Real London Shopping - Covent Garden

Once your bring up shopping in London, numerous major store names such as Harrods, Selfridges and Debenhams will fly through the room. These are the major stores located on Oxford Street and filled with tourists.

For the real London shopping you might need a little help on where to look.
Not that the high street stores are bad, not at all. However if you want to find something special, whilst having fun this is not the place to be.

One of my personal favorites is the Covent Garden area, filled with nice shops and small boutiques. And as je majority of the tourists only visit the Covent Garden Piazza, the north side of the area is not as crowded as you would expect.

I’ve created a route which will take you through the area; however I would recommend not sticking to the route, and exploring the red area on the map, as this area is flocked with small streets and alleys. Just make sure you stay within the marked area on the map.

If you prefer not to walk the route and just to visit the shopping area, I would recommend to get off the tube at Covent Garden tube station and work your way around the shopping district. Take into account that it can be very busy in the weekends.

Point of Interest.
- Neal’s Yard Salad Bar, if you can find it! (Marked 7 on the map)
This cozy tucked away yard makes you forget that you are in London, as this colorful yard is filled with oil drums and  tables gives you the feeling you are somewhere in south America. The perfect place to get a fresh salad or juice, and just enjoy the area somewhere in the yard.

-         Seven Dails

Seven dials is situated around the sundial pillar which is situated in the middle of the seven surrounding streets. A very nice area with lots of shops and boutiques. The area is very pedestrian friendly and you will only see a few cars in this area, which makes is a very suitable area for socializing on the streets in front of pubs within the area.

-         Covent Garden Piazza

The former vegetable market within Covent garden known as the Piazza houses a range of small shops and houses numerous performing street artists which perform their tricks in and around the market.
Take into account that this is a very busy and touristic area.

Covent Garden Pubs
Once you are in the Covent garden area, don’t forget to get a pint in one of the many pubs, such as “The Crown” on the Seven Dails roundabout, “The White Lion” or “The Nags Head” both on floral street. If you are in the area during dinnertime, you can also have a very good and relatively cheap dinner in one of these pubs.

Covent Garden Route

1. Once you exit the tube station Leicester square, walk west past the Wyndham’s Theatre and towards the New Row street which contains a large number of pubs and restaurants. Cross the road into King Street until you get to the Piazza.

2. On you right hand side is the square which is known for its performing street artist. Take into account that each show lasts around half an hour so be aware.

3. The two story Piazza is the main attraction on the square, however don’t forget the numerous stores which are located around the Piazza. A nice tip if you are travelling with children, located near the back of the square you can find the London Transport Museum and Build a Bear Workshop, in which you can create your own personal teddy bear. These are very nice gifts, however do take into account that these bears are not cheap!

4. After exploring the piazza square, you should exit the square on the north side towards floral street. Keep going straight ahead until you reach Neal Street.


5. Once you’re in Neal Street you should stroll around as the area is covered with small boutiques and stores. I personally got some really nice gifts at the Urban Outfitters and the Shelly’s shoe-store. 
The route does not really matter, however make sure you get to the Seven Dails Pillar.


6.  From the pillar walk north into Monmouth street, follow the road until you reach a small alley on you right-hand side, which is covered with “painted” plants, the sign should read Neal’s Yard. Enter the alley and find yourself a hidden paradise, get yourself a fresh juice and enjoy the area whilst sipping on those vitamins. This is a great place to escape the busy Covent Garden area, especially in the summer.


From here you can either decide to go shopping as you have seen most of Covent Garden, or you can decide to walk back towards the starting point via China Town.

So if you want to shop, stop reading and get your shopping on! Or continue reading if you want to continue the tour.


7. Exit Neal’s Yard and turn right on Short Gardens towards and past Seven Dials pillar. You will reach the busy crossing of Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue. Follow Shaftbury Avenue towards the west, go left on the first road on your left (Gerrard Place) follow the road and on your right hand side you will see the Chinatown Gate.

8.  The Main street in china town is called Gerrard Street, however all street names are also displayed in Chinese.

TIP: For the people, who would like to eat real Chinese food, check the number of Chinese people within the restaurant, the more Asians the better the food.

