A free Victorian riverside park in Battersea, open 8am until dusk, with the London Peace Pagoda on the Thames, a big lake and views across the water to Chelsea.
The lowdown
Battersea Park is free to visit, with no ticket and no booking. Wandsworth Council lists it as open from 8am until dusk, with the park gates open 6:30am to 10:30pm for access to park facilities, so closing follows the light and comes early in winter. It opened in 1858 on reclaimed marshland on the south bank and covers about two hundred acres of lawns, lake and riverside, with the towers of Chelsea across the water.
Its landmark is the London Peace Pagoda, a gleaming gilded Buddhist monument built in 1985 by monks and nuns of the Nipponzan-Myohoji order, standing right on the riverbank. Around the park there is a large lake, a bandstand, the Old English Garden, sports pitches and children's play areas. The children's zoo is a separate attraction with its own admission.
Pedestrian entrances are on Albert Bridge Road on the west side, Prince of Wales Drive on the south side and Queenstown Road at the east, all at postcode SW11 4NJ. Cars come in from Albert Bridge Road, Queenstown Road and Queenstown Circus, and parking inside the park is charged.
It is a proper all-rounder, joggers and rowers and families and dogs, with a long Thames-side promenade that gives you free views across to Chelsea and a real sense of space a few minutes from the rush of the centre.
Nearby and also free: the riverside and streets around Battersea Power Station are next door to the east. Details checked against Wandsworth Council's Battersea Park page on 15 October 2026.
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