Two things on Hampstead Heath are worth more than the walk, and both are priced in a way nobody explains.
At Parliament Hill Lido in summer, the same swim costs 8.80 pounds in the middle of the day and 5 pounds first thing or last thing. Children swim free at the breakfast session and pay 2.70 pounds at midday.
And there is a free zoo on the Heath. Golders Hill Park Zoo has ring-tailed lemurs, red-necked wallabies, a Scottish wildcat, kookaburras, fallow deer and donkeys, costs nothing, and opens from 7.30am all year round.
Swimming: what it costs
Prices below are the published rates valid to 31 March 2027. From 1 October 2026 the swimming facilities take cashless payment only, so do not turn up with a note.
The bathing ponds are 5 pounds for an adult and 3 pounds for concessions and under 16s, all year round, with no seasonal variation at all.
Parliament Hill Lido in winter is 5 pounds for an adult, 3 pounds for a concession or a 16 to 17 year old, and 1.50 pounds for a junior aged 5 to 15.
In summer the Lido splits into four sessions and this is where the money is:
Breakfast: 5 pounds adult, 3 pounds concession, and free for juniors.
Morning and afternoon: 8.80 pounds adult, 5.20 concession, 2.70 junior.
Evening: 5 pounds adult, 3 pounds concession. Juniors are not admitted to the evening session.
So a family of two adults and two children pays 23 pounds at two in the afternoon and 10 pounds at breakfast. That is the single most useful number on this page.
There is also a sauna, winter only, from October to May, at 7 pounds for an adult.
Season tickets, and when they pay for themselves
The Lido is 171 pounds for six months or 252 for twelve. The bathing ponds are 83 pounds for six months. Concession rates are 102 and 152 pounds for the Lido and 50 pounds for six months at the ponds.
Against a 5 pound pond entry, the six month pond ticket pays for itself at about 17 swims, which is roughly two a month across the winter.
Which water is open when
Parliament Hill Lido, Kenwood Ladies’ Pond and Highgate Men’s Pond are open all year round.
Hampstead Mixed Pond opens from April to October only and is closed to public swimming the rest of the time, which is the one that catches people out in February.
The Lido is 60 metres, which is longer than almost any pool in the city.
Booking, and the thing to understand about it
The system changes with the season, and getting it wrong means a wasted journey.
Bookable sessions run only in the summer, from around the end of May to early September. Outside that window every session is drop in, pay or tap on entry.
In summer, bookable slots are released online in advance and sell out quickly at busy times. Drop-in sessions hold back all their tickets for walk-ups instead.
The important nuance: if a bookable session is not full, walk-in swimmers are admitted. If it shows as fully booked, staff decide on the day, session by session, whether anyone else gets in. The City’s own wording is that walk-in swimmers should not rely on being admitted to a session listed as full. On a hot Saturday, book.
Golders Hill Park Zoo, which is free
In Golders Hill Park, North End Way, NW3 7HE, at the north west end of the Heath.
It is completely free and open for as long as the park is, which is from 7.30am year round until dusk.
The residents include ring-tailed lemurs, red-necked wallabies, a Scottish wildcat, kookaburras, fallow deer, donkeys and bantam chickens.
Golders Green on the Northern line is a 14 minute walk, and the 210 and 268 buses serve the area. There is limited Blue Badge parking inside the park and more at Jack Straws car park, ten minutes away.
Access is better than most of the Heath: the paths in Golders Hill Park are tarmac, including the one around the zoo perimeter, on a gentle slope, with a wheelchair accessible toilet by the zoo that needs a Radar key.
London Zoo is the paid alternative, and the comparison is worth making before you spend anything.
Dogs
Dogs are welcome, which makes the Heath the opposite of Walthamstow Wetlands, where they are banned outright.
The rules are real rather than decorative. Keep the dog under control, make sure it comes back when called off the lead, collar and tag on, bag the mess and bin it or take it home. You can be fined if your dog hurts, annoys or disturbs other people on the Heath, or damages the Heath itself.
One for the professionals: commercial dog walking requires a licence, and walking dogs commercially without one is an offence under the City of London Open Spaces Act 2018.
