It starts as West Cromwell Road near West Kensington tube station, continuing eastwards from Talgarth Road. It becomes Cromwell Road proper as it crosses Earl's Court Road.
It travels through South Kensington, just south of Cromwell Hospital, then past Gloucester Road and Gloucester Road tube station. It then passes to the south of a museum-academic complex named Albertopolis, including the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, Imperial College, London and the Victoria and Albert Museum, near South Kensington tube station. Near this complex, at the junction with Exhibition Road, it becomes Cromwell Gardens for a short stretch before it joins Brompton Road.