If you have a day to spare and wonder where you should be spending your hard-earned holiday, let a day trip to Camden Town be a choice for you. Great food, excellent souvenir bargain, hip deco items, and breathtaking view overlooking London, follow me on one of the best days out London has to offer.
1. Hunt down the food that satisfies your craving
Camden Town is a neighbourhood located in Zone 2 and easily accessible by northern line tube at Camden Town station. After exiting the station, walk towards Camden Market; you’ll see the photogenic rainbow crossroad along the way. Also, don’t forget to find and take a picture with the famous Amy Winehouse statue. You may have noticed already that the shop lot and building in this area have their own painting and decoration style, which beg you to take out a camera and bring some lovely shots home. So take your time and enjoy cool buildings and arts.
The whole area can be explored on foot, and it features tons of food stalls, both savoury and dessert. The ethnic cuisines are also available here, e.g. Afghan street food, Filipino, or Pakistani food. As a recommendation, the best way to enjoy it is that you should gather up your gang and try a little bit of many dishes, because, believe me, the food stalls are countless.
To kick start your food hunting, you can look at some of what I had from the three times I went there: the cheese naan stuffed with spicy chicken (tandoori chicken), the specially-crafted ice cream with a unique texture, the halloumi fries – deep-fried fries made from cheese, topped with Turkish chilli and pomegranate seeds, and lastly, the sugar-loaded ice cream with multiple toppings at your own choice.
2. Shopping, or at least window shopping, souvenirs, mementoes, and collectable items.
After that, you can hop into the various shops that sell all kinds of collectables and home decoration items, e.g. lamps, vinyl collections, posters, etc. Also, here is the perfect place for you to purchase dozens of souvenirs to give your loved ones. For example, you can buy a nice keychain, magnet, or even mug with just one or two pounds. Other than that, some hip and stylish clothing stalls are also available for you to browse through at very affordable prices. Finally, don’t forget to look for the ‘umbrella boulevard’ in the market for another cool photo on your Instagram feed.
3. Take a walk and enjoy the breathtaking view of the London city skyline.
After a good amount of exploration and to conclude your day, let’s take a short walk to Primrose Hill, which is just 15 minutes walk from the Camden Market. The hill is not that steep yet provides a good view of London in such close vicinity to the city, hence its popularity. You can even enjoy the sunset view here on a good weather day. As you can see in the photo, you can see St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Shard, and the Walkie Talkie from the landscape atop Primrose Hill. Furthermore, the BT Tower and London Eye are also visible on the right.
After taking in the view, breathing in the fresh air, and enjoying the greenery in front of you, it’s time to call it a day. Take just a 10-minute walk to the nearest tube station: Chack Farm (you walked past it on your way here from Camden Market) to go back to central London.
If you like a day out like this, I can recommend a couple more alternatives: Brick Lane and Borough Market. Rest assured that I will cover them in detail in future blogs.
