By Harry Nara · Last updated
- First race daySaturday 24 April 2027
- Second race daySunday 25 April 2027
- Where
- Greenwich Park to The Mall, Westminster
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- April
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
The 2027 race runs across two consecutive days, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April, for the first and only time in its history, with 100,000 participants divided between them and the identical course used on both. The organiser states that the elite, Championship and Good for Age races will be split by sex across the two days, with the day assignments due to be announced at the end of September 2026; until that is published, treat which race falls on which day as unsettled. The public ballot for this edition has already been drawn and results were emailed to entrants on 10 July 2026. Saturday carries a cut-off of 7 hours 45 minutes, with the finish closing at 17:30.
Unless you already hold a place, you are watching this one rather than running it, because the ballot for this edition was drawn well over a year ahead. That is less of a loss than it sounds. Watching costs nothing, needs no arrangement at all, and this is the most unusual edition the race will ever stage: it runs across two consecutive days instead of one, on the same course both times. For a visitor that means a whole weekend of closed roads rather than a single morning, and thinner crowds at any given point than a normal year.
What London Marathon actually is
One of the six World Marathon Majors, run from Greenwich Park through the length of the city to a finish by St James’s Park. The course loops around the Cutty Sark between miles six and seven, comes up through Rotherhithe and Bermondsey to cross Tower Bridge just short of halfway, then heads east along The Highway into the Docklands and Canary Wharf before returning along the Victoria Embankment. Almost every metre of it is public street you can stand beside for nothing.
What makes this edition different is that it happens twice. The organiser is staging it across two consecutive days for the first and only time, with 100,000 participants divided between them and the identical route used on both. The elite, Championship and Good for Age races are being split by sex across the two days, although which falls on which had not been published when this page was written.
Where to watch London Marathon
- The Cutty Sark, between miles six and seven. The course loops around the ship, which makes a tight corner, a deep crowd and runners still fresh enough to look like they are enjoying themselves. It is the most photographed point of the early race and the hardest place to reach the barrier.
- Tower Bridge, just short of halfway. The set piece. Runners climb up from Bermondsey and cross the river with the towers overhead, and it is the loudest stretch of the day. Come early or accept a view of the back of someone’s head.
- Canary Wharf, after thirteen miles. The most underrated stand on the course. The route threads between the towers, the noise comes straight back off the glass, and this is where the race stops being enjoyable for the people in it, which is when support is worth most.
- The Victoria Embankment, in the closing miles. The field comes along the river from Tower Hill and turns right by Westminster Bridge with about a mile to go. Long sightlines, and you get to watch people work out that they are going to finish.
- Rotherhithe or Bermondsey, if you want to see an actual person. Thin crowds, close to the road, easy to leave afterwards. Landmarks are for photographs; these streets are where you can pick one runner out of the field and be seen back.
Tickets and what it costs
There is nothing to buy. The route is open kerbside for almost its whole length, so the only currency a spectator spends is turning up early, and no paid enclosure on this course is better placed than the barrier at a good corner.
Getting in to run is the hard part, and the ballot is the main route. It opens and is drawn a long way ahead, and entrants for this edition were told the outcome more than a year before race day, so entering is a decision about a future trip rather than part of booking the one in front of you. The routes that skip the ballot are official charity places, which carry a fundraising commitment, Good for Age and Championship entry for runners with a qualifying time, and overseas tour operator packages that bundle a guaranteed place with a hotel.
Official information and booking: www.londonmarathonevents.co.uk/london-marathon
Getting there
The course crosses the Thames and closes the bridges it uses, Tower Bridge among them, along with the approach roads on both banks. That is the part of the day that catches people out. Moving around within either bank is awkward; moving between them, anywhere near the middle of the city, is the thing that simply will not work by road.
Underground and DLR lines pass beneath all of it untouched, which makes the tunnels the only river crossings nobody can shut. Any journey that has to change banks should be planned as a train journey and nothing else, and a bus route or a cab across the middle is a guess rather than a plan.
For anyone in the city that weekend with no interest in the race at all, the two-day format is the part worth knowing. A normal year costs one Sunday morning. This one takes both days, so a hotel on the wrong bank is awkward twice over. The compensation is that the spectators are divided between the two days as well, so a landmark that is hopeless in a normal year may only be busy.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Assuming you can enter for the year you are visiting
The ballot is drawn more than a year before race day. By the time a trip is being planned the places have gone, so running it is a decision about the year after next.
Arriving at Tower Bridge late
It is the best known spot on the course and it fills first. Turning up shortly before the runners means watching from four rows back.
Booking a hotel on the wrong bank
Being across the river from where you need to be is the one problem the Underground can solve and a taxi cannot, because the bridges the course uses are shut. This edition creates it on two consecutive days rather than one.
Treating the two days as interchangeable
Runners take part on one day only, and the elite and qualifying races are divided between the two. If you have come to see a particular race, find out which day it falls on before booking anything.
Standing at the finish to see someone you know
The Mall is the most congested point of the whole route and the runners arriving there look nothing like themselves. Somewhere quieter earlier on is a better place to actually be seen.
Other London events
Frequently asked questions
Why is the London Marathon running over two days?
To fit more people in. The organiser is staging it across two consecutive days for the first and only time, with 100,000 participants divided between them, after ballot demand ran far beyond what a single day could hold. The course is identical on both days, and runners take part on one of them rather than both.
Can you watch the London Marathon for free?
Yes, and there is no paid alternative worth considering. Almost the whole route is public pavement, which means the thing you spend is time rather than money: the good ground at Tower Bridge and the Cutty Sark is taken long before the runners reach it, while a stretch of Bermondsey stays open all morning and puts you close enough to be heard.
Where is the best place to watch the London Marathon?
It depends what you want. Tower Bridge just short of halfway is the spectacle and the noise, and it fills earliest. The Cutty Sark loop between miles six and seven is the best early crowd. Canary Wharf after thirteen miles is the most underrated, because the sound comes back off the towers and the runners need it by then. If you are there to see one particular person rather than a field, stand in Rotherhithe or Bermondsey instead, where you can get to the front and be seen back.
How do you get a place in the London Marathon?
The public ballot is the main door and it shuts a very long way ahead, far enough that it has never once been available to someone already booking a trip. Every other route asks for something first: a fundraising target in exchange for an official charity place, a time you have already run in exchange for Good for Age or Championship entry, or the cost of a tour operator package that bundles a guaranteed place with a hotel.
Does the London Marathon disrupt London?
The river crossings are the part that matters. The course runs from Greenwich through the Docklands to Westminster and goes over Tower Bridge, so the bridges it uses close along with their approaches, and this edition holds that for both days of a weekend rather than one morning. Underground and DLR services run beneath it all and are unaffected, so the question to ask about any plan that weekend is not how far it goes but whether it changes banks.
Sources
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.