Travel

Historic City Of London

Activities/Recreation/Things To Do:

5.Shopping:
One of the world's great metropolises, anything and everything you could possibly want to buy is available in London, if you know where to look, and if you can afford it (London is not particularly noted for bargain shopping, owing to high prices and high exchange rates - though it can be done with some determination!) Central London, and especially the West End, has a number of world-famous shopping areas and streets:

A.Oxford Street: London's main shopping street home to flagship branches of all the major UK high street retailers in one go - including Selfridges and other department stores.
B.Bond Street One of the intersections with Oxford Street and is home to some of the world's most luxurious designer labels such as D&G, Versace, Cartier, Louis Vuitton & Jimmy Choo.
C.Camden Town - alternative clothing and retail, popular with teenagers and young adults. Camden Lock market is always worth a visit.
D.Soho - For alternative music, clothes.
E.Covent Garden - Fashionable district home to quaint outlets and relatively expensive designer retail. Neal Street in the heart of Covent Garden is considered a haven for shoe shopping. Chain stores around the Seven Dials area include G Star Raw, Adidas Originals, Fred Perry, All Saints, Stussy and Carhartt. The Market area is home to the London Transport Museum, whose gift shop has some of the best souvenirs in the city (vintage Tube posters, old maps, etc).
F.Knightsbridge: including Harrods the slightly more expensive retailer, and Harvey Nichols.
G.Chelsea - the King's Road is noted for fashion, homewares and kids.
H.Regent Street: between Oxford and Piccadilly Circuses - includes such gems as Hamleys, considered to be London's flagship toy store, on seven levels, and the London Apple Store.
I.Tottenham Court Road: specialising in interior decorations and electronics.
J.Charing Cross Road - for book stores, new, specialised and antiquarian.
K.Markets - London has plenty, whether you're looking for bric-a-brac, clothes or fresh food, try Portobello, Brick Lane, Greenwich, and Borough for starters. Borough Market (London Bridge tube stop) is a great (if expensive) food market, offering fruit, veg, cheese, bread, meat, fish, and so on, much of it organic. It's open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and it's best to go in the morning, since it gets unpleasantly crowded by around 11am. Spitalfields is an excellent market for clothes from up-and-coming designers, records, housewares, food, and all things trendy.
L.Leicester Square - London is a famous place for musicals, but it is quite hard to get a ticket for it. However, if you go to Leicester Square, there is this district where you can get many half-price tickets for all of the musicals showing in London - in the centre of the square you will find the "TKTS" booth which is operated in collaboration with all the major theatres, and is the best place to start when looking for cheap theatre tickets. As this is one of the more touristy areas of the city, if you're looking for a real London experience, avoid Leicester Square.

Central London shops are usually open late at least one night a week, until 7PM-8PM. West End shops (Oxford Street to Covent Garden) stay open until late on Thursdays, while Wednesday evening is late opening for Chelsea and Knightsbridge.Tax-free shops in airports are not strong in variety, prices are equal to London, and they close rather early as well. Shop listings at airport web sites can help to plan your tax-free (vs traditional) shopping. In the evening allow extra half an hour as closing hours are not always strictly respected.

6.Eating Out:
Unfortunately, London is quite possibly the world's most expensive city to eat in. But this survey hides the fact that there are plenty of good value, even cheap places to eat - you just have to know where to look. Prices inevitably become inflated at venues closest to major tourist attractions - beware the so-called "tourist traps". Notorious areas for inflated menu prices trading on travellers' gullibility and lack of knowledge are the streets around Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, the British Museum and the Palace of Westminster. The worst "tourist trap" food is, in the opinion of many Londoners, that served at the various "Steak Houses". Real Londoners wouldn't dream of eating here - you shouldn't either! London has many fast food outlets. Sandwich shops are London's most popular places to buy lunch, and there are a lot of places to choose from. More upmarket chains such as Eat and Pret a Manger offer ready-made sandwiches made with quality ingredients--the latter of these, especially, is recommended. Other independent shops will make sandwiches to order, but depending on where you go the product may not be as large as you expect. Some Italian sandwich shops have a very good reputation and you can identify them easily by looking at the long queues at lunchtime. And if all else fails, there's likely to be a Subway nearby (often connected to an easyInternetCafe in case you need to check your email). Another good (and cheap) lunch option is a chicken or lamb doner (you might call it a gyro) at many outlets throughout the city. If all else fails, the central area has lots of mini-supermarkets operated by the big British supermarket chains (e.g. Tesco Metro, Sainsbury's Central etc.) where you can pick up a pre-packed sandwich.If you are looking for particular nationalities these tend to be clustered in certain areas: Brick Lane is famously known for curries, but for a better quality meal (and cheaper) Tooting has a far better reputation. For a collection of good value Indian Vegetarian restaurants, go to Drummond Street (just behind Euston railway station). There's Chinatown (Soho) for Chinese, Kingsland Road (Shoreditch) for good cheap Vietnamese, Brixton for African/Caribbean, Golders Green for Jewish and Edgware Road (Marylebone) for Middle Eastern cuisine. Other nationalities are equally represented, but are randomly dotted all over London.

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