22 Best Places To Watch The London Marathon 2026

On Sunday, 26 April, the 2026 London Marathon is set to take place.

Over 59,000 runners are expected to take part in the race, which is set to run from Greenwich to the Mall.

Here’s when and where to catch the best views of the event, as well as the least busy points to access it.

The marathon kicks off in waves. For non-elite runners, these run from 9:30 am to 11:30 am.

For elite participants, the times start:

• Elite wheelchair races, men’s and women’s: 9:50 am
• Elite women’s: 9:05 am
• Elite men’s: 9:35 am.

Fun fact: last year, runner Tigst Assefa ran a record-breaking 2:15:50 marathon at the London Marathon. She’s running again and is hoping to beat her record; even if she gets the same time or slightly more, she’ll still have completed an entire marathon before the last wave of non-elite runners even starts.

Because the course runs from Greenwich up through to the Isle of Dogs and on to The Mall, there will be opportunities to cheer the runners on from both sides of the river.

But with tens of thousands of runners, supporters are expected to be plentiful. The race organisers themselves say that:

• Cutty Sark,
• Bermondsey,
• Canary Wharf,
• Limehouse,
• Tower Hill,
• Westminster, and
• St James’ Park Tube stations will be “extremely busy”.

Westminster station will be exit-only from 7am to 7pm.

London Marathon says that if you’re going to popular spots on the route, they expect it’s best to walk from:

• Deptford,
• Greenwich,
• Island Gardens,
• Maze Hill,
• London Overground Rotherhithe,
• London Rotherhide Surrey Quays,
• London Bridge station,
• The Canary Wharf DLR,
• Crossharbour,
• South Quay,
• Shadwell station via Cable Street,
• Westferry station,
• Poplar station,
• Bank,
• St Paul’s,
• Southwark,
• Cannon Street,
• Mansion House,
• Charing Cross,
• Piccadilly Circus,
• Victoria,
• and Waterloo.

There are five accessible viewing points planned for the London Marathon. These are located at:

• Cutty Sark,
• Canary Wharf,
• Rainbow Row,
• Tower Hill,
• Victoria Embankment.

Head to the London Marathon’s site for more details.

These are expected to include:

• Rotherhide Peninsula,
• The Highway,
• Isle of Dogs,
• Westferry,
• Poplar.

These are expected to include:

• Cutty Sark,
• Greenwich,
• Canada Water,
• Bermondsey,
• Rotherhide,
• Tower Bridge,
• Tower Hill,
• Canary Wharf,
• Limehouse,
• Westminster,
• Rainbow Row, and
• Victoria Embankment.

“These routes will be clearly signposted and diversions will be in place to assist with crowd flow so please listen to marshals’ instructions,” said the London Marathon’s site.