Start your day early at the famous Portobello Street Market in Notting Hill (yes, as in the same Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant) which is open on Saturdays from 8am to 6pm. The earlier you get there, the better! It starts getting really crowded after 10am. It's London's biggest market, and stretches more than 2 miles down Portobello Road. The market is split up into sections: antiques, fashion, produce, new goods, and second hand goods. If I had a spare Saturday in London I could and would easily spend the whole day there.
After Portobello Market make your way to Camden Town, and attempt to take in it's 1000+ stalls and shops (most of which are open daily from 10am-6pm). The lively and colorful Camden Markets has a unique atmosphere (much different from the rest of London) and there's no shortage in things to do. I loved all the clothes and shoe stalls/shops, but I have to say that my favorite purchase was a Banksy replica art piece. If you're not familiar with Banksy, he's an internationally known British street artist that isn't shy about conveying and combining his political views with dark humor. I'm a fan of his stenciling technique, and always keep an eye out for his work in any big city that I go to.
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| The canal in Camden |
Next stop is Oxford Circus. Oxford Street is one of the busiest shopping streets in Europe, it features many internationally known stores like H&M and Topshop. Make sure you find your way to Primark. Just a heads up, it's a jungle in there! There's always a ton of people and long lines but their prices makes it worthwhile. Think of H&M and Forever 21 type clothes but even cheaper!
Finish your day in Knightsbridge, where you can find the famous Harrod's department store. Sure, it's ridiculously expensive and I can barely afford a Harrod's keychain but it's still worth a visit even if you just window shop. Personally, I can spend a number of hours here (without even buying anything) to just browse through their many displays/exhibitions, word on the street is that they'll have a Harry Potter exhibit soon (I'm a fan so I'm super excited), take pictures, or go to one of their 32 restaurants, ice cream parlors, tea shops. Harrod's motto is: "All things for all people, everywhere," and with 330 departments it seems fitting.
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| Christmas in Harrod's |
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| The Princess Diana tribute, one of Harrod's many exhibits |
If you find yourself with extra time during the day, other shopping areas of interest are Covent Gardens and SoHo.
If you're in the exact opposite situation and ran out of time before getting rid of the shopaholic bug, London Heathrow Airport has a decent selection of stores that you can get your last minute shopping fix at. They even have a mini Harrod's store, and their prices are the same if not slightly less than the original store. I know you're probably thinking that airport shopping is expensive…but most stores at Heathrow are actually cheaper because of duty free.
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For example, Longchamp…if you've read some of our previous blogs, you'd know that we are huge fans of their foldable totes (they make perfect travel bags). With a 4 hour flight delay, we ended up sitting in front of the terminal's Longchamp store, which for us is bad news bears. Surprisingly, they had the cheapest prices we've seen (gotta love that duty free price), and of course we jumped at the opportunity. Talk about the "ripple effect" in motion, once one person bought a bag, everyone else followed. Our group of 17 each bought at least one purse (many bought multiple). It's safe to say that their next commission check is going to very pretty, so you're welcome Longchamp employees!
And if you're interested in London's fall trends, here are the top 3:
1. Wellington boots aka "wellies"
3. Colorful tights worn under shorts
We LOVE to shop til we drop, so you can expect more of our international shopping guides soon. Cheers!
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