The Piazza & Apple Market
Covered market halls of craft stalls and antiques, ringed by street performers under the glass roof.
Area guide
Covent Garden is London at its most theatrical — a cobbled Piazza where street performers draw a crowd all afternoon, then curtains up across the West End. Between the two you have opera, independent shops in Seven Dials and the courtyard calm of Somerset House, all within a few minutes' walk of the front door.
Highlights
Royal Opera House
World-class opera and the Royal Ballet, with daytime tours and a terrace above the Piazza.
Theatreland & the West End
Dozens of stages within a ten-minute walk, from long-running musicals to new plays.
Seven Dials
Seven lanes radiating from a sundial pillar, lined with independent boutiques and small restaurants.
Neal's Yard
A hidden courtyard of painted façades, cheesemongers and coffee tucked behind Monmouth Street.
Somerset House
A neoclassical courtyard of fountains and exhibitions, with the Thames terrace behind it.
Eat & drink
Monmouth Coffee
The Covent Garden original — the morning queue is worth it.
Rules
London's oldest restaurant, on Maiden Lane since 1798.
Balthazar
All-day Parisian brasserie beside the Piazza.
Neal's Yard Dairy
British farmhouse cheese, cut to order.
Getting there
Covent Garden (Piccadilly line); Leicester Square and Holborn a short walk away.
Stay in Covent Garden
Boutique serviced apartments a short walk from everything above.
Floral II
Floral Street, WC2E 9DA
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Floral
39a Floral Street, WC2E 9DG
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Drury Lane
Drury Lane, WC2B 5RR
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Long Acre
Long Acre, WC2E 9NG
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Exeter
Exeter Street, WC2E 7DS
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Wellington
Wellington Street, WC2B 5JD
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