1. Boord Street bus stop

This is the stop to find plenty of sculptures that you won’t forget in a hurry. Near Greenwich peninsula, walk along the Thames path and you’ll see a trio of Damien Hirst sculptures – starting with The Mermaid. This is one of his Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable exhibition and is a bronze of the familiar mythical creature. Before you arrive at the second, Antony Gormley’s Quantum Cloud is set on a plinth actually in the river. He was influenced by Basil Hiley, a quantum physicist and the sculpture is constructed from a collection of tetrahedral units made from 1.5m long sections of steel.

The second of Hirst’s bronze sculptures has to be seen to be believed. The Demon with Bowl is an enormous 18-metre bronze and is another of his Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable series. The headless figure, with its grotesque features and outstretched bowl, was inspired by ancient representations of demons and by William Blake’s The Ghost of a Flea. The final in Damien Hirst’s trilogy here is Hydra and Kali. According to the man himself “That’s a battle between the sexes, male and female, swords against serpents, but it was also about the ravages of time, the war of time as well. The snakes are based on a depiction of Hydra in a painting by Gustave Moreau. Kali is a bit mixed up; some parts come from the old Jason and the Argonauts movie, even though Kali is Hindu.”

2. National Maritime Museum bus stop

Having enjoyed the iconic sculptures, it’s now time to explore something that’s equally as impressive in its own, distinctive way. Head over to St Alfege church with its historic building and stories. It’s hard to summarise what’s so good about the place but I’ll give it a go. St Alfege Church is one of those buildings that looks impressive from the outside, but step through the door and it becomes something altogether more remarkable. There has been a church on this site for more than 1,000 years and the present Grade I listed building was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor around 1714. It was one of the first churches built under the Fifty New Churches Act and Hawksmoor’s imposing architecture certainly makes its presence felt.

But it is the people connected with St Alfege that really bring it to life. Henry VIII was baptised here in 1491, when Greenwich Palace was one of the favourite royal residences of the Tudor court. There is even a beautiful stained-glass window commemorating his baptism.

Then there is Thomas Tallis, the great Tudor composer and “Father of English Church Music”, who was buried here in 1585. Tallis served four monarchs, from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, and his connection with St Alfege is commemorated in a stained-glass window and a particularly wonderful little Tallis corner. And there, tucked away in this corner, is the historic keyboard which was probably played by Tallis himself. Standing beside it, looking at those old keys, is one of those moments when history suddenly feels remarkably close.

And let’s not forget St Alfege himself. The church stands on the traditional site of the martyrdom of Alfege, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was captured by Viking raiders in 1012 and murdered after refusing to allow his ransom to be paid. A church was established here in his memory and the site has remained a place of Christian worship ever since.

So while you’re here, look out especially for the windows commemorating Henry VIII, Thomas Tallis and St Alfege. Much of the interior was badly damaged by bombing during WWII, but the church was sensitively restored and rededicated in 1953.

I had expected St Alfege to be an interesting old church. I hadn’t expected quite so much history to be packed inside it. Kings, composers, martyrs and architects – and a keyboard that may have been played by Thomas Tallis. Definitely one of those London discoveries that rewards looking beyond the obvious.

This isn’t the only place worth a visit at this stop. Around the corner is the Stephen Lawrence Gallery, now part of the University of Greenwich. Here you’ll find currently (October 2026) a poignant exhibition devoted to Punjab’s Great War, which explores the vital roles played by Punjabi soldiers and more widely the Indian Army during WWI. At the heart of the exhibition are the newly digitised Punjab Registers, a unique collection of colonial documents recording 320,000 Punjabi servicemen. Dotted around the gallery are photos of the soldiers with explanations of what they had to endure. If you’re in the area, it’s certainly somewhere that you wouldn’t regret taking some time to discover the stories and histories of these very brave men.

3. Canada Street bus stop

Canada Water, which is where the bus stops, takes its name from the former Canada Dock, part of the vast Surrey Commercial Docks, which handled ships and cargo from Canada – particularly timber. When the docks closed in the 1970s, most of Canada Dock disappeared, leaving just the stretch of water you can see today. There’s not actually a huge amount of water left, but what remains has recently been given a new lease of life. New wetlands have been created around the dock to encourage wildlife, and weaving its way through them is the rather striking Rafter Walk – a 170-metre-long red timber boardwalk that takes its name from the rafters who worked with the timber arriving at the docks. Along the way is the Deal Porters sculpture, commemorating the dock workers who handled “deal”, the softwood timber imported from Canada (and elsewhere).

