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Portobello Road Market

William Barton/Shutterstock

Shoppers walking past antique shops on a street with antiques on display and shopfronts in pastel colors

Popularized by the movie Notting Hill, this huge and charming market attracts swarms of tourists to its filming locations and quaint shops. Several markets in one, the real draws are the 1000 traders selling vintage clothes, antiques, bric-a-brac, street food and household items on a half-mile stretch of street.

South Portobello Road

People walking past a clothing stand at Portobello Market in London, UK.
People walking past a clothing stand at Portobello Market in London, UK. sergiomendes/Shutterstock

Pastel-colored buildings and cute historic storefronts selling maps, comics, records and Western gear give way to antiques, handmade jewelry, paintings and ethnic market traders at the Notting Hill Gate end of Portobello Rd (roughly from Chepstow Villas as far as Elgin Cres on the west and Colville Tce to the east)

A shopper looking at retro signs at a shop on Portobello Road in London, UK.
A shopper looking at retro signs at a shop on Portobello Road in London, UK. Alex Segre/Shutterstock

Middle Portobello Road

The stalls dip somewhat downmarket and become more workaday as you move north from Elgin Cres to Talbot Rd – find fruit and veg, secondhand clothing, cheap household goods and bric-a-brac. In and around the area below the Westway, more stalls dispense modern fashion and shoes.

Portobello Road Market, a famous antiques street market in Notting Hill in west London
Crowds of people and stalls at Portobello Road Market. William Barton/Shutterstock William Barton/Shutterstock

Upper Portobello Rd

The enclosed Portobello Green Arcade, with its cutting-edge clothing and jewelry outlets, is a pleasant respite from all the hullabaloo. To the north is vintage clothes heaven, although don't expect items to be cheap (try your luck haggling).

Street food at the Portobello Road Market in London, UK.
Street food at the Portobello Road Market in London, UK. barmalini/Shutterstock

To the northeast is a little lane with a cluster of a couple of dozen street food outlets, serving up everything from Thai food and burritos to Himalayan momo dumplings and Caribbean goat. If you still haven’t had your fill, move further north to the quieter market stretch by Goldborne Rd for household gems, from silver spoons and pink metal garden pelicans to vintage boxing gloves.

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