London in a week-end
Duration: 2 days, moving around by tube
If the clock is ticking and you have only two days to spend in London, the best way is to visit it from west to east or the other way round, depending on where you are sleeping.
DAY 1 –
Portobello Road Market
Starting from 9am, the long road that cuts through the neighbourhood of Notting Hill from north to south is filled with stalls which attract over a hundred thousand visitors a week. Open daily with stalls of vegetables and vintage clothing, on Friday and Saturday, it blooms in all its splendour thanks to the antique stalls. Do not miss the treasures hidden in the arcades and exhibition spaces on the ground floor of each building. One of the largest is 145 Portobello Road, inside which you can find many stands of vintage items.
Walk up the north end of the market, Acklam Village, pass under the overpass and turn right.
Here you will find excellent street food and a covered lounge area where you can enjoy live music during the weekend. It is a secret place!
Tube: Ladbroke Grove (Hammersmith & City Lines) or Notting Hill Gate, which is on the Central, Circle and District lines.
Victoria & Albert Museum
Image Copyright: Christine Matthews
You can then move on to Exhibition Road, the street with the highest concentration of museums in London. These include the National History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum, all free!
Tube: South Kensington
Hyde Park
After walking the length and breadth of the museums, you can take a stop at the number one park in central London, where you can hire a rowing boat, stop to listen to the speakers at Speaker’s Corner or simply rest your feet. In addition, if you are interested in the arts, the Serpentine and Serpentine Sackler galleries host some of the best exhibitions of the London art scene.
Tube: Lancaster Gate
Soho
Soho is home to shopping and capital sins Among the many boutiques of Carnaby Street you will find some souvenirs; alternatively visit Liberty, the historic downtown department store within walking distance of Oxford Street.
Tube: Piccadilly Circus. Oxford Circus. Tottenham Court Road.
DAY 2
Trafalgar Square
Image copyright: TheLondonSalad
A trip to Trafalgar Square and a short visit to the National Gallery is worthwhile! If you’ve got the time, take a quick look at the ground floor of the National Portrait Gallery. Do not forget the church of St. Martin-In-The-Fields, at least externally. Difficult to imagine now, surrounded as it is by traffic, streams of tourists and buildings, that its original setting was literally in the fields between Westminster and the city of London.
Tube: Charing Cross Tube Station
Southbank and Tate Modern
Image Copyright: TheLondonSalad
Take some pictures of Big Ben and a walk along the South Bank. This really is a must if the weather is good. In 15-20 minutes you will find yourself facing the Tate Modern gallery. Go in, it’s free, and from the top floor it offers breathtaking views of the London City skyline.
Tube: Waterloo (Bakerloo, Northern, Jubilee and Waterloo and City underground lines); Embankment (Circle and District underground lines)
Brick Lane Vintage Market or Old Spitalfields Market 
To end your day, you can visit the market of Brick Lane, or, alternatively, Spitalfields market near Shoreditch.
Brick Lane Vintage Market is open from Friday to Sunday.
It’s a well-organized creative market, ideal for finding used clothing in pure Anglo-Saxon 70s style, while Spitalfields Old Market, the size of a football pitch, is open all week and every day is different.
Thursday is dedicated to antiques and jewelry, Friday to clothing and on Saturdays there’s a single-themed market that can vary from vintage, to design objects or organic food. The first and third Friday of the month hosts the vinyl fair.
Tube: Aldgate East on the Hammersmith and City line, Liverpool Street station is the nearest train station with National Rail services and Shoreditch High Street overground station is also just a short walk away.
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