It is possible to spend a whole day on Portobello Road and not get bored. To do the whole length you best start at the Notting Hill Gate end and make your way down the hill (yes, really). It starts with the famous arts & antiques market which tends to be a bit touristy later in the day - the real collectors come early in the morning. There are plenty of cafes and bars to stop for a break.
The bit between Elgin Crescent and Lancaster Road is mainly made up of food stalls - the most important section of Portobello Road in my mind. You can buy your veggies here every day of the week (half days on Thursdays), and the shops in the neighbouring roads are always worth a visit, too.
The covered market under the westway ist most fun at the weekend; there are second hand/vintage clothes on Fridays and Sundays and a crazy mix of new and old on Saturdays. Also check out the little boutiques in the Portobello Green Arcade.
If you still have energy left, carry on past the row of shops and restaurants and you will hit a bric-a-brac section which carries on until Portobello Road crosses Golborne Road which sports its own street market and some lovely shops.

Used to live near here and shop.
Last year had one of the best summer days here. We drifted around the stalls nibbling food we bought..mmm apple strudel slices! Wandering into a few pubs for a pint..bumping into record industry folk..not really shopping just looking.

There was a cosmetic stall I must check out soon..selling branded moisturisers etc for about £3.
I found a stall selling large soft leather pieces for between £1 and £3 had to get some. Also a stall selling old printing blocks like the one on Covent Garden market. Nice antiques (pricey) and clothes too. Apparently over 2000 stalls. I kept singing a song about Portobello Road that apparently comes from Bed Knobs and Broomsticks. I am sad.
Also of course one of my favourite sloppy film locations. The section around Westbourne Park Road and Talbot Road was made famous in the film 'Notting Hill’ , which starred Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. You won’t find the blue door though as it was sold.

Portobello Road Market has been in existence since the late 1860’s in one form or another. The second hand market is on Fridays, while the antiques market is held on Saturdays. Fruit and vegetable vendors, sellers of knickknacks, antiques shops, and junk shops occupy the central part of the market every day of the week.

We queued up at a stall selling falafel wraps. They were cheap, yummy and filling. Beware though they use fresh coriander and, if like me, you find the fresh stuff overpowering then ask for it to be left out. I left a little pile on the pavement I am ashamed to say.

Take either the Central, District, or Circle line to the Notting Hill Gate Tube station. (A number of buses also serve the area.) Signs at and near the station will show directions to the market.
Thing is it is a great few hours chill time..drifting..maybe shopping..eating..drinking. Wasn’t too crowded..had fun.

Portobello Market has been there for years, I used to visit as a young girl when I lived in London, and these days if I take a trip into the smoke, I love to go there if I’ve got time. It’s an absolute mishmash of ecclectic stalls. You can find everything from clothes to books to antiques to the sort of thing you’d find on car boot sales to vintage clothing and kitche items for the house. As well as this amazing mix of stalls, there’s a mass of shops at the sides which are almost as interesting as the stalls, and then there’s food from pretty much every corner of the world available too. Personally I love having a good rumage through all the vintage stuff that’s there, and then enjoying a nice dish of rice n peas. As far as markets go, this has to be my favourite market excepting perhaps one I visited in Nairobi once.