Guide to Little Venice in London

Post by R.M. team

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Little Venice Guide Contents:

What is Little Venice?

Where is Little Venice

How to get to Little Venice?

Things to do in Little Venice

Want to explore the canal further?

What is Little Venice famous for?

What is Little Venice?

Little Venice comprises of beautiful picturesque canal ways and waterways, and is a home to gorgeous canal boats. On Little Venice you will find quirky residential narrowboats where people live or spend their time in leisure, as well as passing canal boats, narrowboat cruises and waterbuses. Be ready for lots of photo and selfie opportunities!

In Little Venice and within close vicinity of Little Venice you will also discover a handful of cafes to enjoy the canal views, cosy pubs and restaurants. If you’re feeling more adventurous you can follow the towpath along the Regent’s Canal and walk all the way to Camden, or even further. This is a very scenic route that goes through Regent’s Park and past the London Zoo – very handy if you wish to visit the park and the zoo. While the Little Venice and Regent’s Canal walks are a whole lot of fun for the willing and able, you can find other ways to enjoy the waterways, for example by cycling along the canal or taking a boat ride.

Where is Little Venice?

Little Venice can be found to the north of Paddington, where Grand Union and Regent’s canals meet. Regent’s Canal links Little Venice to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames.

How to get to Little Venice?

You can get to Little Venice by London Underground. Warwick Avenue tube station is a few minutes’ walk from Little Venice and its served by the Bakerloo line.

You can also use London Paddington, a central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex located in the Paddington area a few minutes’ walk form Little Venice. Paddington tube station is served by Bakerloo, Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines.

A 1930's mahogany and teak punt spotted on Little Venice in London.

Things to do in Little Venice

Around the Little Venice area you can find restaurant, cafés and pubs to enjoy a bite to eat or a drink. Some of these venues have fantastic views of the canals.

Want to explore the canal further?

If you’re feeling adventurous you can take a walk from Little Venice all the way up to Camden, which would take just over an hour, depending on your walking speed. Camden Lock is a great area to enjoy the street culture, food and bars. It’s huge and it’s a whole lot of fun there, so we’ll do a separate post on that soon. However, if walking for an hour is not quite your thing, you can take a waterbus or a narrowboat tour all the way to Camden, which will also be a fun experience.

On the way to Camden you will be able to admire some gorgeous multimillion £££ mansions. If your canal adventure to Camden is on foot you can step out and explore The Regent’s Park and even The London Zoo. This is a great option if you don’t want to walk all the way to Camden and are looking for other options to enjoy your time around nature and wildlife.

For cricket fans, there is Lord’s Cricket Grounds offering tours as well as one of the oldest sporting museums in the world. This is not directly on the Little Venice but a very small detour off the canal walk into St John’s Wood. For the cricket grounds you can exit the canal walk on Lisson Grove, or even better so, on Park Road.

What is Little Venice famous for?

Little Venice was built between 1810 and 1870. It is known to have been a popular hangout place and a place of residence for many artists, writers and scientists, and the trend continues to date. While it would be a fairly big task to list all of the celebs associated with the London area, we’ll leave you with one example – Richard Branson.

Richard Branson has allegedly started his Virgin Business form his house boat Duande on the canal. However, it was not all as glamorous as it may seem at first. In the 1980’s the local residents of Little Venice were displeased with Richard’s barge and complained that the boat was an eyesore. Here’s a newspaper cutting on the subject.

Apparently he still owns the boat, which no doubt has been transformed from an eyesore of a barge into a luxury canal house boat, and in the recent years was available for rent for over a grand a week.