Self-guided free tour
Covent Garden and Soho: Puppets, cholera and neon lights
Free · no booking Loop route
- Duration
- 2 h approx.
- Distance
- 3.8 km on foot
- Stops
- 10 stops
A circular walk through the heart of the West End, from the street performers' piazza at Covent Garden to the screens of Piccadilly Circus, by way of the opera house, the lanes of Seven Dials and the Soho streets where a stubborn doctor worked out how cholera spreads. Along the way, the street that dressed the sixties, the gate of Chinatown and the square of film premieres. About two hours, not counting time inside shops, theatres or restaurants.
Start and end Covent Garden Piazza
Get thereThe route
The 1 marks where the tour starts and ends.
The 10 stops
At each one, a story of about two minutes.
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1
Covent Garden Piazza Start
400 m · 6 min on foot
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2
Royal Opera House
480 m · 7 min on foot
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3
Neal's Yard
140 m · 2 min on foot
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4
Seven Dials
590 m · 8 min on foot
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5
Soho Square
470 m · 7 min on foot
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6
John Snow's pump
180 m · 3 min on foot
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7
Carnaby Street
490 m · 7 min on foot
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8
Piccadilly Circus
330 m · 5 min on foot
.jpg?locale=en)
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9
Chinatown and Gerrard Street
210 m · 3 min on foot
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10
Leicester Square
560 m · 8 min back to the start
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Back at Covent Garden Piazza
The tour ends where it started.
How it works
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1. Get to the start
Head to the starting point and tap “Start the tour”.
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2. Listen
At each stop, tap “I'm here” and listen to the story.
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3. Follow the map
Follow the map to the next stop. No rush.
Before you set off
Bring headphones and a charged phone: audio and map use up battery.
- It is a loop: you finish where you started.
- Stop whenever you like. Your progress is saved on this phone.
- The route and the texts load when you start, so it keeps working with patchy coverage.
- The walk stays outdoors. The time does not include going inside the buildings.
- Available in Spanish and English.
Use it offline
Save the audio, photos and route on this phone to do the tour with no data. Do it on wifi before you set off.
The download stopped halfway. What was already saved is still on this phone.
You can start the tour or leave this page: the download carries on.
Available offline
There is a new version. The one you have saved still works.
Photo credits
- 1. Covent Garden Piazza: Covent_Garden_Interior_May_2006.jpg: ... · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
- 2. Royal Opera House: Russ London (talk) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- 3. Neal's Yard: Elisa.rolle · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- 4. Seven Dials: John Sutton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- 5. Soho Square: Rodhullandemu · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- 6. John Snow's pump: Jamzze · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- 7. Carnaby Street: The National Archives UK · No restrictions · Wikimedia Commons
- 8. Piccadilly Circus: Lily.Smith · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- 9. Chinatown and Gerrard Street: Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- 10. Leicester Square: Matthew Prior (User:Mattimeus on Engl... · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons