Some days aren’t about a destination, they’re about a browse. This is that day: four markets, three very different characters, and a route that strings them together through the two nicest bits of green and blue London has to offer — Regent’s Park and the Regent’s Canal towpath. Nobody needs to buy anything. Everybody will.

We’ve timed this one deliberately for a Saturday, which is the one day all four stops are at their best simultaneously. Get it wrong and you’ll find Alfies shuttered or Portobello’s antiques dealers absent — more on that below.

Before you roll

• Distance: roughly 16–18km, flat throughout, on a mix of quiet streets, park roads and canal towpath.
• Day: do this one on a Saturday. Portobello Road’s antiques stalls trade Saturdays only, and Alfies Antique Market is closed Sundays and Mondays.
• Timing: start late morning — nothing here opens particularly early, and Camden is far more pleasant before the afternoon crowds thicken.
• Towpath etiquette: the Regent’s Canal towpath is shared with walkers, runners and other cyclists. Ring your bell, go slow past Camden Lock, and expect to dismount and walk the bike through the busiest few hundred metres.
• Camden’s cobbles: the Stables Market and Camden Lock Market are pedestrianised and genuinely packed on a Saturday. Lock the bike at the edge and walk in — you won’t get far riding through it anyway.

Alfies Antique Market: London’s biggest under one roof

~15 minutes from Mayfair

Start in Marylebone. Alfies is a converted Edwardian department store on Church Street stacked with dealers over several floors — vintage fashion, mid-century furniture, jewellery, ceramics, film posters, the lot. It rewards slow wandering rather than a quick lap, so give it proper time while everyone’s still fresh.

It’s also one of the few markets on this route with real bike parking nearby, which makes it a sensible place to start.

Through Regent’s Park

From Church Street it’s a short, pleasant ride up to Regent’s Park. The Outer Circle is quiet enough for family riding, and on a clear Saturday morning you’ll have the boating lake, the rose gardens and the odd heron for company. Cut across near the London Zoo end and you’ll drop straight down onto the Regent’s Canal towpath, right by Camden.

Camden Market: the lock, the stalls, the noise

~20 minutes from Alfies

Camden earns its reputation honestly. The market spreads across several sites — Camden Lock Market and the Stables Market are the two worth your time — with food stalls from every country you can name, vintage and streetwear stalls, and enough noise and colour to keep any age entertained.

The genuine highlight for kids, in our experience, is the lock itself: stand on the bridge at Camden Lock and watch a narrowboat work its way through. It’s free, it’s mesmerising, and it explains the market’s name in about thirty seconds.

The canal to Little Venice

This is the leg the bike is made for. From Camden, the Regent’s Canal towpath runs west past Regent’s Park, through the Maida Hill tunnel diversion, and into Little Venice — where the Regent’s Canal meets the Grand Union at a quiet, willow-lined basin full of houseboats. It’s a proper change of pace after Camden: slow, flat, almost silent.

Ten minutes further on foot or by canal boat gets you to Paddington Basin, but for this loop you’ll peel off south towards Notting Hill.

Portobello Road: antiques, fruit and the Westway

~20 minutes from Little Venice

Portobello Road only shows its full hand on Saturdays, when the antiques dealers set up alongside the everyday fruit-and-veg stalls and the vintage clothes racks under the Westway flyover. It’s the market Notting Hill is famous for, and it’s genuinely five markets stitched into one street — bring patience for the crowds and hold on to small hands.

Golborne Road, the quieter northern extension, is worth the extra five minutes if the main stretch feels like too much of a crush — fewer people, more Portuguese custard tarts.

Home via Hyde Park

Cut back east through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park to close the loop — the paths here are wide, flat and about as gentle a finish as central London offers.

Bonus stop: Covent Garden Market

If there’s still energy for one more, Covent Garden Market is a five-minute ride from Mayfair and open daily — craft stalls under the old Piazza roof, street performers, and, if you can arrange it for a Monday instead, the specialist antiques and vintage market that takes over from 5am. Good as a separate short outing if Saturday’s loop is plenty already.

The loop at a glance

Stop	Highlight	Best day
Alfies Antique Market, Marylebone	Multi-floor vintage and antiques	Tue–Sat
Regent’s Park	Boating lake, rose gardens	Any day
Camden Market	The lock, food stalls, the Stables	Daily, best avoiding peak afternoon
Regent’s Canal towpath	Little Venice, houseboats	Any day
Portobello Road	Antiques dealers, Westway market	Saturday for the full market
Covent Garden Market (optional)	Craft stalls, Piazza performers	Daily; antiques market on Mondays

Total distance: 16–18km. Flat throughout. Best done on a Saturday.

Photos: Portobello Road antique market by Garry Knight, Camden Lock Market by Mr Ignavy — both CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Fancy trying it yourself?

We hire electric family cargo bikes from Mayfair — plenty of room in the box for whatever Portobello Road talks you into. Book your ride on gozoom.uk and we’ll get you rolling.

If you do the loop, we’d love to hear what came home in the basket.