United Kingdom · GB

The Green Park

Sandwiched between Buckingham Palace and the bustle of Piccadilly, The Green Park is the smallest of London's eight Royal Parks and arguably its best-kept secret. At just 19 hectares (around 47 acres), it slips into a single, unhurried loop between St James's Park and Hyde Park — a tree-lined, deckchair-scattered green room that Londoners use as a pocket of calm between errands, meetings and sightseeing. What makes it unusual is what is missing: there are no formal flower beds, only wildflower meadows, mature trees and a million spring daffodils. What makes it quietly moving is what is present — three of London's most thoughtful war memorials, and a 17th-century origin story that gave Constitution Hill its name. Tube trains pull out at Green Park station and deliver you straight through ornate gilded gates into the meadow.