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
Notting Hill and Portobello Road Market
FreeCosts nothing to visit.
Portobello Road Market is London’s most famous street market, running for more than a mile through the Notting Hill neighbourhood in the west of the city. It is best known as one of the largest antiques markets in the world, but the road changes character as it goes: the antiques cluster at the southern Notting Hill Gate end, then the stalls give way to vintage and secondhand clothing, household goods, fresh produce, and street food the further along it runs. Free to browse, and one of London’s signature free days out.
Saturday is the day to come for the full market. That is when the antiques dealers are all out and the street is at its busiest, which is also when it is most crowded, so an early start beats the crush. The other draw is the setting. Notting Hill is the area of pastel-coloured terraced houses that fill most photos of the street, made famous by the 1999 film, and the surrounding streets stay free to wander on any day whether the market is on or not.
For a budget traveller the formula is simple: browse the antiques and vintage stalls for nothing, eat from the street-food rows instead of a sit-down restaurant, and photograph the pastel houses of streets like Elgin Crescent for free. Pair Portobello with London’s other free markets, Camden Market in the north, Borough Market in the south, and Brick Lane in the east, and a full day of the city costs little more than what gets eaten.
Practical
Before you go
- Address
- Portobello Road, W11 1LA 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.
Working out what London costs?
The whole of London