The Pergola closes with the light, and the timetable has seventeen steps
The Hill Garden and Pergola is the best thing on the Heath that most people never find, and it is the one part with its own published closing time, changed roughly every fortnight.
Entry is free. The gate opens at 8.30am every day of the year. The close is the variable, and the City publishes all of it. For 2026:
1 to 25 January: 3pm. 26 January to 8 February: 3.30pm. 9 to 22 February: 4pm. 23 February to 8 March: 4.30pm. 9 to 22 March: 5pm. 23 to 28 March: 5.30pm. 29 March to 12 April: 6.30pm. 13 to 26 April: 7pm.
27 April to 16 August: 8pm. That is the long run, nearly four months of the gate staying open until eight.
17 to 30 August: 7pm. 31 August to 13 September: 6.30pm. 14 to 27 September: 6pm. 28 September to 4 October: 5.30pm. 5 to 24 October: 5pm. 25 October to 15 November: 3.30pm. 16 November to 31 December: 3pm.
Look at the step on 25 October. The close drops from 5pm to 3.30pm overnight, a cut of ninety minutes in one go, while every other change in the year moves by thirty minutes or an hour. That single date is the one to know: after the clocks go back, a late afternoon visit stops being possible.
Assistance dogs only in the Pergola
This catches Heath regulars, because the rest of the Heath is as dog friendly as London gets.
“Please note, assistance dogs only in the Hill Garden and Pergola.”
So the one formal garden on the Heath is the one place your dog cannot go. If you are walking up from West Heath with a dog, the Pergola is a detour you cannot make.
It shuts at 40mph of forecast wind
A specific threshold, published, and it is a forecast rather than a measurement.
“If wind speeds are forecast to be 40mph or above, the Hill Garden and Pergola may need to close for safety reasons and at short notice.”
The structure is a timber pergola carrying climbing plants, and it is now officially fragile: in November 2025 the Pergola was added to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, identifying it as a priority for conservation.
As checked on 6 October 2026: “Essential maintenance work is currently taking place at the Pergola which means some areas will be inaccessible and there is scaffolding on site.”
So on a windy autumn day, check before you climb the hill. Closures are posted on the Heath’s social accounts where possible.
A photo shoot at the Pergola costs £234
The most photographed spot in north London charges for it, and the threshold is lower than you would guess.
The City lists commercial shoots, engagement sessions and personal projects as all needing permission, with an application form and approval in advance.
“The fee for a 2-hour permit is £234.”
And: “You must have Public Liability Insurance, worth at least £5 million.”
An engagement shoot is named explicitly, so the couple with a hired photographer is inside the permit regime rather than outside it. Five million pounds of liability cover is not something most wedding photographers think to mention.
Also worth knowing if you had ideas: “Weddings and civil ceremonies are not currently permitted at this location.”
Finding the Pergola
The Hill Garden and Pergola, Inverforth Close, North End Way, London NW3 7EX. 020 7332 3322.
It overlooks West Heath, and was built for William H Lever, later Lord Leverhulme, with the landscape architect Thomas Mawson. The Hill Garden beside it was the private garden of a manor house that no longer exists.
Both took Gold Awards in the 2025 London in Bloom Awards.
Getting there: Golders Green on the Northern line is the closest station, a 20 minute walk. The 210 and 268 buses go closer. Jack Straw’s car park is a 5 minute walk.
Guided walking tours of the Pergola run on the architectural history of the structure.
How to plan it
The Pergola: free, opens 8.30am, and closes anywhere between 3pm and 8pm depending on the fortnight.
25 October is the cliff: the Pergola close drops from 5pm to 3.30pm.
Windy day: the Pergola may shut at a forecast 40mph.
Dog with you: the Pergola is assistance dogs only, unlike the rest of the Heath.
Photo shoot at the Pergola: a permit is £234 for two hours, plus £5 million public liability cover.
Summer swim on a budget: the breakfast session, at 5 pounds with children free, rather than 8.80 at midday.
Hot weekend: book, because walk-ins are not guaranteed once a session shows full.
Winter: the ponds at 5 pounds, or the Lido at the same price with the sauna for 7 more.
With children and no budget: Golders Hill Park Zoo, free, from half past seven in the morning.
The parks page covers the rest of London’s green space, and the lidos cover the other outdoor pools in the city.
