Don’t put your exercise regime on hold just because you’re staying at a hotel. The Kensington is surrounded by some of London’s most beautiful, leafy parks, ideal for quick whizz around before breakfast/meetings/shopping

Hyde Park

Head right out of the hotel and up Queen’s Gate, past The Royal Albert Hall and you’ll hit Hyde Park. The easiest and most iconic of running routes will take you four miles (just over six kilometres) around the outside of the park.

The Serpentine

A slightly more rural setting and easier on the lungs, head in the same direction out of the hotel, turn right when you enter the gates of Hyde Park, just past The Royal Albert Hall, and loop almost three miles around The Serpentine.

Kensington Gardens

Kensington Gardens is beautifully landscaped, you’ll find pockets of formal gardens and statues dotted around to keep you distracted. If you run the full perimeter of the park it is about 2.7 miles, but there are also some nice trails including a two-mile loop that starts at Palace Gate (turn left at The Royal Albert Hall). The route will take you north along Board Walk and past Kensington Palace. Before you exit the park at Bayswater Road, turn right on to North Walk to reach the Italian Gardens. Turn right again and follow the Serpentine. When you reach the bridge which takes you into Hyde Park, turn right again onto the straight path heading towards the Board Walk and past Albert Memorial.

Holland Park

Holland Park is about a 30-minute walk from the hotel, however it’s a lovely place for running, especially if interval training is your thing as it as gentle hills to run up and down. Enter the park off High Street Kensington and continue to run straight up the track towards Holland Park Opera. Turn left in front of the theatre and past the café, turn right at The Orangery and run on to the lovely Kyoto Gardens, these loop around themselves. As you head back down, turn left and follow the path above Holland Park Theatre, turn right and follow the path back to High Street Kensington, where you began. The loop is about 1.2 miles in total, and a run from The Kensington to Holland Park is 1.3 miles. 

Chelsea Embankment

If river running is more your thing, then a jaunt along Chelsea Embankment and the Thames will get your blood pumping. Turn left out of the hotel onto Queen’s Gate towards Old Brompton Road, turn left onto Onslow Gardens, which leads into Neville Terrace/Selwood Terrace, continue onto Old Church St and then left onto Chelsea Embankment. Run up to Chelsea Bridge, cross over and then turn right into Battersea Park, keep the Thames on your right following the path up to Albert Bridge Road, cross over the bridge, turn right back to where you started. The distance from The Kensington to Chelsea Bridge is 1.8 miles.