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London shopping is vast, but by sticking to an area, you can get it all done in one.
For a complete London shopping guide, you could be reading until next Tuesday, but there are some definite highlights to try out and flex the credit card.
Some major highlights include the trendy King's Road in Chelsea, which stocks the usual high street flare, but is perhaps most noted for being the location of Vivienne Westwood's first store.
Meanwhile, the best of the designer stores, if your budget can stretch it, are found on New and Old Bond Street.
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High street heaven on Oxford Street
Oxford Street (Oxford Circus) is perhaps the largest and most famous shopping street in London.
Here marks the epitome of the high street, with flagship TopShop stores – complete with its own radio station – as well as New Look, Primark and the slightly more alternative Urban Outfitters.
Music fans will also be in heaven over the size of the three-storey HMV, which has the occasional celebrity signing and bands playing to the crowds.
It will take you all day to walk from one end to the other, but be warned – this place is absolutely packed at the weekends and around Christmas, so being the early bird is recommended.
Quirky couture on Carnaby Street
Take a diversion from Regent Street or Oxford Street and you will come to a kitsch part of central London.
Carnaby Street (Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus) became the height of cool in the 1960s and remains so. It is full of independent stores, as well as pubs, bars and cafes.
Butting onto the street is Liberty department store (Open 10am-9pm), the height of luxury in London shopping. Things are a little pricey at Liberty, but walking inside the Tudor building will make you feel very special.
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See street performers while shopping in Covent Garden
Covent Garden shops (Covent Garden or Holborn) can range from the high street to more boutique-style gems, so this is the perfect place to go if you want to combine the two.
Apple has just opened a brand new store near the plaza, adding a new element of cool to the area.
Other highlights include Forbidden Planet comic book store for sci-fi fans and natural beauty remedies in Neal's Yard.
This hidden triangle of shops also houses a brilliant cheese emporium.
Further along at Seven Dials there are some great places to stop for a coffee or visit more independent shops.
Shop under one roof at Westfield Shopping Centre
Westfield Shopping Centre (White City or Shepherds Bush; open 10am-9pm or 10pm Thurs/Fri) is reputedly the largest of its kind in Europe and it will take an entire day to cover it all.
With 265 shops under one roof, there is plenty for everyone. Westfield is also particularly good for men's clothing, as the high street stores stock their entire collection here.
Westfield Village also houses a number of sleek designer stores, including Tiffany & Co and Louis Vuitton.
In 2011 Stratford in the East End will be receiving an even bigger Westfield store, right in the heart of the London Olympic site.
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Visit London's most famous store Harrods
While Oxford Street might be the most famous street, Harrods (Knightsbridge; Open 10am-8pm) is by far the most famous department store.
Harrods oozes luxury, and even if it can no longer get you everything you want, as it once claimed to do, it gets pretty close.
It has seven floors and sees over 15 million people every year come through its doors, with many flocking in for the Harrods sale in the summer.
Kids will love the toy store, while the food shop is breathtaking and was once the only place in the UK to sell Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
Watch out though, people with ripped or dirty clothes will be turned away.
Lust after diamonds in Hatton Garden
Hatton Garden (Holborn, Chancery Lane or Farringdon; most stores open 10am-5pm) is the place to go for London shopping if it entails buying an engagement ring.
If you're not buying, this street is still worth a look as it has row after row of jewellers and diamond traders.
There are more than 300 businesses and 1,000 jewellers and designers in this street, trading here since the medieval times, attracting thousands of couples every year.
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