London Hotel
 

We'll be in London 3 days before a cruise next May. Trying to decide best location to stay to see the sights. Has anyone stayed at The Vincent House, The Belgrave or the Hampton by Hilton London City? Would like to find something centrally located and around $250 US/night. Thanks in advance.

Those three almost could not be farther apart - they are in 3 entirely different corners of London.

Vincent House is not very central -- it is NW of Kensington Garden about 400 yards from Notting Hill Gate tube station.

The Belgrave is a 4 or 5 minute walk from Pimlico Station and about twice that from Victoria station

The Hampton is quite a bit east out near Aldgate East station. Not at all central - convenient for the Tower of London though.

Of the three the Belgrave is by far the most central and convenient for transport since Victoria Station is a major hub. It is about a 20 minute walk from Buckingham Palace and 15 or 20 minute walk from Westminster Abbey. If they fit in your budget - $250 is about £200 which is pretty low for London - then the Belgrave would be a good location.

Where does your cruise depart from? I would be looking for somewhere convenient to get to from whatever airport you are flying into and for onward transport to whichever port.

Southhampton. I think we will take a bus or a train there to start our cruise, but have not been to London and want to see the sights.

Of the three, and assuming that you fly into LHR, then the Hilton is the easiest to get to, despite being furthest away. It's a straight shot on the Elizabeth line to Whitechapel followed by a short walk. The Hilton is fine as a sightseeing base. Walkable to the Tower of London and St Pauls. A short and direct tube ride to Westminster and plenty of buses.

For Southampton you want a train from Waterloo station. That will be a simple tube journey - District line from Aldgate East right next to the hotel to Westminster and then one stop on the Jubilee line. It's not too far for a cab either, if you have a lot of luggage.

Aldgate East gives you Brick Lane, Whitechapel in general, and Spitalfields Market and its surroundings. I agree with the remarks on ease of travel. The Lizzy Line is a godsend if you want to get across town fast.

Sorry but I would not stay out near Aldgate for my first time in London. Just wouldn't. (and I have stayed in the East End many times) Need to look at the full picture-- Cruise, first time in London, convenience of sightseeing.

My guess if you are taking a cruise you will have more luggage than you'd want to schlepp on the tube or Elizabeth Line or the half a mile walk from Whitechapel station to the hotel. Your best option in from LHR would be a car service such as Just Airports. That will be cheaper to Belgrave by a fair bit than out to the Hampton Inn. https://www.justairports.com

The Belgrave is a very short cab ride to Victoria Coach Station where you can catch the Express Coach to Southampton.

Plus there is quite a long walk at the LHR end to the Elizabeth Line station - a car service driver will meet you right as you exit Arrivals and schlepp your bags to the car.

I agree with janisj about Aldgate/Whitechapel for a London newbie. I think the location preference is more about the brief window for sightseeing than the travel logistics which are solved with a cab ride or two.

For first-timers on a short stay, I recommend the area around Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, or Covent Garden. You're in the very heart and any direction you strike out in is an adventure. Plus excellent bus/tube links. The Tower is a very scenic bus ride away, as is Kensington. Westminster Abbey is walkable, and nothing beats strolling over the Golden Jubilee Bridge after sunset to see Parliament and the London Eye lit up.

I used to live in London and still go every spring. I always think I'll stay in a different area but inevitably end up in a flat in Covent Garden. But as JanisJ pointed out, $250 is iffy in any part of London.

Waterloo Station is a 10-minute taxi ride, as is Victoria Coach Station.

I have been to London more times than I can count and have stayed in all sorts of places. Actually will be arriving in London again this Thursday. I agree that $250 a night is not a lot for London. Three days is also not a lot of time for a first visit to London so I agree with the spayneuterlady for best location.

Besides those, there are 15 or 20 other central neighborhoods that are better situated than two of hotels the OP mentioned. My posts really only addressed those three specific hotels.

If they are open to other properties we can recommend lots of places -- though at slightly under £200 per night we'd need the dates. Rates tend to be very date specific. Even several Premier Inns will be over that on some dates. I assume OP has already checked the rates at those three and they fit the budget, so it may be better to go with one of them rather than searching for for an elusive 'perfect/cheap' property.

I like to use hotwire for London, I've had some great deals when I use the Hot Rate Specials, you cannot see the name of the hotel but its usually easy to find it out by using the following:
Select London and vicinity, click on Areas and for Central London you can select e.g. Oxford St, Soho and Westminster.
A list of hotels will come up, Sort By Price low to high and then make sure you go to the bottom of the page and load all the hotels.
To find the actual name of the hotel enter the number of reviews into the Find on Page in your Browser and in the majority of cases it will show 2 finds, one the hidden Hote Rate and the other the actual name of the hotel, this you can compare the price with other websites to see if its a good deal or not. Please be aware when booking Hot Rates, they are non-refundable

Right now, booking.com has some Black Friday deals, for instance the Park Plaza at Waterloo for some dates in May is 30% off bringing a three night stay under budget. But these rates also tend to be non refundable so would only work with travel insurance which hopefully with a cruise, the OP has. And not all May dates offer these rates.

I did not check other areas and brands but it’s a tool one can use…