zootsi

There are some good package deals to London for this fall and winter, and most of the hotels offered are in the Bayswater area. After reading a few travel articles, I've gotten mixed signals on this neighborhood. What is it really like? Is it safe and ok at night? Also, how is the weather in mid November?

m_kingdom2

It's safe at night, safe as any London street. Pleasant enough during the day due to its close vicinity to Hyde Park. No notable shops. If it's cheap stay there!

As for weather, expect wind, rain, or just freezing sunshine.

tod

Stayed in the Bayswater area two seperate occasions. Once off Leinster Terrace but found the march to Queensway tube too far. Once in the Inverness Hotel in Inverness Terrace. The Hotel looked just the business from the outside but we found ourselves staying the most ghastly rabbit warren in the building next door! The road outside is noisy with drunks at night.
We like the busy Queensway with lots of cafes and ethnic restaurants. Predominately Arab/Chinese. Two handy tubes stations at either end of the road. Also nice to stroll across to Kensington Gardens & Palace. Artists with their wares line the pavement of Bayswater road on Sundays.
I prefer to go there to visit rather than stay.

beth23

I have stayed in Bayswater before (I stayed with friends so I cannot comment on hotels in the area). I liked the neighborhood. There is an active nightlife in that part of London and I remember weekend nights being teeming with pub goers, but there didn't seem to be anything unsafe.

Daisy54

I stayed in Bayswater in April and it was fine, I wouldn't hesitate to stay in that area again. We were just off Bayswater Road a few blocks from Lancaster Gate tube station. Not fancy but not run down either - suitable budget hotel and enough restautants in the neighborhood to keep us fed without repeats. (OK, we did got to once place twice because we liked it.) We were in walking distance of 2 tube stations - Lancaster Gate & Paddington) which gave us access to muiltiple tube lines, and 2 blocks from Hyde Park which was lovely - even in the rain. I think you'll be OK in Bayswater.

flanneruk

Given rhe (quite correct) unanimity about Bayyswater's safety - morning, noon or night - it would be interesting to know what "mixed signals" zootsi got.

I'd be inclined to say any travel article that thinks Bayswater's unsafe is written either by a complete noncompoop, or by someone who gets a panic attack at the sight of the exit from their gated community.

Either way, don't believe another word the author concerned writes.

martytravels

I like Bayswater quite a bit. It's well served by the tube, so it's a quick trip anywhere in Londontown. Queensway, the heart of Bayswater, is a lively street day and night lined with good, cheap Middle Eastern (check out Tazo for great shwarama sandwiches), Chinese, Thai and Indian restaurants.
It's within walking distance of Oxford Street and Notting Hill, and Kensington Park is right across Bayswater Road.

crefloors

I stayed on Lancaster Terrace a couple of years ago, just a block off Bayswater and really liked the area. My brother and I took a walk every morning along Bayswater..Hyde Park was just across the street. We discovered a Starbucks on Edgeware so we timed it to get down there when they opened a 7:00 a.m. We did this for three or four days and then went the other direction coming our of our hotel..went away from Bayswater and found a great little place..kind of like a mini-mart and they had great coffee and croissants and there was always a paper around to read. The tube was very convenient and the hop on hop off bus also. The neighborhood was within walking distance to Oxford St if you wanted to walk it. We felt very safe there. My neice was living in a building off Edgeware and she walked to and from our hotel and a couple of times she was walking home fairly late. We were there the end of May so there was light until fairly late at night.

xyz123

The area is certainly okay and depending on your own requirements can range from fine to just barely adequate.

There are certainly more upscale neighborhoods and the neighborhood can appear to be slightly rowdy (not dangerously so )especially Friday and Saturday evenings as there are lots of young people around.

But there are lots of inexpensive restaurants up and down Queensway, there is a shopping centre on Queenswqay, there are 2 tube stations of different lines Bayswater (Circle & District) and Queensway (Central) on Queensway.

On the corner of Queensway and Bayswater Rd (which is the continuation of Oxford St.) you can hop on the #12 bus which is every bit as good (except for the lack of commentary) which goes up Bayswater Rd to Oxford St. makes a right turn at Oxford Circus down Regents St. to Picadilly Circus makes a right turn on Haymark through Trafalger Square up Whitehall past the government ministries and Downing Street to Parliament Square past Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster (Parliament) by the London Eye all the way to the Imperial War Museum at Elephant & Castle. Not a bad way at all to get to know London; especially with a travel card; there is also a relatively new bus line that goes along the same route till Marble Arch and turns up through Hyde Park Corner to Victoria and up Victoria St. to reach Parliament Square.

You can also get off the #12 along Oxford Street and switch to the #15 (ah the beauty of travel cards) which follows the same route to Trafalger Square but then turns the other way up the Strand and passes through the City, by St. Pauls, by Monument to the Tower of London. When I chaperoned my friend and his family, we did these 2 bus routes and had the quivalent of the touted just on and off buses (I did the commentary, always fearful I would be persecuted for not being a blue badge London guide).

So again I am under no illusions that it is an upscale neighborhood but I would rather stay there than other places. I don't think anybody can say it is a dangerous neighborhood, there are lots of tourists there, just not the typical American tourists, you know the ones who need 4* and 5* hotels, the ones who need to take a taxi everywhere etc.

Hop the Underground several stops and you're in the West End for the theatre...take 5 to 10 minutes. Come back on the tube (they run quite frequently after the theatre and curtain times has been moved up at most theatres to 1930) it's all there for you.

So if you want to save a buck or two by staying in Bayswater, don't hesitate. You'll do quite fine.