we are arriving at Luton airport at 9:25pm and would like to stay in London (close to the main attractions/nightlife) for the night. we're considering the Palmers Lodge on 40 College Crescent, Swiss Cottage. we would take the easyjet bus service which drops off at Outside 214 Baker Street
London, NW1 5RT. i'm wondering if this drop off point is decently close to the hostel? i don't want to be stranded late at night in a new city. if it's not reasonably close, do you have any suggestions of somewhere cheap yet pleasant to stay near the drop off point? or is there a difference service to take from the airport to the city? thanks.

It's about 2 miles, or two subway stops. Can't get much closer than that.

Baker st to swiss cottage is a couple of stops on the jubilee line. Or a ten pound (max) cab ride.

www.streetmap.co.uk and www.multimap.com will give you an exact streetmap. College Crescent is between Swiss Cottage and Finchley Road tube stations, and there are also buses. If you're worried about getting into London after the tubes stop running (which would be around 12 - 12.30 am), the N13 night bus to North Finchley runs along the same route.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/...ker-street.pdf

That location isn't bad for whet you need. It is not near much in the way of attractions/nightlife but w/i an easy tube ride of anywhere. But your post sorta sounds like you are only staying the one night. You will be VERY lucky to be at the hostel before midnight. So attractions & nightlife are pretty limited

Give us more info - are you staying longer or is it just that one night?

We are arriving on a Saturday night into London (after traveling through other part of england) and will be starting our studies abroad at Cambridge on Sunday afternoon. So we'll have more time to enjoy nightlife and such in the following weeks.. but our whoLE group isn't studying in Cambridge so not everyone has the chance to enjoy nightlife. It'd be nice if we could go out and do SOMETHING that night though.

If you are flying into Luton at 21:25 you wouldn't be to your hotel until after midnight - only to have to turn around and be in Cambridge the next day. No one will be seeing any sites that night (or actually early morning) Going into London doesn't make much sense for the Cambridge-bound folks.

But for those not going to Cambridge the next day - where are they headed? Flying home? Staying in London longer? Going elsewhere? Tell us more and we can help deciding where makes sense to stay.

Maybe if you stay at Luton (the city, not the airport !) you'll arrive in time for some nightlife. It has an university too..so I think there can be some things to do there in the night

The easyjet bus MIGHT make a stop closer than Baker Street. The hotel is "behind" the Swiss Cottage tube station off of Finchley Road. If you can find the Hampstead theatre, you've found your hotel. If you're facing the main entrace of the theatre your hotel is across the way to your left.
The taxi won't cost more than ten pounds from Baker street. Less if you get a taxi heading north (raher than pay for it to drive around the block and head north). Tell the driver Swiss Cottage. Palmers Hotel near the hampstead theatre. Tube ride would be really easy too!

There is a nightclub in swiss cottage called "establishment" I have no idea what it is like as I am never in Swiss cottage late at night. (

Us Cambridge folk won't have to be at Cambridge until 5pm. Is it really not worth it to go stay in London? I thought at least we could fit something in in the morning, leave by 2pm-sh? The girl who's not studying with us is still going to come with us to Cambridge bc she needs a place to stay for a night or two. then she'll go to london for another day and then fly to Rome to begin her own studies.

After arriving at 9:25pm, I think we could catch the easyBus at 9:50p which arrives in london baker st at 10:50p. Say we get settled in at our hostel by 11:30p. Is our night done by then?

Are you flying into Luton -- or arriving there by some sort of ground transport?

If you are landing at 9:25 you probably won't be catching a bus 25 minutes later. Just retrieving your luggage might take that long.

Yes - you could have 1/2 a day in London on the Sunday. But you were mostly asking about the location and nightlife. For just daytime sightseeing - sure you can see a bit before heading up to Cambridge.

But that is really a lot of travel for about 6 hours free time in London. Luton is not far from cambridge - why not just go straight there. You will have other chances, and the other girl is going into London later anyway.

We're flying in from Paris. We also plan to only have one bag each so I don't think we'd have to wait for our luggage. But yeah.. I'm rethinking whether it's even worth it all.

thanks for the suggestions!