4 Best Sights in London, England

There's been a market in Borough since 1014, and this latest incarnation, spread under the arches and railroad tracks leading to London Bridge Station, is where some of the city's best food producers sell their wares, with more than 100 stalls selling food from around the world. Fresh coffees, gorgeous cheeses, chocolates, and baked goods complement the organically farmed meats, fresh fish, condiments, fruits, and vegetables. The market is divided into three areas: one for larger producers and merchants, one for small specialist produce traders, and one for street food traders, all surrounded by above-average restaurants, bars, and shops.

Don't make any other lunch plans for the day; this is where celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's scallop man cooks them fresh at Shellseekers, and Ginger Pig's free-range rare-breed sausages sizzle on grills, while for the sweets lover, there are chocolates, preserves, and Whirld's handmade fudge. The Market Hall hosts workshops, tastings, and a demonstration kitchen, and even houses an orchard. The market is open Monday through Friday 10–5, Saturday 8–5, and Sunday 10--3, though not all traders operate on all days; check the website for more details.

On weekends, a separate, highly regarded market specializing in produce and street food operates on nearby Maltby Street. It was originally established by eight breakaway Borough Market traders. There you'll find some eight stalls specializing in gyoza, sausage and mash, Ethiopian dishes, duck frites, and Venezuelan street food, plus purveyors of brownies, craft beer, local gin, and more in the surrounding railway arches.

Once home to London's main flower market, where My Fair Lady's flower girl Eliza Doolittle peddled her blooms, the square around which Covent Garden pivots is known as the Piazza. In the center, the fine old market building now houses stalls and shops selling expensive clothing, plus several restaurants, cafés, and knickknack stores that are good for gifts. One particular gem is Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop at No. 44 in the market. Established in the 1880s, it sells enchanting toy theaters. The Apple Market has good crafts stalls on most days, too. On the south side of the Piazza, the indoor Jubilee Market, with its stalls of clothing, army surplus gear, and more crafts, feels more like a flea market.

In summer, it may seem that everyone in the huge crowds around you in the Piazza is a fellow tourist, but there's still plenty of office life in the area. Londoners who shop here tend to head for Neal Street and the area to the north of Covent Garden Tube station, rather than the market itself. In the Piazza, street performers—from foreign musicians to jugglers and mimes—play to the crowds, as they have done since the first English Punch and Judy show, staged here in the 17th century.

Looking for a 19th-century snuff spoon? Perhaps a Georgian salt cellar? What about a 1960s-era minidress? Then head to Portobello Road's famous Saturday market—and arrive at about 9 am to avoid the giant crowds. Stretching almost 2 miles from Notting Hill, the market is made up of four sections, each with a different emphasis: antiques, fresh produce, household goods, and a flea market. The antiques stalls are packed in between Chepstow Villas and Westbourne Grove, where you'll also find almost 100 antiques shops plus indoor markets, which are open on weekdays, when shopping is much less hectic. Where the road levels off, around Elgin Crescent, youth culture and a vibrant neighborhood life kicks in, with a variety of interesting small stores and food stalls interspersed with a fruit-and-vegetable market.

On Friday and Saturday, the section between Talbot Road and the Westway elevated highway becomes one of London's best flea markets, specializing in discounted new household goods, while north of the Westway, you'll find secondhand household goods and bric-a-brac. Scattered throughout, but especially under the Westway, are vendors selling a mishmash of designer, vintage, and secondhand clothing, together with jewelry, custom T-shirts, and assorted junk. There's a Trinidad-style Carnival centered on Portobello Road on the late August bank-holiday weekend, a tribute to the area's past as a center of the West Indian community.

West London's answer to Borough Market, this Saturday open-air market is in a pedestrian-only plaza off Duke of York Square, a chic shopping precinct. It hosts eight restaurants and 17 stalls purveying locally sourced food products. Like Borough Market, this is a grazer's paradise, giving you the chance to sample gourmet fish-and-chips and Chinese dumplings as well as delicious street food from countries ranging from Peru to Jamaica.