Covent Garden - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)
Covent Garden
Covent Garden
4.5
Points of Interest & LandmarksFlea & Street Markets
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Sunday
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
About
Filled with restaurants, bars, markets and boutiques, London's premier tourist center offers fabulous shopping by day, and the destination of theatergoers and patrons of the Royal Opera House by night.
Duration: 2-3 hours
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The area
Address
Neighborhood: Covent Garden
Whether you're headed here to check out the multitude of shops, theaters, cafes, pubs, and restaurants, or simply to be among the multitude of people who pass through this pretty part of town, you'll love soaking up the festive and historic atmosphere in and around Covent Garden. Even if you don't have tickets to the opera or a show at one of the many famous theaters here, don't be surprised if find yourself captivated by some impromptu act of a street performer wowing the crowds in Covent Garden's Piazza. If you do have tickets, you'll be pleased to note that many of the local eateries accommodate theatergoers with prix fixe menus, early dinners, and later than usual opening hours. 


How to get there
  • Covent Garden • 3 min walk
  • Leicester Square • 5 min walk
Reach out directly
See what travelers are saying
  • Grover R
    Pensacola, Florida21,773 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great Place for Restaurants and Souvenirs
    This is the center of London when it comes to restaurants, memorabilia retail and nightlife entertainment. We had the chance to also see it decorated for Christmas that made it better. Several of our dinners were here and even though a mile away from our hotel, it was an easy walk. My wife and daughter also spent some time here shopping for souvenirs.
    Visited December 2022
    Written May 27, 2023
  • June
    Singapore, Singapore49 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great place for the vibes
    Covent Garden is a great place to window shop and look at the variety of knick-knacks on sale. It felt relatively safe for us and we took a few pictures before leaving. I would recommend spending about an hour or so here before moving on to your next destination.
    Visited December 2022
    Written June 5, 2023
  • Shauna M
    Denver, Colorado78 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Clean good food good shops
    Very clean, lots of shops, lots of restaurants very crowded. If you’re looking for a wide variety of places to shop, this is for you. You have everything from handmade scarves to handmade jewelry to designer clothing shops. You could find anything you want to eat here including Asian local pubs, random fusion restaurants. Lots of things to do for everybody in the family. Amazing scenery. In general a good day out.
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 15, 2023
  • HertsSkins
    Hertfordshire, United Kingdom51 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    best place to visit if vistor from abroad . the first must place to go as is totally different experince
    the market is a place where ive never seen anywhere .. great bargains to be had. and the atmosphere is nothing you get anywhere.. local canals. with boat trips if want. but its so chilled with many local eats or pubs. amy whine house statue is in market where she was born there.
    Visited May 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written June 25, 2023
  • Calum J
    1 contribution
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Epic sceeeeeenes
    I had the bottomless brunch here with some friends, all of us have VERY big appetites and we felt no judgment from mthw staff at all! They kept all our drinks full and the food and vibes flowing the whole time we were there, I'd 100% recommend to the hungry passer by :) also Eshita who served us was really helpful and friendly. great stuff
    Visited July 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written July 16, 2023
  • EdzheBaisa
    Istanbul, Türkiye35 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great place to visit
    Great plase to see. Very close to theatre, Clubs, bars. Right place if you like street shows. If you visit by tube; better to prefer tothenam court road station
    Visited March 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written July 20, 2023
  • ladytwinpeaks
    Kent, United Kingdom73 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Full of street entertainers, atmosphere was great.
    Stopped off at Covent Gardens and was entertained by various entertainers, had a bite to eat and drink from one of many options available. The undercover stalls were selling a great choice of different items. Very busy with lots of people enjoying a bit of sunshine at the weekend. The Tube station was convenient access to all London stations
    Visited August 2023
    Written August 6, 2023
  • JMCSTL
    Saint Louis, Missouri7,317 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Lunch & Shopping Stop on our City Tour
    Based on the rapid pace of the morning portion of our day-long City of London bus tour, the tour guide instructed our driver to park near Covent Garden where a variety of eateries can be found in & around the historic market space. My wife & I had packed a lunch in case the tour schedule was compressed, so we enjoyed our sandwiches & crisps at one of several colorful picnic tables on the outdoor East Piazza. Luckily we ate before we shopped, because we finished our last bite just minutes prior to a crew picking up & moving the tables to another spot in the Piazza. The crowd wasn’t overly large on a sunny early summer week day, but the atmosphere was lively. The shops on the Covent Garden property range from private vendor stalls to high-end name brand luxury goods stores. We restricted our browsing to the individual vendor wares, where my wife picked up a small gift for her sister back home. The variety of food & drink places should satisfy just about any visitor’s tastes, with the lower level piazza inside the building complex looking particularly attractive. There is also a pair of modern attended pay toilet facilities in that area, electronic payments only (£1 per entry at this writing).
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written August 19, 2023
  • Laura PeGr
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands1,462 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Covent garden next the St Paul's church
    Shopping center in the district from which it takes its name (Covent Garden), full of stands, shops, cafes and restaurants. Opposite is the St Paul's church: a small church that I was unable to visit because there was an event going on. Not to be confused with St. Paul's Cathedral.
    Visited September 2022
    Traveled as a couple
    Written August 29, 2023
  • alicesoulsby
    St. Albans, United Kingdom18 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    amazing!
    it was amazing! so many shops and food options and lots of pretty streets! we made so many memories and ate a cookie! i loved the transformers and street entertainment and i particularly loved the shops! very busy area and dont take the stairs it is a very long way!
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written September 1, 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles25,347 reviews
Excellent
14,567
Very good
8,235
Average
2,088
Poor
322
Terrible
136

