Covent Garden

What we love…

• The city's second busiest gathering place—outdoor cafe's, restaurants, and bars make it easy to piss away the afternoon shopping and drinking at a local pub.
• This hood has a long history dating back to the 13th Century when it got its name for the 40 acres of land that was an actual garden feeding the Covent, or Abbey of St. Peter at Westminster.
• The former vegetable market is beautiful with it's arched roof and stone floor. It houses many tea and sweet shops, London clothing brands, and plenty of street performers to entertain. 
• Outside the main market area there's great shopping. Alongside some of London's heritage brands you'll also find trendy favorites like Opening Ceremony, Cath Kidston, Rokit, The Vintage Showroom, Poste Mistress, and London Graphic Design Centre. Since they're all within a densely packed area, you can cover a lot of ground easily.

TIP

• The Covent Garden tube stop isn't really built for the traffic the neighborhood gets. Be prepared to either wait a ridiculous amount of time for one of the two elevators to take the crowds up to ground level, or get ready to climb almost 200 winding steps straight up—trust us you're gonna want to wait for the elevator.