Explore: Picnic in the Park

One of our absolute favorite activities in London was packing a picnic and riding to Hyde Park for the afternoon. We could easily spend an entire Saturday exploring the expansive park! We generally followed one of three itineraries, which were based on tube stop.

1. High Street Kensington: As you are exiting the tube station, be sure to stop at Ben’s Cookies for quite possibly the most delectable cookie in London. Our favorites? Triple chocolate chunk, milk chocolate chunk, lemon and  peanut butter. We generally buy the tin of 4 or 8 (oops) because we can never pick just one each! 

After exiting the station, turn right and walk along Kensington High Street for a bit and you’ll see the most beautiful Whole Foods in the whole world. It’s three levels of brightly colored, gorgeous eats that will make you want to sample everything! Like most Whole Foods locations, there is a perfect salad bar, a hot food bar, and thousands of other choices. We’d pack our faves (in our Whole Foods reusable bag of course) and walk across the street to the park. Kensington Palace is visible along the way. No biggie though, right?

2. Hyde Park Corner: Hyde Park Corner (bottom yellow arrow) seems like the obvious choice and in a lot of ways, it absolutely is. You may want to grab your food beforehand (if this is your tube stop of choice) because since it’s so close to the park, there’s not many options. A ten-minute walk down Piccadilly finds a Marks & Spencer, Pret a Manger and several other quick options. Hyde Park is extremely convenient for finding a Barclays bike. There is a large row of bikes just outside the station inside the park. It sort of facilitates finding the perfect picnic spot. 

3. Marble Arch: This station (top yellow arrow on map) has so many more options than the other two because of its location. There are fast food options, a larger grocery store (Marks & Spencer) and if you travel up Edgware Road, you can find great Lebanese food shops. The north side of the park is probably my favorite thanks to the Italian Gardens. Definitely have a visit! You won’t be disappointed.

Isn’t London the best?