Portobello Road Market
The world's largest antiques market, free to wander, a mile of stalls winding through pastel Notting Hill from vintage finds to street food.
The lowdown
Portobello Road runs for the better part of a mile through Notting Hill, past rows of those famous pastel-painted houses, and on a Saturday it becomes the largest antiques market in the world. Walking it is free, and you could spend hours just looking without buying a thing.
The market changes character as you go. The southern end by Notting Hill Gate is all antiques and bric-a-brac, silver, old cameras, prints and curiosities. Further north it shifts to fruit and veg, then vintage clothes and a brilliant run of street food under the Westway flyover.
It is touristy, yes, made more so by the Hugh Grant film, but it is also a genuine working market with real dealers and real bargains if you dig. A free, colourful and gloriously chaotic London morning.
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