Kieran lane
6 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020 • Couples
After travelling from Liverpool with my partner for a gorgeous weekend in London.

We Arrived on time to be seated at table, once sat the concept was explained and the drink order was taken. This is where things went south. After making our food order and we waited 30+ minutes for our 2 glasses of sparkling wine and a bottle of beer. We had to then speak to a waiter and ask where our drinks were to be told they would arrive shortly. Another 10 minutes in and we had to ask another waitress about the drinks and she sorted them ASAP ( valuable member of team as she was sincere ). Food then arrived and it was poor quality ! Chewy meat, popcorn shrimp rubbery, any rice based sushi was mushy and so sticky it glued to the plate, vegetable gyoza fell apart mid air while picking it off the plate.

We thought maybe this is just fluke and ordered our second round of food, to wait another 20 minutes ! To then chase the food with a waiter to be told that many of our options ( salmon, tuna, the dragon sushi and basically anything meat based ) were out of stock ! along with several other dishes leaving the chewy beef, dry salmon maki and endless veggie options for choosing.

I did not pay the almost £40 per head (total almost £120) to be served with mediocre drinks and poor quality food.

We’re not big drinkers we had 2 glasses of sparkling wine and 3 beers !

we asked to speak to the manager on shift in the afternoon ( Saturday 8th August ) and we’re told “we’re sorry the menu items were out of stock, this is a supplier issue not delivering enough stock. We will give you a special offer” and 10 minutes later our table received a simple bottle of sparkling wine ! So much for a special offer. Bearing in mind we had spent almost £120 for this experience to be met with what I can only describe as poor quality fizz.

We were very excited to dine here. The venue was stunning and were told the venue was a flagship store ! I’d hate to think what the other stores must be like if this is their main store !

My advice to anyone considering of dining here is to head to Tesco and get a sushi platter or two as the quality would be much better and with the money you save maybe head to yo sushi as the attention to detail and customer service is clearly superior.

