Hyde Park is free and the pedestrian gates are open from five in the morning until midnight, which is nineteen hours a day and longer than almost anything else in London.
Everything inside it is governed by a rule, and the rules are published rather than guessed at. You cannot swim in the lake. You cannot light a barbecue. You can only cycle on named roads. And the public toilets cost 20p and no longer take cash.
Here is the whole practical picture, read off the Royal Parks’ own information.
How big it is, and how long to walk it
142 hectares, or 350 acres, which the Royal Parks themselves describe as the equivalent of twelve Wembley Stadiums.
The perimeter is about three miles. That is the number people actually want: at an ordinary walking pace a full circuit is roughly an hour, and rather more if you stop at the Serpentine, which you will.
Swimming, which is mostly not allowed
Most of the Serpentine is strictly no swimming, because it is reserved for boating and for wildlife. People get this wrong every summer.
What is allowed is a marked 100 metre lido at the south west corner of the lake. It opens to the public 10am to 6pm at weekends from mid May, and then every day from June to mid September.
The exception is the club. Members of the historic Serpentine Swimming Club, the oldest swimming club in Britain, can use the lido every morning until 9.30am, from 5am by the Royal Parks’ own Hyde Park FAQ or from 5.30am by its swimming page, which is why you will see people in the water in January while the rest of the lake is closed.
What costs money in a free park
The toilets are 20p and contactless only. Card, prepaid card or a phone wallet. Cash is no longer accepted at all, so arriving with a pocket of coins does not help.
Parking is charged 8.30am to 6.30pm every day, bank holidays included. Monday to Saturday it is 70p per fifteen minutes, £2.80 an hour, and £11.20 for the maximum stay, which is four hours.
Sunday is the strange one and it favours a long visit. The hourly rate drops to £2.00, but the maximum stay stretches from four hours to ten, at £20.00. So a Sunday allows a full day in a way a Saturday does not.
Motorcycles park free, up to the same four hour maximum. The machines take both cash and cashless payments, unlike the toilets.
Hyde Park
- Address
- Hyde Park, London W2. Bordered by Park Lane, Bayswater Road, Kensington Gardens and Knightsbridge
- Nearest
- Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Lancaster Gate and Knightsbridge all sit on the perimeter
- Hours
- Pedestrian gates 5am to midnight, every day
- Booking
- No booking to enter. Sports pitches, tennis and padel are bookable, as is boating on the Serpentine
- Price
- Free to enter. Toilets 20p, contactless only. Parking 2.80 an hour Monday to Saturday with a four hour maximum, or 2.00 an hour on Sunday and bank holidays with a ten hour maximum. Motorcycles free
- Standing
- 350 acres, about 12 Wembley Stadiums, with a perimeter of roughly three miles. Nicknamed the People’s Park
How to get in
Four rules decide most visits and all four are published. Swimming is banned across most of the Serpentine and confined to a marked 100 metre lido at the south west corner, open to the public in summer only. Barbecues are not allowed anywhere, though informal picnics are welcome and only become an event application above a hundred people. Cycling is permitted only on named routes such as Serpentine Road and the Broad Walk, with no cycling signage at ground level elsewhere, and pedestrians have priority at all times. Dogs may generally be off lead under control, but not in the Rose Garden or around the Serpentine. There is a live public consultation on closing South Carriage Drive to weekday motor traffic permanently, so the road layout may change.
What is actually in it
Speakers’ Corner is where Karl Marx and George Orwell had their say, and the idea of a public place set aside for free speech has been copied worldwide.
The Great Exhibition site is now sports pitches. Over six million people came to Hyde Park in 1851 to see the Crystal Palace. You can now book football, tennis or padel on the ground where it stood, which is a better piece of London trivia than most.
Rotten Row is the historic route that ran from Kensington Palace to Whitehall, and the rose garden sits beside it.
The park does the big events. Summer concerts, and Winter Wonderland from 19 November to 3 January, which is a ticketed event inside a free park and has four separate published ways to avoid the entry fee.
What to know
Five in the morning to midnight. The gates keep longer hours than any paid attraction in London, and an early walk is the best free thing here.
Three miles round, about an hour. Add time for the Serpentine, because everybody stops.
No swimming outside the lido. The rest of the lake is for boats and birds, and the lido is summer only for the public.
No barbecues, picnics fine. Above a hundred people a picnic becomes an event and needs an application.
Cycle only where it says you can, and give way to people on foot everywhere.
Bring a card for the toilet. 20p, contactless, no cash.
Everything here was taken from the Royal Parks’ own published information and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Parking tariffs and lido dates change by season, and the South Carriage Drive consultation may alter access. Confirm before you travel.
Oxford Street begins at Marble Arch on the park’s north east corner, so the two make one walk.
Cycling here is allowed only on named routes such as Serpentine Road and the Broad Walk, which matters if you arrive on a hire bike. Santander Cycles has the pricing and the docking station closures.
London’s lidos put the Serpentine against the other eight, four of which are heated and open all winter, and one of which opens only when the air is above 22 degrees.
Where to go next
The best parks in London puts Hyde Park against the other seven, and Richmond Park is the opposite proposition: far bigger, far wilder, and 630 deer.
Winter Wonderland takes over the park from 19 November to 3 January and publishes four separate routes past its entry fee.
Free things to do in London covers the rest of what costs nothing, and the best views cover the paid and free platforms across the city.
Questions we get asked
Can you visit Hyde Park for free?
Yes. Hyde Park is free to enter and the pedestrian gates are open from 5am until midnight every day. What costs money inside it is parking, charged 8.30am to 6.30pm daily, the public toilets at 20p on contactless only, and the bookable sports facilities. Winter Wonderland, which takes place in the park each winter, is a separate ticketed event.
How long does it take to walk around Hyde Park?
The perimeter is roughly three miles, so a full circuit takes about an hour at an ordinary walking pace, and longer in practice because most people stop at the Serpentine. The park covers 142 hectares or 350 acres, which the Royal Parks describe as about twelve Wembley Stadiums.
Can you swim in the Serpentine?
Only in one marked place. The majority of the Serpentine is strictly no swimming, being reserved for boating and wildlife. Public swimming is confined to a marked 100 metre lido at the south west corner, open 10am to 6pm at weekends from mid May and daily from June to mid September. Members of the Serpentine Swimming Club, the oldest in Britain, may use it until 9.30am year round, from 5am by the Royal Parks’ FAQ or 5.30am by its swimming page.
What time does Hyde Park open and close?
The pedestrian gates open at 5am and close at midnight, every day of the week. That is nineteen hours and considerably longer than any ticketed attraction in London keeps. Car parking is a separate matter and is only chargeable between 8.30am and 6.30pm, including on bank holidays.
How much is parking at Hyde Park?
Monday to Saturday it is 70p per fifteen minutes, 2.80 pounds an hour, and 11.20 for the four hour maximum stay. On Sundays and bank holidays the rate drops to 2.00 an hour but the maximum stay extends to ten hours at 20.00, which makes Sunday the better day for a long visit. Motorcycles park free and the machines take cash or card.
Can you have a barbecue in Hyde Park?
No. Barbecues are not permitted anywhere in the Royal Parks. Informal picnics are welcomed and there is published guidance on group sizes and what is allowed. A group of more than a hundred people counts as a large picnic and requires an event application rather than simply turning up.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 135 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
