Need advice for picking up souvenirs in London
 

I will be making the usual rounds to all the tourist sites and attractions. Can anybody give me some tips on convenient places to pick up touristy souvenirs? I don't want to buy antiques or anything like that, just the usual American toursist stuff. Also interested in local artists watercolors of attractions. How much?<BR>Is Covent Garden on Sunday good for this? I thought about the gift shops at each sight but they are usually very expensive. I am on a budget and would like to find similar items for less. <BR>Suggestions, please?

I picked up some nice 5x7 prints of watercolors by a local artist at the Sunday morning Covent Garden market - they cost 5-7 pounds each. I don't know that you'll find original watercolors cheaply. There were also many small shops there where we picked up several inexpensive souvenirs. Also try the shop at the London Transport museum which is adjacent to Covent Garden (and you don't have to visit the museum for access) and the gift shop at Westminster Abbey. They both had inexpensive small items. We spent our last bit of money at the duty-free shops at the airport which had some surprisingly low-cost items.

Jen,<BR><BR>One place to pick up inexpensive, yet appreciated, gifts from London is in grocery stores. The variety of &quot;typically English&quot; teas, candies, and specialty foods is terrific. To go upscale a bit, the food hall at Fortnum and Mason department store (Picadilly) is great.<BR><BR>Also, the shops at historic or cultural spots (palaces, museums, etc) sometimes have site-specific souvenirs that aren't available in other places. <BR><BR>Covent Garden has become somewhat homogenized with big name stores replacing independent spots. If you go, do stroll up towards Dean's Yard, away from the Covent Garden marketplace. Also, if you want souvenirs with London Transport themes (like &quot;mind the gap&quot; posters and models of double-decker buses), go into the gift shop of the London Transport museuem in Covent Garden.<BR><BR>Enjoy your trip<BR><BR>David White<BR>http://www.KidsToLondon.com

Our last day in London was a Saturday and we had tea at the Ritz. After tea, we walked along the street there and found a number of shops in which to buy last minute souvenirs including British Teddy Bears, London t-shirts and a suede ball cap for my dad that had &quot;London&quot; emblazoned on it. When we were done shopping it was easy to grab a cab back to our hotel with our loot.

You're certainly not going to have a hard time finding inexpensive souveniers in London. David's suggestion to shop at grocery stores is excellent, but on my last trip about a year ago, airport security opened every single jar of jam, mustard, etc. - and this was a bag I was planning to check. I don't know if this is common, but it certainly was disappointing to me.<BR><BR>The British Museum has a discount outlet about a block from the museum. I forget the exact intersection but it's diagonally across the street from the Radisson.

Ditto on cheap souveneirs in the duty free area of Heathrow. I was surprised because usually airports are more expensive.

Magazines can be interesting souvenirs, too. And you will find all kinds in train stations.. music, fashion, etc.<BR>The English magazines very often have a free gift attached. I have gotten small make-up bags, paperback novels, music CD's and video games as attached freebies.

I saw adorable looking keychains all over London for about a pound or less, featuring the telephone booth, bobby, double decker bus, yeomen warder, and mail box. You also might want to go into Boots Pharmacy. They have all kinds of neat shampoos and bath products. I bought a coconut shampoo and conditioner that I really like.

I second the suggestion to check Boots for souvenirs. A couple years ago I bought some great pouches in a silver fabric that came with a lipstick, had a small mirror, pocket &amp; key chain inside-perfect gifts for friends.

Hi jen,<BR><BR>on our last trip to london we stayed in the bayswater area. on sunday morning we headed out to go to breakfast and to our suprise when we arrived at bayswater rd, on the hyde park side all along the sidewalk up and down bayswater, the artists had come out and were displaying their wares. (I think it started around the queensway area all the way to the end of hyde park near the marble arch)<BR><BR>I picked up some really nice watercolors and some wonderful prints. I also saw some lithographs and cards.<BR><BR>it was a perfect sunday morning stroll on a sunny fall morning. it lasted us about 2 hours, before we knew it we were at the marble arch, then we went and had brunch. <BR><BR>wonderful london morning!<BR><BR>

hi again,<BR><BR>just another thought. every time i go to london I go to portabello market in notting hill and found some wonderful souveniers and gifts for folks back home. but I have learned my lesson with that market.<BR><BR>GO EARLY! of the two or three times we have gone, twice now we arrived after 11 am and the crowds were terrible. i spent more time worrying about pic pockets then shopping. <BR><BR>this last trip we got there around 8:30 and what a difference in the ability to move around! we finished around 10:00, found some wonderful souveniers and went and had midmorning tea. the crowds were just coming in when we were leaving. <BR><BR>

ttt

Check the post on stupid souvenirs---lots of ideas.

