Walk in London and you are spoilt for choice. You have the run of 45,000 acres of open space, from Royal parks to woods, commons and forest. For waterside walks, you have 67 miles of paths on either side of the Thames plus more than 100 miles of newly cleaned up canals and inland waterways. And this is before you plot your route through more than 80,000 streets.

It is green and surprisingly compact in the centre, with most of the best-known tourist sights in Westminster and the City of London close enough together to explore comfortably on foot in a couple of days.

Outside the centre, hundreds of parks, open spaces and London "villages" are easily accessible by public transport, including Richmond and Greenwich Parks, Wimbledon Common and Epping Forest, Hampstead, Highgate, Dulwich and Barnes.

But many of London's best architectural and historical treasures are off the beaten tourist track, through its Georgian and Victorian streets, along its secret inland waterways and rivers curving down to the Thames.

London's pleasures are often small-scale - discovering a park with grandstand views of the city, a market in full swing in a back street, an intriguing shop or a pub with a beer garden as you walk, unexpected glimpses of the Canary Wharf Tower from Hilly Fields in Lewisham or the dome of St Paul's Cathedral from Hampstead Heath.

The interest is in peeling back the layers of history of an area, watching for clues to previous inhabitants and industries and signs of renewal and regeneration, as new people move in.

Even the shabbiest and most unpromising parts of the city yield surprises. Little can beat the sudden sight of the red and green Moorish domes of the redundant Abbey Mills Pumping Station rising above the shabby Victorian terraces of Stratford and West Ham as you walk along the Bow Back Rivers in east London.

The dizzying variety of London's domestic architecture is on show everywhere, from well-preserved Victorian squares like Walcot Square in Kennington near the Imperial War Museum, to the brightly painted Victorian terraces of Leverton Street in Kentish Town and the Georgian streetscape of South Grove in Highgate.

This page is your passport to discovering London on foot. Every month you will find a new walk, designed to undercover the city and introduce you to different routes and perspectives. Some of the walks will be urban, taking you through the most densely built-up inner city. Others will be green and rural, making the most of London's huge tracts of open space and green belt land.

All you need are a good pair of boots (London terrain is very varied and pavement walking can be hard on the feet) and an A-Z of London.

Some walks will be circular and some linear. For more details of routes and timetables visit Transport for London (bus, tube and DLR) or National Rail Enquiries (trains). Mileages and times are approximate and do not include detours or refreshment stops.

London is generally a safe city. In 15 years of walking, I have never had trouble. But be sensible. Avoid wearing obviously expensive watches or jewellery, especially in poorer areas and carry money, cards, keys and mobiles in separate pockets or different bags rather than in an obvious handbag.

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