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The Late Edition

London's evening edition. Independent, updated daily.

AnswerChecked 4 Sep 2026

Where can you watch the sunset in London?

Primrose Hill, Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath, Greenwich Park by the observatory and Richmond Park’s King Henry’s Mound are the four protected views, which means nothing can be built to block them. All four are free and open until dusk.

The protected views

London protects a handful of sightlines by law, and they are the reason these hills still look at St Paul’s and the City rather than at a wall of flats. King Henry’s Mound in Richmond looks at St Paul’s from ten miles out, through a gap in the trees, which is the strangest of them and the one worth the walk.

Free height without a hill

The Sky Garden and Horizon 22 are both free and both indoors, so they work in weather that would ruin a hill. They need booking, and the sunset slots go first. Crossrail Place Roof Garden in Canary Wharf takes no booking at all.

When the parks close

The royal parks shut at dusk and the gates are locked, so check the closing time for the month before you settle in. Hampstead Heath and Primrose Hill are open land and never close, which is why they work in midwinter when everything else is shut by four.

What is on

7 listings

  1. Free

    Parliament Hill viewpoint

    07:00 Parliament Hill, Hampstead

    A protected view all the way to the City, which is why nothing is allowed to be built in front of it. Ten minutes up from Gospel Oak and worth doing an hour before sunset.

  2. Free

    The Italian Gardens, Kensington Gardens

    08:00 Italian Gardens, Bayswater

    Four basins and a pump house Albert built for Victoria, at the Lancaster Gate corner of the park. Best in the hour before the fountains go off for the night, when the light comes across the water.

  3. Free

    Sky Garden

    10:00 Sky Garden, The City

    Three floors of planted terrace at the top of the Walkie Talkie, free but booked in advance and the slots go about three weeks out. Sunset slots go first. Photo identification on the door.

  4. Food and drink From £6

    Netil360 rooftop, Hackney

    16:00 Netil360, Hackney

    A roof above a car park in London Fields with the whole City skyline lined up in front of it. Small, so it fills on a warm evening; the view is the reason rather than the drinks list.

  5. Clubs From £6

    Rooftop at the Bussey Building

    17:00 Copeland Park and the Bussey Building, Peckham

    Peckham's roof bar, up several flights above the old cricket bat factory, looking back at the city from the south. Runs late at the weekend and the yard below keeps going after it shuts.

  6. Free

    Evening walk: Kensington Gardens to the Round Pond

    18:30 Kensington Gardens, Kensington

    The pond sits on the axis of the palace, so the view back at it in low light is the one the garden was laid out to give you. Twenty minutes from the High Street.

  7. Free

    Waterloo Bridge at dusk

    19:00 Waterloo Bridge, Waterloo

    The only crossing with both the City and Westminster in one turn of the head. Built largely by women during the war, which is why it is sometimes called the Ladies Bridge.

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