London's best riverside playgrounds

This sprawling play area is at its best in the summer, when the play fountains are turned on and the large sandpit becomes littered with a hundred buckets and spades. There’s an older kids’ area with a climbing frame and slide, an area for younger ones with a classic red play train, a large skate park, a popular café, and decent toilets – plus it’s right next door to Fulham Palace, the historic home of the bishops to whom the park gives its name.

Following a 2020 redesign, Vauxhall’s eponymous park offers pretty much everything you could want in a playground. Design-wise it’s nothing spectacular, but what it lacks in inventiveness it makes up for with space and variety of equipment. Half the site is dedicated to tinies – think mini trampolines and a sensory music zone – while bigger kids will love the Viking swing and castle play frame. Check out the model village while you’re there.

Sunken wooden horses, a hidden roundabout, dance chimes and a giant sandpit are just a few of the components of this idiosyncratic playground, which is sandwiched between the Palace of Westminster and Tate Britain, on a site that’s housed a play area for nearly 100 years. As well as some great bits of play kit, this toddler-geared playground boasts a drinks kiosk, a gorgeous view and – most importantly – clean toilets. We’d very happily stay all day.

The challenging climbing structure that dominates this bankside beauty means it’s generally regarded as an older kids’ playground, but there’s a decent array of toddler equipment too. That it’s reliably packed on weekends has a lot to do with its prime position – right in the shadow of the London Eye – but this impressive play spot still manages to hold its own against the lofty landmark, and a South Bank stroll wouldn’t be complete without a visit.

This small, newish play area might only offer a few toddler distractions – a baby swing, a big-kid swing, a tiny hillside slide, a mini balance course and a play boat complete with a pair of binoculars – but the relative scarcity of playgrounds in Central London makes them very welcome indeed. The park itself is a pretty spot for a picnic and with Somerset House just a five-minute walk away, this petite playground’s a must.

This unusual and vastly underrated play spot boasts a plethora of exciting equipment for younger children, from an old-school wooden pirate boat to a pair of metal walkway apparatus and a striking jumble of brightly coloured concrete blocks poised for clambering over. The beautiful Stave Hill Ecological Park is immediately behind the playground, and Surrey Docks Farm and the Brunel Museum are both just a short walk away.

This newly refurbished playground is particularly good for older ones with its challenging tower slide structure, rope bridge and Viking snake swing, but there’s still loads for younger kids to love about this place, from hillside slides to wooden playhouses and spinning cups. The adjoining Mudchute City Farm is also a must, being easily the best farm of its kind in London thanks to its variety of beasts and spectacular views over the Isle of Dogs.

One of the coolest new playgrounds to pop up in the last few years, this maritime-themed site is inclusive, sustainable and everything else a modern playscape should be. Just a short walk from Greenwich’s famously family-friendly museums in what is arguably the capital’s prettiest park, this dreamy kids’ wonderland features water pumps, bouncy boats, slides, swings, wooden tree houses and sandy rock pools. A proper destination playground.