Help ADVICE LONDON NOVEMBER :)
 

Short stay 6 days flying into Heathrow. Just the wife and I mid 40's not interested in parties, clubs, craziness. More higher end touches in the city or a rural area close to the city. I have never researched London, but this was paid for by frequent flyer miles that were about to expire. So, please advise :)

Budget is about up to $300/night for lodging, would prefer not to have a car, enjoy foods, drinks, food, food, history, and food, wife wants me to add shops and love nature :) thanks!

Stick to the area roughly inside the Circle Line if you want to be central. Somehwere near a tube station on the Piccadilly and/or Central Line is handy.
South Kensington, Bloomsbury, Mayfair, Knightsbridge. Do some research yourself first and check booking.com for hotels. There are hundreds that will fit your budget.

You don't give the dates of your trip, but if you will be in London 13-17 November, I think your wife would really enjoy the Country Living UK (magazine) Christmas Fair. It's not a typical Christmas market, it has a more upscale approach and features very good craftsmen, artists and other small vendors. I've been to several and always enjoyed them. Highly recommended.
https://10times.com/countryliving-ma...-christmasfair

London is huge. Stay in the middle, as defined by the Circle tube line.

No visitor needs, never mind wants, a car in London. Buy or borrow a good guidebook, which will explain the public transport system and list the most important sights.

For shopping (if you must, so much else to do), see https://www.timeout.com/london/shopping

November is likely to be cold and damp, not a good time for "nature" but there are plenty of parks and if the weather is actually good there is always Kew.

As a Londoner, I would suggest Marylebone or Fitzrovia, which are very central but have many quiet pockets. From there, you can walk to almost all of the main attractions and museums. You also would have many of the best restaurants right there or via a short walk to surrounding areas (e.g. Soho, Mayfair, etc). These areas also are well served by public transport of all kinds.

There are a ton of good/central neighborhoods as mentioned up threads -- anywhere within the Circle tube line will be convenient to anywhere in London. A few areas to look include Bloomsbury/Russel Square, Marylebone, South Kensington, Pimlico, Covent Garden (VERY central but busy), Knightsbridge/Mayfair (tends to be very pricey). A bit west but very nice areas would include Kensington and Notting Hill.

Your budget is a bit limiting - $300 = approx £240 at today's very good exchange rate. The £ could go even lower between now and your trip which would increase your budget - but that is not a given. It has bounced up 2 ¢ in the last 2 days. One thing to check out would be aparthotels (like Dolphin House, but there are others) which have the amenities of a hotel, larger rooms than you could get an just about any hotel in that price range, and kitchens/kitchenettes so you can fix breakfasts and have snacks / beverages in-room. https://dolphinhouse.dolphinsquare.co.uk

November isn't that great a 'nature' month - but there are vast parks essentially in London - Hampstead Heath, Richmond Park, etc.

Your best bet is Mayfair for shopping. You would be so close to Mount Street, Conduit Street, Regent Street, Old Bond Street. You would also be at Greenpark Tube Station, which is probably one of the most convenient tube stations in London. You can take the tube right to LHR. You would also be within walking distance to Buckingham Palace and the absolutely beautiful St. James's Park. You could also pop right over to Hyde Park.

Thin,aristocrat 🌽

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...fb4f3978c7.jpg
St James's Park. Thin,aristocrat 🍰

Thoughts on the Henrietta Hotel?
14 Henrietta Street, Westminster Borough, London, WC2E 8QH, United Kingdom –

hotel link

The Henrietta is a fabulously central location. Smack dab in Covent Garden with many theatres and uncountable restaurants w/i walking distance. less than a 5 minute walk from Covent Garden tube station.

W/i a very short walk of The Strand/River/Somerset House, Trafalgar Square/National/National Portrait galleries , Leicester Sq/TKTS cut price ticket booth. Easily walkable to the parks/Buckingham Palace, the South Bank, Piccadilly, etc etc etc. A little farther but still very walkable to the British Museum/Russell Sq, and lots more

. . . Meant to add -- if you can get the Henrietta within your $300 budget -- JUMP on it . . .

Rubbish. Not unless you want to spend oodles of money. Or just window shop. The OP doesn't sound like they have a billionaire budget.

>>The OP doesn't sound like they have a billionaire budget.<<

Neither does thin ;) but one can dream can't they . . .


>>at Greenpark Tube Station, which is probably one of the most convenient tube stations in London<<

Green Park is a very central tube station but I actually try to avoid it when possible because there are some bloody long walks within the station

I completely agree, it's generally a very good location, and you probably wouldn't regret it. But it depends what you want. It's not my ideal location as arguably, this is among the very busiest parts of bustling central London. Everything in the immediate area is heaving all the time. All the shops, the restaurants, the pubs, the streets, etc. It's pretty full on.

There are areas in central London where you are still have lively streets but where many areas are much less 'full on' - e.g. Marylebone/Fitzrovia/Bloomsbury which are just slightly north of the party central hot zones - Covent Garden, Soho, Trafalgar, Chinatown, etc. Sure there are crowded pubs and streets, etc in all parts of London but typically in these areas you can much more easily pop into a pub and actually sit down, get a drink at the bar without fighting, and hear yourselves talk. Many more people actually live in these areas as compared to Covent Garden which is much more transient.

London generally can be a very intense city in terms of crowds and aggressive people. You'll be in this for a lot of your time there. If it were me, I'd prefer to go back to a lively urban neighbourhood that is slightly less manic, get a drink there, go to dinner, and have a nice relaxing stroll through a much less frenzied area.

Perhaps no big deal but I wanted to point out that the area may not be ideal for all tastes and in your OP you didn't sound like you were after an area that is in the middle of London's 'party central' areas.

>>London generally can be a very intense city in terms of crowds and aggressive people. <<

Absolutely - London can be intense. But for visitors it isn't really or at least doesn't have to be . . . unless one run run runs full bore and turns it into a forced march instead of a holiday. London is one of the easiest-to-visit major cities anywhere in the world. The parks, the small side streets, the specialist shops, etc. There are millions of places to get away from crowds. Covent Garden is busy but certainly not off putting. And for Covent Garden, Henrietta St is a pretty quiet corner.

To get an idea of any hotel/apartment go into Google street view and you can 'walk' the whole neighborhood and you'll get a good idea of the surroundings.

I agree that Google street view is very helpful to explore your surroundings but if the images were taken at 6am on a Sunday morning, you're not getting a helpful view of the typical street scene. Google tends not to drive around taking pictures when the streets are at their most heaving.

I never said that you can't find quiet corners in London. My point is simply that if one prefers a slightly less hectic area, this may not be the best choice. I stand by my point that the pubs and cafes in Covent Garden are heaving almost always, as are the streets during a good part of the day and night. There is a very different feel in, for example, most parts of Marylebone where it's much less 'transient' feeling.

The best way to control how hectic or not your London experience will be is to choose where you stay. Sure, nice to say that you can move at a slow pace but if you're constantly in the most hectic areas of London then your experience will be hectic....and tiring if you're not really looking for a continually high energy pace.

anyway, as a Londoner, I'm merely giving the OP information to make up their own mind.

Our budget is flexible it looks like it will be around $425/night that is fine.

walkinaround -- no reason to turn every thread into a quien es mas macho debate -- lots of Fodorites know London very well . . .

walkinaround, do you have any hotel suggestions for the areas you suggested ? That would be helpful.