the South Bank?
London planes — the whole run from the London Eye down to the Oxo Tower, planted in the years after the Festival of Britain in 1951. Planes turn late and hold on, so the Queen's Walk is reliably good in the first week of November when the parks have already gone over. Come after rain: the pavement goes black and the reflections do half the work.
What's Worth Seeing at Gunnersbury Park in Autumn?
The Temple on the Round Pond. It is an eighteenth-century classical garden building, put up for Princess Amelia, George II's daughter, who leased the estate. And with the oaks and chestnuts around the water turning, the reflection is the best picture in the park. The two mansions and the museum are at the other end; the park is free.
Is Walpole Park Good for Autumn Photography?
It is the best low-key option in west London, mostly because it is empty on a weekday morning and the light comes through the avenue at a useful angle. The pond takes reflections, there are benches where you want them, and Pitzhanger Manor — Sir John Soane's own country house — sits at the Ealing Broadway end of the park with a cafe attached.
What's at Brent Lodge Park in Hanwell?
Locally it is the Bunny Park, and it has Hanwell Zoo and a millennium maze in it, which makes it the one stop on this list that works with children in tow. The River Brent runs through the park. The Grand Union Canal is the separate waterway just to the south, dropping through the Hanwell Flight of locks. And the towpath between the two is a good, flat autumn walk with narrowboats and overhanging trees the whole way.
Where Can You See London from a Hill in Autumn?
Horsenden Hill, in Perivale, is the highest point in Ealing and by some distance the emptiest viewpoint on this list. The climb is through woodland on stepped paths, and the reward is an open summit with the city laid out to the east. A view that only really opens up once the leaves have started to come down. Come on a clear, cold morning.
How Do You Photograph Autumn Leaves in London?
Shoot early or late — the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset do more for autumn colour than any filter. Backlight the leaves rather than lighting them from the front: get the sun behind the canopy and the colour goes from brown to fire. Overcast days are better than they look, because the colour saturates without the contrast. And go out the morning after heavy rain, when wet pavements, wet bark and standing water double everything.
Where Else Is Good for Autumn Colour Near London?
If you want a day out of the city, the Cotswolds are ninety minutes away and peak at roughly the same time — Autumn in the Cotswolds goes village by village. And when this is all over and you want the other end of the year, London in spring and the best places to see magnolia blossom pick up in March.
*All photos were taken by Ina/WithinLondon, unless stated otherwise :)
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