At the end of the walk is Canada Water Library, whose striking inverted-pyramid shape makes it hard to miss. I went inside, partly to see the building from the inside and partly because I had spotted something rather more important: the café serves good old-fashioned loose-leaf tea in a teapot! Sometimes it’s the little things that make a place memorable….

4. Neptune Street/St Olave’s bus stop

On the way to Southwark Park, you’ll pass a building that has a blue plaque stating that it’s the site where Sir Michael Caine was born in 1933 – at St Olave’s Hospital, Rotherhithe. The hospital was originally called Rotherhithe Infirmary and operated from 1875 for 90 years as St Olave’s. The conditions in the hospital were wretched – filth and neglect with the sick crawling with vermin (sorry if you’re faint-hearted!). It became part of Guy’s Hospital in 1966 but has since been redeveloped as housing.

In a small patch of green outside Southwark Park is the delightful Albin Memorial Garden. Originally dedicated to the Albin family, the garden is now used by many families to remember those they have loved. The garden consists of a large number of different types of memorial, from the simplest plaque to the most elaborate sanctuary memorial. It’s beautifully tranquil and a lovely place to find comfort and solace.

Round the corner is the entrance to Southwark Park and immediately in front of you is the bandstand. The Victorians saw the park as a place for nature and health rather than entertainment so it was some 10 years after the park opened that the Crown Brass Band was allowed to play on Saturdays. Initially performing on a makeshift stage, by 1883, a wooden bandstand was erected. For some reason, this was transported to Plumstead Common and replaced by a fine iron structure. The one here today is a replica of that iron one, with its historic features.

Final thing to see here in the park is the Jabez West Fountain. This was erected in memory of the temperance advocate Jabez West in 1885. He was a blacksmith’s son who worked in the leather trade but actually was better known for devoting his time to political reform and the temperance movement.

5. Druid Street bus stop

The route gets better and better. Hop off here to see the White Cube in Bermondsey, an art gallery that is currently (until 8 November 2026) exhibiting Gabriel Orozco’s Chronotopic. It brings together sculpture, painting, photography and assemblage, mixing everyday objects with ideas about time, space, chance and the natural world. There are some wonderfully odd combinations and playful pieces, so you don’t really need to understand all the theory behind it to enjoy looking at the work. The title comes from the Greek words for time and space, which is probably about as complicated as we need to get!

You can’t be in this area without visiting London Glassmaking. It’s part gallery, part working studio, with a beautiful collection of handmade glass on display, from delicate pieces to much more sculptural creations. At the back of the gallery is the working studio, where the glass is heated and shaped in the furnaces, giving visitors a glimpse of how these extraordinary pieces are made. On most Saturdays there is also the chance to watch the glassblowers at work and hear them talk about their techniques and the pieces they are creating.

It was founded in 1976 by Peter Layton, a sculptor and pioneer of the British studio-glass movement. He discovered glassblowing while teaching ceramics in the US in the 1960s, then returned to Britain determined to establish studio glass here. And remarkably, he is still working at London Glassblowing today, creating his own pieces as well as mentoring other artists.

6. Waterloo station/Tenison Way bus stop

Having experienced the beauty and serenity of White Cube and London Glassblowing exhibitions, it’s something of a contrast to find your way to Leake Street Graffiti tunnel, underneath Waterloo station. Here, the walls are covered from floor to ceiling with constantly changing graffiti and street art, with artists free to paint over each other’s work. It is one of the very few places in London where graffiti is legally permitted — and actively encouraged. The tunnel’s own rules confirm that graffiti and street art are permitted on its walls, although there are restrictions on what can be painted.

It’s colourful, chaotic and energetic — and, in its own way, just as much a living art gallery as the two very different spaces I’d visited earlier.

I’d seen some of the places on the 188 on previous routes but never had I seen them all on one day and on one journey. Each was magnificent in its own way and hard to describe the sheer joy of discovering one after the other. I appreciate that these places were my own personal choice when I was carrying out my research prior to embarking on the route, but it would be difficult to beat this. I’m hard pushed to think of another bus where every stop has a gem to explore. I think I can say with hand on heart that if you only do one TfL bus route, this is the one to go for. It’s got a bit of everything – art galleries and exhibitions galore, street art and graffiti, sculptures by some of our greatest, a church with amazing history, a glassblowing gallery and studio where you can watch the masters at work and a park with plenty to see and a serenity in the midst of the madness that we experience daily in our wonderful capital city.

Toilets that are open to the public and free of charge:

• Stephen Lawrence Gallery
• Canada Water Library
• White Cube