Covent Garden

Overview

Covent Garden is a completely magnificent, beautifully restored 19th-century piazza that functions as London's premier theater and entertainment district. It is highly elegant, entirely car-free, and always intensely bustling.

Highlights

• The Apple Market: The breathtaking, beautifully restored central glass-roofed market building now housing high-end boutiques, crafts, and the famously elegant Balthazar bakery.
• Street Performers: The piazza is the only fully licensed area in London for incredibly high-quality, heavily vetted street performers and musicians to legally entertain the massive crowds.
• Neal's Yard: A wonderfully hidden, incredibly colorful tiny courtyard packed with superb independent cafes and holistic therapy shops just a short walk north.

History

Originally the massive, highly lucrative produce market serving all of central London, the chaos of the wholesale market famously inspired the musical My Fair Lady. In 1974, the historic market relocated, and the beautiful piazza was brilliantly saved from demolition and repurposed.

Visitor Tips

• Theatreland: It is the absolute perfect place for a pre-theater dinner, as the West End’s spectacular major theaters surround the piazza tightly on all sides.
• The Opera: The magnificent Royal Opera House sits directly on the square; even if you do not have tickets, the spectacular Paul Hamlyn Hall is open during the day for drinks.
• Duration: 2 hours.