13 Best Things to Do in Notting Hill, London

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From visiting cute local bookshops to the best neighborhood coffee shops and a one-of-a-kind movie theatre, here are some of the best things to do in Notting Hill, London—and you can fit them all in one day.

After visiting London over five times and living here for almost three months, it was time for me to properly explore Notting Hill, a charming London neighborhood I’ve rushed through a few times before.

Like a lot of travelers on a tight schedule, I walked through a bit of the Portobello Road Market, saw a colorful house, and then headed off to the next stop in my busy London itinerary. But I knew there was much more to Notting Hill than that.

On my last visit, I spent a whole day exploring the neighborhood. Keeping an eye out for cute shops, restaurants, cafés, and charming side streets resulted in this curated list of the best things to do in Notting Hill, to make sure you get to see more of the neighborhood’s unique charm than I did on my first visit.

13 Best Things to Do in Notting Hill, London

Stroll through the Portobello Road Market

First things first, you know, I know, we all know that if you’re visiting Notting Hill, you have to stroll through the famous Portobello Road Market, but you might not know what to expect.

The Portobello Road Market is one of the most famous and historic road markets in the world. It extends along one mile of Portobello Road, and it’s open every day from 8 am to 7 pm.

The market is mostly known for its antiques section, which you’ll find on the southern side of the market. But if you follow the market north, you’ll find a variety of stands such as used book sellers, local handmade brands, fresh produce, street food stands, and generally, a more local vibe.

So if you’re only visiting a section of the market, I’d recommend starting in the north. I visited the southern section many times and didn’t get the full appeal of the market until I visited the north section, so don’t make the same mistake I did.

Sip a strong coffee at Amoret Coffee

One of my favorite things in the southern section of Notting Hill has to be Amoret Coffee, a coffee shop I visited multiple times, since, as you know, I mostly stayed on this hemisphere of the market.

The coffee shop will surely catch your eye before you even realize this is the place you’re looking for, with an imposing black facade in the middle of a colorful street and a unique mural decorating the main wall.

Amoret Coffee is one of the best coffee shops in London, serving perfectly prepared flat whites—plus other coffee drinks, of course—and some small bites. There’s plenty of seating on the second floor, and even Wi-Fi.

This is a great spot to fuel up with a cup of coffee either at the beginning of your day in the neighborhood or on the way out as an afternoon pick-me-up.

Browse the best charity shops in Notting Hill

One of the best things to do in Notting Hill is to hit the charity shops. This is a nice London neighborhood, so you really never know what kind of treasure you might find.

A very centrally located charity shop I visited is the Royal Trinity Hospice Portobello Road shop, a very clean, color-organized charity shop where you can find a variety of highly reduced designer brands.

Another great option in the area is the Oxfam Boutique in Westbourne Grove for more discounted designer pieces.

There are also a few on the southern side of Notting Hill, but the ones I saw were not as organized, and they were more vintage/thrift store rather than a “fancy” charity shop.

Visit the iconic Notting Hill Bookshop

If you’ve seen the iconic “Notting Hill” movie, then visiting “The Notting Hill Bookshop,” the original inspiration for the travel bookshop in the movie, is a mandatory stop when spending a day in Notting Hill.

And even if you haven’t seen the movie, the bookshop is just so cute and snug that it’s still worth a stop to browse around the packed bookshelves.

If you can’t fit a book into your suitcase, they also have some cute bookshop souvenir items, like stickers, magnets, and notebooks, and a funny cardboard sign counting down the days since someone made a movie reference.

Admire the famous, colorful Victorian houses of Notting Hill

One of the most iconic Notting Hill visuals is the picturesque, colorful houses lining the streets, which you can find in some areas across the neighborhood.

For residential, cute colorful houses, Westbourne Park Rd is a popular viewing spot, but it can get quite busy, and you have to remember these are still people’s homes, so be respectful.

Another cute colorful street is Melbourne Grove, a shopping street, so you can throw caution to the wind here and get all the pictures you want.

You can also find some colorful houses in the southern section of Portobello Road, though most of them are businesses, and most of the time covered by the market stands.

For a more peaceful area with charming colorful houses, there’s a good pocket of them just south of Notting Hill Gate, around where Kuro Coffee is. This might count as Kensington geographically, but the houses are still cute nonetheless.

People-watch with a coffee in hand at Lancaster Brew

While there are various cafés in the neighborhood, while researching, there don’t seem to be many great specialty coffee shops in the area, so I was super happy when I found Lancaster Brew.

Lancaster Brew is one of the best coffee shops in Notting Hill and one of my favorite recent discoveries. Located on the northern side of Portobello Road, this charming coffee shop is the perfect starting point for your day in the neighborhood.

The menu is simple, with only a few homemade toasties, pastries, tasty coffee, and matcha, but that’s more than enough for me.

There’s some seating inside, but if the weather allows, the best is to grab a table outside to people-watch and observe the rhythm of such an iconic neighborhood.

Grab a cardamom bun from Fabrique

For a sweet little treat while exploring the beautiful Notting Hill, head to the neighborhood’s Fabrique location.

