Leilei

Hello,
I will be traveling to London with my husband in April. He will be attending a 4 day class in either American Square or Hallam St. We've been told to find a hotel in Cental London with good tube access. Help! That is a large area. Since we need to make reservations now, can anyone suggest a hotel or area that would be handy to both of those locations? We will be staying 4 extra days and I will be exploring on my own while he is in class, so I would like a hotel that is also handy for me.
Thanks,
Leiei

cmcfong

What is your budget?

KayF

First of all get the full postcode of where the class will be held, and key that into Google maps. You will see the exact location and then can plan for your hotel. There are often duplications of street names in London, so there may be more than one Hallam St, or Hallam Square, Hallam Grove, you get my drift. That's why you need the full postcode.

Then have a look at hotels on www.londontown.com
they have a handy hotel map which shows the location of hotels and where the tube stations are and also the price for your dates.

We've booked hotels through LondonTown a few times and always found them professional and easy to deal with. You pay at the hotel on arrival.

Kay

jent103

I Google Mapped the locations you gave - assuming it's America Square near the Tower of London and Hallam Street nearish Regent's Park, those two locations are relatively far apart and your husband will have to take the tube or bus to get to at least one of them. Is the class going to be at both locations at different times, or will it be at only one of them and he just doesn't know which yet?

One thought would be the area around Victoria Station or Belgrave. From there you can walk to the Westminster area, Buckingham Palace, even further if you like to walk. It's on a direct tube line (well, two - the Circle/District) to Tower Hill, near the America Square Conference Centre, and he could take the Victoria line to Oxford Street and change to Bakerloo to get to the Hallam Street area. If you know for sure that he'll be spending more time in one area than the other, you could look for hotels around one of those (though the area around the Tower is at all lively at night, FYI).

As cmcfong noted, knowing your budget will really help people to give you specific hotel suggestions. I've also used Londontown and been quite pleased.

walkabout

I also Google mapped it. If he will be at Hallam St, that's in Fitzrovia near Regent's Park. The closest tube stations are Great Portland Street and Regent's Park. The area immediately east is Bloomsbury, immediately west is Marylebone, and south is Soho. Of those, for walkability and proximity to tourist attractions I would choose Bloomsbury.

If he is working near Tower of London, take a look at UK Hamlet, which are short-term apartments. You could stay there for the same or less than what you would spend in a hotel: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hamlet_uk/
http://goo.gl/t7vk9

Also, I think the previous poster meant to say that the area around the Tower is <i>not</i> lively at night.

Leilei

Thanks for the replies.
jent103- We don't know which location yet, but don't want to wait much longer to make reservations. I have made inquiries at the Lime Tree Hotel near Victoria Station, hoping that the location would work for both of us. You have the correct locations- near the Tower or Hallam St. near Regent's Park.
As for budget- not excessive, but since we will only have to pay for 4 nights, i don't mind a bit of a splurge.
Thanks again to all

walkabout

You didn't ask, but since you said you will be exploring on your own and staying 4 extra days after your husband's class, for transportation please consider getting an Oyster Card and loading a 7-day Travelcard onto it. If you and your husband will be going to tourist attractions, you could instead get a 7-day Travelcard at a rail station, which would entitle you to get into several places 2 for the price of 1. Travelcards can be used for bus, tube, and rail. You can also get an Oyster and load pay as you go (PAYG) funds onto it.

There are many, many threads on this topic, which you can find by doing a search on this website. For more info, also please see:
Oyster Cards: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14836.aspx
2 for 1 London: http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1london
London transport: http://www.londontoolkit.com/mnu/london_transport.htm

Whether you get an Oyster or National Rail Travelcard, the important thing is that you don't want to pay for single fare tickets. Those costs add up very quickly, and it is much more cost effective to use one of the options described above.

janisj

"<i>As for budget- not excessive, but since we will only have to pay for 4 nights, i don't mind a bit of a splurge. </i>"

That doesn't help. One person's 'reasonable' is another's 'splurge'. What is your actual budget?

jent103

whoops, walkabout, you're right - NOT lively! Thanks for the correction.