<BR>I found some great souveniers just outside of the Tower of London. I still wear my embroidered sweatshirt from 2000, and it looks like new. <BR><BR>On the other hand, we bought a bunch of tshirts from one of the bi-zillion sidewalk stands near Picadilly , and they were AWFUL - cheap cheap cheap - serves us right. Beware of the 3 for $. deals - often they are not worth the time of day.

Very informative replies indeed!<BR>That duty free store sounded like a good one (kill time at the airport) BUT then I realized I'm flying into Gatwick and out of Luton (easyjet to Paris). <BR>SO it sounds as if there really isn't a shortage. <BR>I thank you for responding - I look forward to collecting all sorts!

Here's a souvenir that I regret not buying for myself (I spend too much time worrying about what to get everyone else). All over London you will see T-Shirt vendors selling &quot;Mind The Gap&quot; T-Shirts and it didn't hit me until my last day (when I was running around and didn't have any time) that this was truly a &quot;so London&quot;. After riding any amount of time on the London tube, you will become very familiar with this phrase - trust me. Buy something for yourself. When you wear it, anyone that has ever been to London will &quot;get it&quot;.

The first few times that I went to London I would peruse the neighborhoods for good souvenirs but would wait till a day or two before coming home in order to buy. (Yes, supermarkets are fabulous venues for gifts!) That worked well because it gave me a chance to decide what I wanted to bring home and for whom.<BR><BR>However, since I’ve been back several times I have certain friends who ask me to pick up this or that (Coleman’s mustard in a tube was a huge hit, I could sell the stuff here) and I’ve learned what works best for me and that is to MAIL IT HOME. Yes, British postal rates are steep, but it’s worth the hassle I’ve had with customs, etc. I’ve shipped small boxes by general rates and by air and have found that they generally arrive in good time and in good condition. Better condition, I should add, than after having been mlauled by airline crews. Once I needed room in my bag and sent a pair of shoes home. I told the lady at the P.O. to send them the “cheapest way known to god or man,” and she recommended sending them by ship but warned me that it would take forever. They were waiting for me when I returned home 10 days later.<BR><BR>I generally ask the hotel to save a couple of small boxes for me (food is delivered to the kitchen daily often in sturdy boxes). I will often buy a roll of packing tape and, if I don’t want to bring it home, leave it with the hotel as payback for the boxes. I also ask if I can use their name and address as a return and have never been refused.<BR><BR>If there is a “down-side” it is that, yes, you will probably have to queue up at the post office and yes you’ll have to fill out a customs declaration, but you’ll do that either at the airport or on the plane anyway.<BR><BR>It’s amazing how many smaller items you can pack into a small, shoebox size container, key chains, shot glasses wrapped in newspaper, whatever, and the plush dolls and bears make excellent packing unto themselves. Besides, it’s always fun getting the packages a week or two after having been home.<BR>

ttt

Considering that every tourist sight has a gift shop you will not have any problem parting with your money,most have inexpensive gifts as well as the more costly so don't pass them over because they are at a major sight. I can also suggest department stores, i.e. Selfridges, Harrod's for example - great stuff in those stores and a lot of it quite reasonable, you would be surprised! Museums all have nice gift shops, likewise St. Paul's Cathedral, etc. and again in all price categories. There are lots of shops around Picadilly Circus and on Oxford St. that are just souvenir stuff (a lot of it pretty inexpensive and in some cases tacky). Heathrow has a lot of shops as well if you still want to get something before heading home.

Sorry for dredging up an old post but today when I went to the duty free at heathrow the only products that were discounted were Boots. Suntan lotion was over a pound cheaper. Fortum &amp; Mason was teh same price. Just thought people should know.