Holiday Inn Kings Cross
 

Came across a pretty good deal for this hotel and was curious if anyone has any experience with this hotel. Also, tell me about the area around the hotel. Tube stations convenient? Restaurants? Safe in evening?

Thanks for your help!

Hi,

There was some very recent comment on the Kings Cross area. Try typing "Kings Crossing area in London." into the "search this forum" box at the top for a bit more background. Hope this is of some use.

Thanks for the advice, mignonette. I found a few of the threads very helpful.

Stayed there a few years ago. Okay place, miserable surroundings.

Tube is at Kings X, which is maybe a 15 min. - 20 min. walk; far from the nicest neighborhood. Restaurants zilch/nearly zilch. A bar across the street served us bad beer in dirty glasses. My experience may be dated, but are you getting the picture?

It's not, by any normal standards, in Kings Cross for a start, and general comments about the Kings Cross area really don't apply to this hotel.

It's about a 15 minute walk south of KX (the nearest tube) along a gloomy, but perfectly safe main road. This bit of London (most of us would call it Mount Pleasant) has never been tainted with the KX problems - there weren't hookers here when there were hookers round KX, and there's no construction work going on.

Unfortunately it really is somewhat remote (though there's a bus stop close by). I've occasionally used it for business Awaydays and the like, and found it fine - but very lacking in buzz. And there are no restaurants etc in the immediate vicinity (which, of course is terrific if you want to get your colleagues to get some real work done).

Oddly, the neighbourhood immediately (50 yds) to its east is a great place to live if you can afford it, with some really very beautiful, and well-maintained, early 19th century houses that don't look like London's tens of thousands of identikit late Georgian terraces. And the area immediately to its west contains a huge concentration of just those indentikit late Georgian/early William properties.

If you like walking (and this isn't meant sarcastically), the hotel is fine: a mile or two stroll in just about any direction gets you somewhere interesting, and all those walks, armed with a decent guide book, are utterly fascinating.

If you don't like walking, prepare yourself for a lot of cab rides, or a fair bit of hanging around waiting for buses

Thanks for the replies! My mom is going along and long walks would be out of the question. I think I'll have to pass on this one!

This is why Fodors.com is so great!

later, y'all! iowan15