Oct 13, 2026
A half-hour walk through the parks under the leaves, and a bowl of freshly made pasta waiting at the end of it
From late September into November, London is at its best. The trees in the parks turn gold and red, the afternoons get that low, warm light that makes everything look instagrammable, and the air is cold enough to want a coat but not cold enough to stay in. It does not last long, so the best thing to do is get outside and walk, ideally with somewhere warm to end up. This one starts in Hyde Park, takes about half an hour, and finishes on Old Compton Street with a bowl of freshly made pumpkin ravioli in sage butter.
Why autumn is the most popular
Summer in the parks is lovely but crowded, and by August the grass is brown and the deckchairs are full. Autumn hands the place back to the people who live here. The leaves go in stages, limes and horse chestnuts first, then the planes, so the colour keeps changing for weeks, and because the sun sits so low the light comes through the branches sideways and turns everything amber. The air is cold enough to make walking feel like a good idea and not so cold that you want to be indoors. If you time it for the last hour of daylight, you arrive in Soho just as the lights come on, which is a very good way to arrive anywhere.
The walk, Hyde Park to Old Compton Street
Start at the Serpentine if you have the time, because the water with the trees reflected in it is the best bit of the whole park at this time of year, and follow the path east towards Hyde Park Corner. If you are short on daylight, begin at Hyde Park Corner itself. From there it is about a mile and a third to Old Compton Street, which is roughly thirty minutes at a wandering pace, a little more if you keep stopping for photos.
Cross at Hyde Park Corner and drop into Green Park. It is the plainest of the Royal Parks, no flowerbeds, just grass and trees, and in autumn that is why it is so good. Take the path that runs along the top edge towards Piccadilly and let the planes do their thing overhead. Come out onto Piccadilly and walk east, past the arcades and the big shop windows that are starting to think about Christmas, and on to Piccadilly Circus. Turn up Shaftesbury Avenue, take the left onto Wardour Street, and Old Compton Street is the second on your right. Soho at dusk in November, with the cafe windows steamed up and the theatre crowds starting to gather, is the perfect landing after all that open green.
If you would rather stay under trees for longer, cut up through Mayfair instead and go via Berkeley Square. The plane trees there were planted in 1789 and are among the oldest in central London, and in late October they justify the detour on their own. Rejoin Regent Street at the top and cross into Soho from there. It adds about ten minutes.
Who to bring
This is a walk for company. Hyde Park is the best dog walk in central London, with off-lead space and the Serpentine for the brave ones, so if you have a dog, they will thank you for the first half at least. A friend you have not seen in a while is the other choice, because half an hour of walking side by side gets people talking in a way that sitting opposite each other never quite does. And if you are bringing a partner, an afternoon that starts with leaves and ends with pasta is hard to argue with. Wear shoes that can handle wet paths, bring a scarf, and leave the umbrella at home unless the forecast is certain, because the whole point is to be out in it.
Pumpkin ravioli, the dish at the end of the walk
Pumpkin ravioli is one of the oldest dishes in northern Italy, and it belongs to autumn the way strawberries belong to June. The original is tortelli di zucca from Mantua, in Lombardy, where the pumpkins come in from the fields in September and October. The filling is roasted pumpkin, crushed amaretti biscuits, a little mostarda, which is candied fruit in a mustardy syrup, Parmesan and nutmeg, all wrapped in fresh egg pasta and served with nothing more than melted butter and sage. The sweet and savoury mix goes back to the Renaissance courts of the Gonzaga family, and Mantua still eats it on Christmas Eve.
It is a dish for the cold months and nothing else, which is why it turns up on menus when the leaves do. Pumpkin is at its sweetest after the first frost, sage is one of the few herbs still standing in November, and brown butter is the taste of a fire you have not lit yet. Modern versions vary the filling, swap the amaretti for a splash of Amaretto or lean on Parmesan for the salt, but the shape of the thing is the same as it was five hundred years ago, and it is what you want after half an hour in the wind.
A few practical things
Aim to set off about ninety minutes before sunset, which in late October means around half past four, so you get the best light in the park and reach Soho as it goes dark. Weekday afternoons are calmer in both the park and the restaurant, but a Sunday is just as good if you start earlier. Old Compton Street is a short walk from Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road stations for the journey home, and if the weather turns halfway, Green Park station is on the route.
Pumpkin ravioli at 27 Old Compton Street
The walk ends at 27 Old Compton Street, a pasta bar in the heart of Soho built around Italy's tavola calda tradition, a hot table where fresh pasta is made to order and served in minutes. Upstairs has an open kitchen and tables looking out onto the street, and you can book ahead. Downstairs is walk-in only, with low lighting and booths, which after a cold walk is where you want to be. There are Italian wines by the glass and a short list of Italian cocktails, with alcohol-free versions, to warm up with first. Book a table upstairs or walk straight in.