Parliament Hill Lido
- Address
- Hampstead Heath, London NW5
- Nearest
- Gospel Oak or Kentish Town
- Hours
- Open all year. Bookable sessions run only from about the end of May to early September; outside that all sessions are drop in
- Booking
- Online for summer bookable sessions, which sell out. Pay or tap on entry otherwise
- Price
- Winter 5 pounds adult, 3 concession and 16 to 17, 1.50 junior. Summer breakfast 5 pounds adult and free for juniors, morning and afternoon 8.80 adult and 2.70 junior, evening 5 pounds adult with no juniors. Sauna 7 pounds, October to May only
- Standing
- A 60 metre outdoor pool on Hampstead Heath, open year round
How to get in
Cashless payment only from 1 October 2026. If a bookable session shows as full, staff decide on the day whether walk-ins are admitted, so do not rely on it.
Hampstead Heath bathing ponds
- Address
- Hampstead Heath, London NW3 and N6
- Nearest
- Hampstead Heath or Gospel Oak
- Hours
- Kenwood Ladies’ Pond and Highgate Men’s Pond are open all year. Hampstead Mixed Pond opens April to October only
- Booking
- Pay on entry outside the summer bookable season
- Price
- 5 pounds adult and 3 pounds concession and under 16s, the same all year round. Six month season ticket 83 pounds
- Standing
- Three natural bathing ponds, swum in through the winter as well as the summer
How to get in
Cashless payment only from 1 October 2026. The mixed pond is closed to public swimming outside its April to October season.
Golders Hill Park Zoo
- Address
- Golders Hill Park, North End Way, London NW3 7HE
- Nearest
- Golders Green, a 14 minute walk. Buses 210 and 268
- Hours
- Open whenever the park is, from 7.30am year round until dusk
- Booking
- None
- Price
- Free
- Standing
- A small free zoo inside Hampstead Heath, with ring-tailed lemurs, red-necked wallabies, a Scottish wildcat, kookaburras, fallow deer and donkeys
How to get in
Tarmac paths including around the zoo perimeter, on a gentle slope, with a wheelchair accessible toilet that needs a Radar key. Limited Blue Badge parking in the park, and more at Jack Straws car park ten minutes away.
Where to go next
The lidos cover the other outdoor pools in London, and the parks page covers the rest of the green space.
London Zoo is the paid comparison with Golders Hill, and Walthamstow Wetlands is the big free reserve on the other side of town.
Questions we get asked
How much is it to swim at Hampstead Heath?
The bathing ponds are 5 pounds for an adult and 3 pounds for concessions and under 16s all year round. Parliament Hill Lido is 5 pounds in winter, and in summer ranges from 5 pounds at the breakfast and evening sessions to 8.80 pounds in the morning and afternoon.
What is the cheapest time to swim at Parliament Hill Lido?
The breakfast session in summer, at 5 pounds for an adult and free for juniors, against 8.80 pounds for an adult and 2.70 for a junior in the morning or afternoon. The evening session is also 5 pounds, though juniors are not admitted to it.
Is there a free zoo in London?
Yes. Golders Hill Park Zoo, in Golders Hill Park on Hampstead Heath, is completely free and open from 7.30am year round until dusk. It has ring-tailed lemurs, red-necked wallabies, a Scottish wildcat, kookaburras, fallow deer and donkeys.
Do you need to book to swim at Hampstead Heath?
Only in summer. Bookable sessions run from around the end of May to early September and sell out at busy times. Outside that period every session is drop in with payment on entry. If a summer session shows as fully booked, staff decide on the day whether to admit walk-ins, so you should not count on it.
Are the Hampstead Heath ponds open all year?
Kenwood Ladies' Pond, Highgate Men's Pond and Parliament Hill Lido are open all year round. Hampstead Mixed Pond opens from April to October only and is closed to public swimming outside that season.
Can you take dogs on Hampstead Heath?
Yes, under control, with a collar and tag, and picking up after them. You can be fined if your dog hurts, annoys or disturbs other users or damages the Heath. Commercial dog walking needs a licence, and doing it without one is an offence under the City of London Open Spaces Act 2018.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 217 in the guide.
Last checked 5 October 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
