jspen

After all our planning for day trips into London from Winchester (thanks to those who helped with my earlier post!), my DH now says that maybe we should spring for a hotel one night in town and spend two consecutive days touring London--though it costs us extra for the hotel (as we're already paying for an apartment in Winchester), we would save on multiple day-trip train fares. So... I'm now trying to find a decent budget hotel for 4 of us that would give us easy access to the British Museum/Nat'l.History Museum (day one) and the Tower (second morning). Any suggestions? I've looked at a couple of places near King's Cross on-line that get decent reviews and are reasonably priced (Holiday Inn and Premier Inn, around $160/nt.), but am not sure King's Cross is where we want to be.
Thanks!

Robespierre

Oh. Not "best hotel." Best decent budget hotel for 4.

$160 sounds good - let us know when you've decided you don't want to be at KX.

Fra_Diavolo

You could try the Morgan Hotel, on Bloomsbury Street half a block from the British Museum. http://www.morganhotel.co.uk/

yk

Try www.Travelodge.co.uk. One of the location is at Covent Garden. Can't beat that location.


Is your budget $160 for ONE room for 4 people? How old are your kids? Most London hotel rooms are small - and it's not unusual to have 2 twin beds in one room. So be sure you specify 4 people, unless 2 of the 4 are babies.

jspen

Hmmm... I actually thought this was a decent question--I've gotten a lot of great help on this forum in the past and have read other posts regarding hotels. I'm asking because I just read an earlier post (around March/April) where someone (janisj?) said that King's Cross area was busy and noisy and therefore not recommended, hence my concern. If it's not so bad, and the hotels we're looking at seem reasonable--and you'd recommend them to your sister/cousin/visiting friend--then please say so!

And if anyone else has any helpful suggestions, I'd appreciate them.
Thanks,
JS

jspen

Sorry--I replied when there was only one response (robespierre), so I apologize to the others who made some other hotel suggestions. Thanks--I will look into these. And, yes, we are looking for a room for 4--DH, me and 2 kids, ages 7 and 11. It's only one night, so we're not looking for luxury, just a place to sleep that's clean and decent and family-friendly (if possible).

yk

I can't speak for the immediate area of the Holiday Inn King's Cross, except that it's NOT AT King's Cross. It is about half a mile SE of King's Cross station, or half a mile E of Russell Sq station. Those 2 are your closest tube station - both about a 10-min walk.

From there, it'll be about a 15-min walk to British Museum.

jspen

Guess I'm still trying to figure out if King's Cross is a reasonable location for what we're trying to see and for our family's one and only night in London (with 2 young kids)?

I did just look at the Morgan Hotel--thanks! Not sure they can accommodate 4 of us, except in an apartment, which is a bit more than our budget. Travel Lodge at Covent Garden apparently doesn't have rooms for the night we're looking for, but I can look at their other locations, so that's helpful.

Can anyone comment about the Astors Hotel/B&B? This just came up on LondonTown.com (which I saw suggested on another post) and has a family room for 108 GBP, which seems like a good deal. Location is Victoria area (website says Belgravia). This seems like a nice location for museums, but not sure how hard it would be to get to the Tower in the morning? Any thoughts/advice appreciated!
JS

yk

According to this map: http://www.astorshotelvictoria.co.uk/map.html

It looks to be about a 5-min walk to Victoria Station. From there you can get on the Circle/District line to Tower Hill for Tower of London. It's not a "nice location for museums", but you can get to other places by tube. It'll be at least a 20 to 25 min walk to Nat Hist Museum.

Please understand that London is HUGE - and the 3 sights you want to visit: British Museum, Nat Hist Museum, and Tower of London, are nowhere close to one another. Your best option is to pick a hotel that's convenient to BOTH the Piccadilly line AND the Circle/District Line.

janisj

Hi jspen,

Check out this site http://www.premierinn.com/pti/hotelI...?hotelId=23881

It is on the south bank of the river right behind the Eye and they allow children to stay in the parents' room w/o extra charge. It is practically next to Waterloo station. Waterloo is the station you'll use for trains from Winchester.

Then to get to the Tower, you'd walk across the river to Westminster tube station for the Circle/District line.

For the British Museum you'd get on the Northern line at Waterloo and get off at either Goodge St or Tottenham Court rd.

For the Nat. History, Science and V&A museums walk across the river and take the Circle/District line to South Kensington.

(or you can take the Jubilee line from Waterloo and then change to Circle/District)

WillTravel

jspen, try here:
www.lsevacations.co.uk

But if you are interested, book quickly. I dallied, and even three months ahead, did not get my first or second choice.

Sue878

We stayed at the Paddington Hilton; which we got thru Londontown.com for 108 pounds. It is probably more now, but we liked it because it is connected to the train station and easy to get to Heathrow. Just a thought. (Also very large room)

janisj

Sue878: The OP doesn't want to stay at Paddington. It is not near any of the sites they want to see and they are staying in Winchester which is not on a train line to Paddington.

jspen

Thanks, janisj! I think the Premier Inn looks like the perfect place--that really helps with our connection to Winchester... And it should be convenient to the other sites as well--I really appreciate the Tube directions!

We leave tomorrow night, so we're madly trying to get everything ready. Will post a travel report when we get back (we'll be 2 weeks in the UK, followed by 2 weeks in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden, so it may take me awhile).

Thanks, everyone, for all your suggestions!
Jamie