Borough Market
Borough Market is London's oldest food market, trading since the 13th century beneath the Victorian railway arches by London Bridge in London. Entry is free.
Market in London
Covent Garden
Partly free, partly paidSome of it costs nothing, some of it charges.
Covent Garden is a covered market and piazza in the West End, famous for street performers, independent shops, and the Royal Opera House. Free to enter and watch the performers. The Apple Market and Jubilee Market sell crafts and antiques. Budget travelers spend an afternoon watching the performers (some of the best street acts in London), browsing the stalls, and walking from here to the Strand and the Embankment.
Here is the budget angle. The piazza and the street performance cost nothing. The acts are auditioned for their pitch, so this is genuinely good free entertainment, not the random busking you find at most stations. The market halls themselves are the old Victorian building from the 1830s, kept after the fruit and vegetable traders moved out to Nine Elms in 1974. Walking in and browsing is free; the stalls and the Royal Opera House are where the spending starts.
For a no-cost route, watch the performers in the piazza, walk the covered arcade, then head down to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery (free entry), or carry on along the Strand to the Embankment and the river. If markets are your thing, Covent Garden pairs well with Borough Market across the river for street food or Camden Market to the north.
Practical
Before you go
- Address
- Covent Garden, WC2E 8RE London
- Good to know
Nearby
More in London
Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
Brick Lane
Brick Lane is the heart of London's Bangladeshi community, a curry-house spine through Shoreditch and Spitalfields that doubles as the city's loudest open-air street-art gallery. Free to walk, and one of the best-value corners of East London for a budget traveler.
British Museum
The British Museum in Bloomsbury is one of the greatest museums in the world, and entry to the permanent collection is completely free. The Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles, the Egyptian mummies, and the Enlightenment Gallery are all here.
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch and one of the city's signature free sights. Nobody pays to stand at the gates, photograph the famous balcony, or watch the Changing of the Guard, which makes it a reliable anchor for a no-cost day in central London.
Camden Market
Camden Market is a sprawling complex of connected markets, stalls, and food vendors around Camden Lock in Camden Town, north London. Free to enter, and one of the city's most visited attractions. For a budget traveler it is a full afternoon that costs nothing until the moment a street-food box is bought.
Columbia Road Flower Market
Columbia Road Flower Market is a Sunday-only street market in Shoreditch, East London, where vendors pack a narrow Victorian street with flowers, plants, bulbs, and garden supplies. Free to walk and browse, and one of the cheaper ways to spend a Sunday morning in the East End, especially when paired with Brick Lane a short walk south.
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