Notting Hill and Portobello Road

Notting Hill is one of London's most charming neighbourhoods, and Portobello Road Market runs through the heart of it. The area grew in the nineteenth century as a smart suburb of stucco terraces and private garden squares, declined into multicultural, bohemian West London in the twentieth, when Caribbean communities shaped its character and founded the Notting Hill Carnival, and has since become one of the city's most desirable addresses. The famous pastel-painted houses on streets around Portobello Road, and the 1999 film that took the neighbourhood's name, have made it a magnet for photographers. Portobello Road Market dates to the nineteenth century and is one of London's oldest. It runs for more than a mile and changes character as you walk. At the southern end, near Notting Hill Gate, antiques and collectables dealers fill the arcades and pavements, especially on Saturdays, the main trading day. In the middle stretch come fruit and vegetable stalls, which trade most days, and food stalls on Fridays and Saturdays. Under the Westway flyover and toward Golborne Road, the market turns to vintage clothing, records, bric-a-brac and street food, with Golborne Road itself known for its North African and Portuguese cafes. The neighbourhood around it is a pleasure in its own right: independent bookshops, delis and cafes, the Electric Cinema, among the oldest working cinemas in Britain, and quiet streets of colourful houses. It costs nothing to wander, and the best way to visit is a Saturday morning, arriving early before the crowds peak.

A good route: start at Notting Hill Gate station, walk down Pembridge Road and turn onto Portobello Road, browsing the antiques arcades first while dealers are setting out their best pieces. Detour onto the side streets, such as Westbourne Park Road, Lancaster Road and the roads around them, for the pastel terraces, remembering that these are private homes and residents appreciate discretion from photographers. Continue north past the food stalls to the Westway and Golborne Road, where Trellick Tower, Erno Goldfinger's brutalist landmark, rises at the end of the street. Ladbroke Grove station is a convenient exit. Allow two to three hours on a Saturday, less on other days, when the market is smaller but the shops and cafes still make the walk worthwhile.

When to go matters more here than almost anywhere. Saturday is the big day, with the full antiques market and the most atmosphere, but also crowds that can make the narrow pavements slow going by late morning. Friday is a good compromise, with many stalls and fewer people. Sundays and weekdays are quiet. The Notting Hill Carnival, held over the August bank holiday weekend, is one of the largest street festivals in Europe, a riot of steel bands, sound systems and costume parades, and a completely different experience from a market visit.

Haggling is acceptable with antiques dealers, within reason, and cash can help. For lunch, the street food stalls, Golborne Road's cafes and the gastropubs of the neighbourhood are all good choices. Notting Hill pairs well with Kensington Palace and Kensington Gardens, a short walk south, making a full west London day of markets, palace and park. If you have more time, the neighbouring streets of Westbourne Grove and Ledbury Road hold boutiques, galleries and cafes that feel a world away from the busy market, and the canal at Little Venice is a pleasant walk to the east. Notting Hill rewards repeat visits, and even on a weekday, when the market is thin, the architecture and the independent shops make an hour's stroll worthwhile, with good coffee never more than a few doors away.