Kensington Gardens

Immediately west of Hyde Park and across the Serpentine lake, these gardens are technically part of Kensington Palace. The palace and the gardens have become something of a shrine to the memory of Princess Diana since her death in 1997. If you have kids, visit the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground, in the northwest corner of the gardens, which has some pretty ambitious attractions for children including tepees and a pirate ship. Art is also characteristic of these gardens. George Frampton’s celebrated Peter Pan statue is close to the lake. On the opposite side is a statue of Edward Jenner, who developed a vaccine for smallpox. To the west of the Serpentine is a sculpture of John Hanning Speke, the explorer who discovered the Nile.