Originally a Swedish bakery chain, Fabrique is known for its tasty pastries, particularly its cinnamon and cardamom buns—a Scandinavian staple.

I’m always on the hunt for a good cardamom bun, so I was super excited to see a location of this beloved bakery right on Porobello Road.

Grab some pastries to go for tomorrow’s breakfast, or sit down and enjoy your cardamom bun while admiring the market traffic through the bakery’s windows.

Try the best Indian food in London at Dishoom Permit Room

While exploring Notting Hill, you can also tick off your list one of the best places to eat in London: Dishoom, a place everyone recommends, and for good reason. Don’t be like me who kept putting it off thinking it would be overrated—it’s good!

A meal at this beloved Indian restaurant is basically a tapas experience; you order a variety of small dishes to share, making the meal very social. The menu is extensive, but the waiters are very helpful if you don’t even know where to begin.

I’ve visited various locations and tried many things from the menu (always some type of chicken, rice, vegetables, and naan), and every time I’m in awe of how good and flavorful everything is. Even their cocktails are delicious!

Visit the charming Daunt Books

Because you can’t ever visit too many bookshops in one day, and because Notting Hill is known for its independent bookshops, you have to visit the neighborhood’s own Daunt Books.

Daunt Books is a celebrated chain of independent bookshops in England, best known for its beautiful flagship store in Marylebone, and luckily, you’ll find a cute, snug location here in Notting Hill.

Browse the shelves, pick your next read for the trip (whenever I do buy a book while traveling, I like to choose one that takes place in the location I’m in as a souvenir), or if you don’t have any luggage space to spare, then get yourself a practical, packing-friendly souvenir like their beautiful tote bag. I have one in black, and love it!

Stop by the blue door from the Notting Hill movie

Again, this is a movie reference, but honestly, if you’re going to London and haven’t seen the movie, you really should, to get even more excited about exploring beautiful Notting Hill.

Anyways, once you see the movie, you know that an iconic feature is the blue door that serves as the entrance to William Thatcher’s home, and you can find that real door in Notting Hill at 280 Westbourne Park Rd.

I’m normally not one for chasing movie locations, but the locations for this movie are all around in this neighborhood, so it’s fun to see the original spots.

Hop around the shops in Westbourne Grove

Explore beyond Portobello Road and visit the beautiful Westbourne Grove, an upscale shopping street lined with colorful buildings and great shops like Sézane, Free the People, Reformation, Alo, American Vintage, and more.

Whether you’re in the mood for shopping or not, this is a cute street to walk along for more charming Notting Hill vibes.

At the beginning of this street is also where you’ll find the Oxfam Boutique I mentioned earlier, so if you’re already visiting this charity shop, take the time to explore the rest of this cute area.

Visit the insanely stunning Electric Cinema

One of my favorite discoveries from my recent visit to Notting Hill is the insanely cool-looking Electric Cinema on Portobello Road.

There are two Electric Cinema locations in London, but the one in Notting Hill is just so stunning. An old Edwardian picture house with cool red leather sofas and small table lamps between the seats—the place is just so cool! Unlike any movie theatre I’ve ever seen before.

You can catch some mainstream films here throughout the week as well as art house movies. Since it’s only one movie room, there are only a few showings a day, but if you have time, I’d definitely try to plan to watch a movie here.

I know it’s definitely top of my list for next time I’m in London. We didn’t have time for it last time, but the lady at the front desk kindly let me in to admire the room.

Buy unique totes at Yessing

One of the best things to do in Notting Hill is to support the local, independent businesses, and one that caught my eye while exploring the neighborhood is Yessing.

Yessing is a London-based brand creating unique, colorful accessories, like their vibrant and practical knitted tote bags that come in all sorts of beautiful prints. All of their totes are customizable and can be converted into a wristbag or an under-the-shoulder bag.

This is a great place to shop from a local business and get yourself a practical souvenir that you can easily incorporate into your everyday life and into the rest of your trip.

Final thoughts on the best things to do in Notting Hill

Notting Hill is one of those London bucket list destinations that we all dream about visiting and strolling through, but the reality is that the first time visiting it’s always a bit confusing to know where to go.

I know the first few times I visited Notting Hill, I mostly stayed in the south area; I didn’t realize how far up the Portobello Road Market went, and the rest of the neighborhood, so basically, I was always stuck on the most touristy side.

After visiting multiple times now, and taking the time to explore charming Notting Hill thoroughly, I got to finally see more of that neighbourhood charm that comes across in movies. I hope with this guide you also get to see more of that authentically charming, local neighborhood vibe.

From slowing down at Lancaster Brew with a coffee to admire the pace of the neighborhood to savoring a delicious cardamom bun from Fabrique and visiting the local, independent bookshops like The Notting Hill Bookshop and the popular Daunt Books, this guide will help you get to know the neighborhood a little bit better beyond the touristy market stalls.

What is the top thing you can’t wait to do or visit in Notting Hill? Let us know in the comments.