I personally go love to eat at “Super Star” in Lisle Street (purple front), ask for the chef’s special menu and you will get a delicious Traditional Chinese meal for less than €20,-.

9. Follow the street until you reach the only side street, as this street houses the famous “De Hems” Dutch pub. 
This is tip is especially for the Dutch readers as this is the place where you can meet other Dutchies which live in London, eat kroketten, and celebrate Dutch holidays such as Sinterklaas and Queensday.

Exit on Gerrard Street and walk south towards Leicester Square. Here you will get to the point where you started the tour.

I hope you've enjoyed the walk and have found some new places you did not know about before.

Cheers,

London I - How to get there

London Calling? I will start of with the beautiful city of London, located within the United Kingdom and home to over 7,5 million people.  I have lived in London twice, and I loved it from the very first day.
From the English breakfast to the Oxfort Street Christmas lights until the late night pints in the Pub.
London is the place you must visit!

I will post a number of posts on London, in which I will talk about a specific subject. As otherwise I will be all over the place, loading you with information. So the first part will be on how to get to London, how to book your accommodation and how to travel the city.

I. How to get there

Depending on your location there are numerous ways to travel to London, the easiest way is to travel by plane, however from the European mainland there's also the possibility to travel by boat, train or by car. I will mainly focus on air travel as this is the most applicable for the majority of the readers.

Personnally I have used all of the above ways of transportation, and I will also state my personal experiences with each type of transport.



Airplane
London has five airports which makes it a very suitable destination to reach by plane.
I personally prefer this way of travel by far, as it is the quickest and most of the time the cheapest option as well.


- Heatrow is the biggest airport and possibly the destination for non European citizens as this airport covers the majority of the incontinental flights. Once you arrive on Heatrow airport, the quickest way to get to the city is by tube (metro) by using the Heatrow shuttle express you can get on four tube-lines which will take you directly to the city centre.
Probably the most preferred airport due to the good connection and the large number of flights.


- Gatwick the second biggest airport, however Gatwick does not have a direct tube connection. However the airport train will take you to the city in no time.


- Luton & Stansted are both smaller airports located further away from the city, however these airports are mainly focused on budget airlines. So when looking for a cheap flight look for either one of these two airports. There is no direct tube connection, however there is an train connection which will get you to the city in 20 minutes. If you have some time and you want to save some pounds get on the bus to the city centre.
Possible coach companies are: Terravision, National Express and Easybus.

- City Airport the smallest airport of them all, however the most central located within the city.
The airport is specialized in smaller aircrafts however this is the absolute best if you want to get to the city fast. During the weekends you might get some cheap flights towards city airport.

I personally flew on City airport once, however it was absolutely perfect, as you do not have to taxi for miles, little till no waiting time to get your luggage, and your in the tube only minutes after you left the airplane.

Train
Depending on your location within western Europe you can choose to travel to London by train. The Eurostar and the Thalys will take you from Paris to London within 3 hours. Depending on the time of the year, you might get some fairly good deals.



Boat
There are numerous ferries which can take you from the European mainland toward the United Kingdome within a few hours. The boat is a good way of transportation if you want to bring a lot of luggage.

Personally I used the ferry once, I took the Stena Line HSS Discovery which was the High speed catamaran, which is taken out of the fleet due to it's high costs.
I made the choice to take the ferry when I finished my first internship in London, and had to go back to the Netherlands with loads of luggage.

We travelled with a group and the connection from London to Harwich went very well.
Once on board everything when fairly quick, the boat took us within 3,5 hours from Harwick to Hook of Holland. However a few of my groupmembers got seasick during the trip.

So my recommendation would be, only use the boat if you want to bring a lot of luggage, and do not take the ferry if you easily get seasick.



Car
You can get to London by car, by using the channel tunnel from Calais to Dover. This is a good way of transport if you want to bring a lot of luggage, however take into account that you have to drive on the left side of the road, you are not allowed to use the channel tunnel if your car runs on LPG, and that you have to pay for every single day if you want to use your car within London city limits.