frequent england travelers looking for a hotel or apartment in central london for a 3 nite stay in december....we rarely stay in town so are not familiar with its secret places....fodorites always know best...

desire central location, with private bath and comfortable bed...could be in kensington, belgravia, soho, trafalgar sq, or any other central locale...tube near-by is essential...

thanks for your suggestions...small hotels are ok too

ttt

What's your budget?

We stayed at the Somerset Queen's Gate Gardens in March and loved it. I doubt we'll ever stay in a hotel in London again. www.the-ascott.com is there site. It's at the Gloucester Rd. stop. I beleive we paid around £90/nt. for a 1 bedroom apartment with breakfast included. May have included VAT as well, I don't remember.

"Secret places" as in places to dine, dance, drink?

I wouldn't recommend Belgravia for such a short stay, it's very residential, very pleasant, but isn't quite as central as Mayfair. This would mean a couple of extra tube stops, but at night if you want to walk to a restaurant that isn't local, maybe an extra mile. Mayfair has everything you could want in an evening, nightlife, and fine dining, and The Curzon cinema which - despite its recent refurbishment - remains as charming as ever, showing a good selection of arthouse cinematography.

Kensington is too far west of the city, again another pleasant mainly residential

"Secret places" as in places to dine, dance, drink?

I wouldn't recommend Belgravia for such a short stay, it's very residential, very pleasant, but isn't quite as central as Mayfair. This would mean a couple of extra tube stops, but at night if you want to walk to a restaurant that isn't local, maybe an extra mile. Mayfair has everything you could want in an evening, nightlife, and fine dining, and The Curzon cinema which - despite its recent refurbishment - remains as charming as ever, showing a good selection of arthouse cinematography.

Kensington is too far west of the city, again another pleasant mainly residential area, however, the High St. lacks lots of high quality shops, which I've always found a little disappointing.

Trafalgar Sq. is pretty central, but not one of my favourite positions. I'd try to have a look at various rates at a selection of properties then come back and ask for their pros and cons!