Know Your Shopping Personality

Know Your Shopping Personality

"What's the best place to shop in London?" is an unanswerable question, akin to "How long is a piece of string?" There are thousands of shops in the city, and dozens of neighborhoods worth shopping in. Identify your shopping personality to narrow your choices for a successful outing.

Whirlwind. If you're after a one-stop shopping experience, head to one of London's biggest department stores. Selfridges and Liberty are near the Bond Street and Oxford Circus Tube stations, and Harvey Nichols and Harrods share Knightsbridge Tube.

Fashionista. When only the top designers will do, start at Harvey Nichols, in Knightsbridge, then take in the designer boutiques along Sloane Street before boarding the Tube for Green Park. From there, head up New and Old Bond streets, finishing at Fenwick. If you still have time and energy, aim for South Molton Street or St. Christopher's Place W1 for more fashion boutiques.

Eclectic. If you don't want to be pinned down and like beautiful workmanship and originality, start at Liberty on Regent Street, then head for either the Holland Park/Notting Hill or Marylebone neighborhoods. Both provide enough idiosyncratic lifestyle shops for hours of browsing.

Funky & Avant-Garde. For cutting-edge fashion and housewares, head east to the city's coolest neighborhoods, chiefly Hoxton and Shoreditch. Walk around Spitalfields and Brick Lane, which have excellent markets. Then work your way north to Hoxton and Shoreditch, which are chock-full of independent stores—start at Columbia Road.

Easygoing. If you want to pop in and out of a variety of shops, as well as avoid the crowds around Oxford Street, head to the King's Road in Chelsea. You'll find department store Peter Jonesa, Marks & Spencer, and plenty of High-street chains, as well as independent boutiques. Another good bet is High Street Kensington for the big chains like Topshop, Oasis, and Warehouse.