To anyone from the restaurant wishing to reply, I’m still waiting for my special offer.
Written August 8, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Ropes22
10 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2019 • Friends
I frequently find myself in Covent Garden. It is always very busy with people shopping, watching street entertainers and minding themselves on the cobbles.
Enjoyable for a couple of hours max.
Good luck getting a seat at any of the local bars/pubs in the area, it’s always very popular and a bit pricey.
Written February 4, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Hannah M
Manchester, UK28 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Family
Great place to kill half an hour if you're in the area with children. Ours (aged 10, 6 and 2) enjoyed watching the street performers which was well worth the couple of quid we contributed to his collection at the end. Watching the street performers is usually a highlight of our London trips for the children 🙂
Written February 25, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

704jules
London, UK65 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2020 • Friends
Have just left The Ivy Brasserie in Covent Garden. Had the £33.50 lobster linguine, can I say that the same meal at Madisons St Paul's was of far better quality (far far better) and £28!! Today we refused to pay the service, which is the first time I have ever done this in a restaurant.the waiter came up to our table literally every 5 mins and really spoilt our enjoyment of our lunch out. Such a shame for quite an expensive meal in what is supposed to be a well known and reputable restaurant.
Written December 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Visit Blighty
2,740 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
Covent Garden to me just has something very special about it whatever time of year, but at Christmas in particular it paints the perfect scene. Covent Garden does an excellent job at dressing to any occasion so in festive finery and with a large Christmas Tree it’s splendiferous. Plus they always make sure there’re several very Instagram friendly spots. For 2019 they had an enchanting mainly adult orientated Tiffany & Co Winter Wonderland area which looked magical and even included a mini ice rink.

It’s always fun seeing singers in the markets and the street performers. I feel a trip to London over Christmas would not be complete without a stroll through Covent Garden.

For those not familiar with Covent Garden there’s a rabbit warren of excellent shops to explore (The Apple store is a highlight and Chanel Make Up is a mecca for sure), fabulous food options and even market stores in one area. Venchi gelato is super, Marriage Freres is one of the best tea emporiums on the planet and SushiSamba is always a good idea. It has a wonderful unique atmosphere which I find myself drawn to time and time again. Also don’t forget it hosts the Royal Opera House and also the London Film Museum with its Bond in Motion exhibit. .
Written January 12, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Karen Tann
397 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
We often visit this area when filling time before a theatre visit. Yesterday it was grey and wet so wandering under cover was ideal. There are some stalls and a variety of small shops along with a few eateries. We like the pub at one end called the Punch and Judy for a drink. In the summer, you can sit on the balcony and watch the crowds and sometimes buskers.
Written January 28, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Nicky T
Enfield, UK122 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
Exit via the lifts at Covent Garden tube (never take the stairs!) or walk from nearby Leicester Square. In the centre is an undercover craft market with boutique shops on ground level and eateries. Buskers will entertain the crowds on the cobbles around the market and the popular Transport Museum and Bond In Motion exhibit is nearby.
What sets this area apart is the variety of shops and restaurants in a time when the shopping industry is struggling. Take time to explore all the side streets because there is so much more than just the central market. Restaurants vary and all tastes are covered.
Please note that most streets are cobbled so wear sensible shoes and it gets very busy so you will need to exercise some patience.
A must for tourists and Londoners alike, make a day of it, take your reusable shopping bag and enjoy.
Written February 23, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

sleightofhand
Tonbridge, UK164 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
It was a cold day and the whole family had hot chocolate in the area where they play live music. It was not cheap as you can imagine but was magical. the scenery and feel of the place is fabulous and going there any time of the year is stunning. Lots of street performers who do a great job un all weathers and lots of good forrd and fun ships to visit. Especially like the Oakley Store and Apple Store and Ted Baker Store. We ended up eating just outside of here but the food in and around is great with local theatres just around the corner as well. Good tube access and Leicester Square and China Town within quick walking distance as well.
Written March 10, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

rhi
United Kingdom95 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
We always visit Covent Garden when in London as there is so much to do and see. I love just sitting on the steps and watching the entertainers perform. There is a lot of places to eat so you would not be stuck for choice! Only down side would be you have to pay to use the toilets so if you're someone like me who tends to go often it can be a problem. There is a market too which sells all sorts.
Definitely worth going to.
Written January 21, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Chris M
Lichfield, UK1,127 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
Very very popular tourist magnet here. If you want to see all the street entertainers then pick the busy peak times 12-5. For a more quieter browse round the stalls/market go earlier or late afternoon. It'll be rammed by the tube station at a weekend. Only 5 min walk from Leicester Square though.
Written February 26, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Covent Garden - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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