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ArcelorMittal Orbit

You can see 49 km from here, looking south-west.

Calculating the panorama…

Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.

The view

Up to 49 km away.

Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.

60out of 100

Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).

  • 49 kmFarthest ridgelooking south-west
  • 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
  • 12Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
  • 8 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint

The 12 peaks you can name from here

From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.

Blue Bell Hill160 m · 42 km · south-eastBetsom's Hill251 m · 28 km · southBotley Hill270 m · 29 km · southColley Hill220 m · 34 km · south-westBox Hill224 m · 38 km · south-westBlackdown280 m · 71 km · south-westGibbet Hill272 m · 68 km · south-westPrimrose Hill65 m · 10 km · westParliament Hill95 m · 10 km · west

From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.

The sun

The best sunsets are in April and from July to September.

When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.

  1. Jansouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  2. Febwest6 min before the sea-level sunset25%
  3. Marwest6 min before the sea-level sunset27%
  4. Aprwest10 min before the sea-level sunset34%
  5. Maynorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset32%
  6. Junnorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset31%
  7. Julnorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset34%
  8. Augnorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset33%
  9. Sepwest6 min before the sea-level sunset35%
  10. Octwest6 min before the sea-level sunset27%
  11. Novsouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  12. Decsouth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  • Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
  • Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
  • %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).

The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.

The place

ArcelorMittal Orbit.

Sculpture and observation tower in the Olympic Park in Stratford, London

ArcelorMittal Orbit is an observation tower in United Kingdom.

On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 49 km away, looking south-west.

12 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Botley Hill (270 m), 29 km away.

The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 100% of the circle.

The skies are clearest in April and from July to September.

ArcelorMittal Orbit at night
you_only_live_twice from Lighthorne Heath, England · CC BY-SA 2.0

Get there and stay

Plan the visit

A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The viewpoint and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.

ArcelorMittal Orbit seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 26other viewpoints within 5 kmStave Hill, View of O2 Arena, Greenway and 23 more
  • 1named peaks within 5 kmOlympic Rings
  • 2cable car and funicular stations within 5 kmGreenwich Peninsula, Royal Docks
  • 29marked trails within 3 kmGreenwich Meridian Trail, Epping Forest Big Walk, Capital Ring (Section 13) and 26 more
  • 153shelters and huts within 5 kmLondon Bridge Stone Alcove and 152 more
  • 2,194car parks within 3 km
  • 8visitor centres within 5 kmInformation Point, DLR Discovery, Guest Services and 5 more
  • 773restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • 11campsites within 10 kmAbbey Wood Caravan Club Site, Scout Park, Training Field and 8 more
  • 867places to stay within 10 kmGeorge IV Regency Hotel, DoubleTree by Hilton London Angel Kings Cross, Best Western Plus Epping Forest and 864 more

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

What you see from ArcelorMittal Orbit, and what is near.

Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.

Peakyas17 mountains within 25 km
Tower Hill14 m · 5.6 kmLudgate Hill18 m · 6.7 kmPrimrose Hill65 m · 10 kmParliament Hill95 m · 10 kmCampden Hill · 13 kmDuppas Hill · 20 kmRichmond Hill · 22 kmNorthala Fields · 25 km
Lakeyas5 lakes within 15 km
West Warwick Reservoir1.1 km² · 5.4 kmLow Maynard Reservoir0.8 km² · 6.4 kmBanbury Reservoir0.5 km² · 7.5 kmWilliam Girling Reservoir1.5 km² · 11 kmKing George V Reservoir2.0 km² · 12 km
Forestyas18 forests and trees within 15 km
Oxleas Wood · 9.6 kmHighgate Wood · 11 kmChelsea Physic Garden · 12 kmSydenham Hill Wood · 12 kmDulwich Wood · 12 kmFuck Tree · 12 kmSouth London Botanical Institute · 12 kmEpping Forest · 14 km
Darkskyas6 dark-sky places within 30 km
Royal ObservatoryBortle 9 · 6.8 kmBishop ObservatoryBortle 9 · 9.9 kmUCL ObservatoryBortle 9 · 18 kmKew ObservatoryBortle 9 · 22 kmNortholt Branch ObservatoriesBortle 9 · 25 kmBayfordbury ObservatoryBortle 5 · 27 km
Cascadyas1 waterfalls within 15 km
Waterfall in Queen Mary's Gardens in London · 9.8 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The view, as people saw it.

ArcelorMittal Orbit, Olympic Park, Stratford, London29July2012
Alistair Ross · CC BY 2.0
London ArcelorMittal Orbit September 2016
Kittelträger · CC BY-SA 4.0
Arcelormittal Orbit and Olympic Stadium (14812376829)
Aleem Yousaf · CC BY-SA 2.0

Other viewpoints nearby.

ArcelorMittal Orbit

United Kingdom

  • 60Viewyas Score
  • 49 kmFarthest ridge
  • 12Peaks in view
  • 8 mAltitude

The View from The Shard

United Kingdom · 6 km

  • 63Viewyas Score
  • 66 kmFarthest ridge
  • 31Peaks in view
  • 18 mAltitude

See the guide

London Eye

United Kingdom · 8 km

  • 62Viewyas Score
  • 60 kmFarthest ridge
  • 22Peaks in view
  • 2 mAltitude

See the guide

Queen's Tower

United Kingdom · 12 km

  • 60Viewyas Score
  • 53 kmFarthest ridge
  • 21Peaks in view
  • 20 mAltitude

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q631871) · CC0
SunJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms
Peaks in viewPeakyas (Wikidata, CC0)
Panorama and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
CloudsNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Lakeyas, Forestyas, Darkskyas, Cavernyas, Cascadyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.