The road starts on the A202 at the Vauxhall Cross gyratory and heads roughly eastwards along the one-way Kennington Lane. A block eastwards, the one-way Durham Street heads south; this is a spur of the A3204 and continues the gyratory back to the A202.
Now two-way, the A3204 passes to the north of some gasholders well-known to cricket fans (The Oval is just south of here) and then crosses the A23 at a sharp angle controlled by traffic lights; indeed, turning right is prohibited in both directions. The road continues on for a short distance further before ending at traffic lights on the A3. Traffic is forced to turn left and soon reaches the Elephant and Castle.