Seven Dials, London

Covent Garden is one of London's most celebrated shopping and entertainment districts. Five minutes' walk away stands Seven Dials, a destination catering at once to the masses and the individual.

The area is named after a sundial and the seven streets that radiate from it. This layout provides shoppers with a useful point of reference, Seven Dials' central statue (below), from which to sally forth in exploration.

Property speculator Thomas Neale established Seven Dials in the 1690s and his legacy lives on at the Thomas Neal Centre. Inside is Diesel, which does fashion and attitude-laden sales staff as only London knows how. Nearby is Two See (17 Monmouth Street, tel: 44 207 240 7692), a boutique specialising in underground labels including Preen, Martin Anderson and Bantam from #50 ($680) upwards. Fred Perry (unit 6/7, Thomas Neal Centre, tel: 44 207 836 4513) has grown up and gone all designer. The brand's signature polo-shirts have been refashioned into floor-length dresses (from #150) by the favourite designer of Kate Moss and Kylie, Mrs Jones.

Luxurious lingerie, adult goods and bedroom paraphernalia can be found at Coco de Mer (right; 23 Monmouth Street, tel: 44 207 836 8882). Afterwards, cool down in Kiehl's (29 Monmouth Street,

tel: 44 207 240 2411), a branch

of the New York apothecary where the brand's natural skin-care formulations are priced from #5.