South Bank Post Work Route Planner: Walk East or West?

The Queen's Walk runs along the south side of the Thames from Westminster Bridge past the Southbank Centre, the National Theatre and Tate Modern towards Tower Bridge, and it is entirely free and car-free. For anyone finishing work around Waterloo or Southwark, that makes the South Bank post work route planner question unusually simple: you are going to walk by the river, and the only real decision is whether you head east or west and where you peel off for the train.

Waterloo is the anchor for most people, with the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and Waterloo and City lines plus mainline trains to south-west London and beyond. Walking east, Southwark station on the Jubilee line, Blackfriars with its platforms spanning the river, and London Bridge all sit close to the path. Walking west, the footbridges beside Hungerford Bridge take you across to Embankment and Charing Cross in about five minutes.

So decide how you get home first. A Thameslink commuter should finish at Blackfriars or London Bridge; anyone on the District or Circle line should cross to Embankment; someone heading to Surrey should circle back to Waterloo. It sounds obvious, but it is the most common mistake on the South Bank, where it is easy to keep strolling east and end up a long way from the train you need.

From Waterloo, heading west takes you past the Royal Festival Hall, built for the 1951 Festival of Britain, and on towards the London Eye and County Hall. This stretch is the most crowded, especially near the Eye where tourists queue and street performers gather, so it is better for a short, scenic ten minutes than a long decompression walk.

The payoff is the crossing. The Golden Jubilee footbridges beside the railway bridge give one of the best evening views of Westminster and the Houses of Parliament, and they bring you straight to Embankment station. Our honest take: do not bother walking past the Eye towards Westminster Bridge at rush hour; the pavement narrows and it is slow going.

Heading east is the better choice for a proper unwinding walk. Past the National Theatre you reach the second-hand book tables set up beneath Waterloo Bridge outside BFI Southbank, a fixture of the riverside that makes for a pleasant five-minute browse when the weather is dry. Then the path opens up past Gabriel's Wharf and the Oxo Tower towards Blackfriars.

Beyond Blackfriars, the converted Bankside power station that houses Tate Modern dominates the skyline, and the Millennium Bridge stretches across to St Paul's Cathedral. From Waterloo to Tate Modern is around twenty-five minutes at a relaxed pace, which is a very satisfying length for an after-work stroll before the Jubilee line at Southwark or a crossing to the City.

Yes. Just behind the riverside, Roupell Street near Waterloo is a short terrace of early nineteenth-century workers' cottages that feels a world away from the crowds. A detour through it and the surrounding streets between Waterloo and Southwark adds only a few minutes and gives a calmer feel. Further east, the streets around Bankside behind the Globe have small courtyards and alleys that are almost empty after offices close.

Karpo is most useful once you know your direction and train. In the Karpo APP, you could write: leaving an office near Waterloo at six, heading home from London Bridge, about an hour, want a riverside walk and then a relaxed dinner for two. Karpo suggests places along that line and an order that keeps you moving towards your station.

It does not see live queue lengths, cannot hold a table and will not replace the TfL or National Rail apps for live train times. Use its suggestions as a shortlist, confirm details on the venues' own pages, and if the place you hoped for is too busy, ask Karpo for an alternative within a few minutes of where you are standing on the river.

A sample sixty minutes: leave Waterloo through the Southbank Centre, browse the book tables under Waterloo Bridge, walk east past the Oxo Tower to Tate Modern, then sit for twenty minutes at a spot Karpo suggested nearby before taking the Jubilee line from Southwark. Shorter version: walk west from Waterloo, cross the footbridge and catch the District line at Embankment in about twenty minutes.

The South Bank is one of London's busiest cultural strips, with the National Theatre, BFI Southbank and the Southbank Centre halls all within a few minutes of each other. If you are seeing something, the half hour before evening performances is when the path outside fills up. Walk the river first and arrive at the venue from the back streets, or plan the walk for after the show when the crowds have thinned.

This is where the South Bank really shines, because the river gives you a natural meeting point between stations. If one of you is heading to Waterloo and the other to London Bridge, meet at the book tables under Waterloo Bridge, walk east together as far as Tate Modern and split there: one person takes the Jubilee line from Southwark back towards Waterloo, the other continues along Bankside to London Bridge. Ask Karpo for a stop roughly halfway, around Blackfriars, so neither person ends up with a long walk back on their own.

The river path is wide and mostly step-free, but it is exposed, and an east wind off the Thames can make it feel colder than the forecast suggests, so bring a layer even in spring. Surfaces are smooth enough for pushchairs and wheelchairs along most of the stretch. In rain, the covered terraces and undercrofts around the Southbank Centre are the obvious shelter, and you can ask Karpo for indoor options close to your station instead of pressing on along the open path.