Colleagues and I are traveling for a medical conference and am looking for a resonably priced hotel on Baker Street near the tube so that we can stay near an area that is convenient for travel and entertainment. Thanks.

The Sherlock Holmes may not fit your reasonable price criteria. But it is near the tube station. The rates are better than $200 a day. But anything less usually nets one a not so elegant emporium.<BR><BR>

Although convenient, Baker St is a pretty horrible street - really busy road traffic. So if you have a room on the street you will need to be deaf to sleep. I would try to get a hotel more on a side street nearby. But I went to London Business School and walked up and down the nearby streets going to School many times and never saw anything that appealed at all from the outside. A hotel I do know is London Elizabeth Hotel - stayed at Greville Janner Suite for GBP140. This was nice (awful breakfast and some tattiness to public areas) but some rooms there are the pits - on the road rooms. Here road is also very busy, but back rooms are absolutely fine. Check it out on Fodors reviews - lots of write ups, lots of goods and a number of stinkers - those that got the bad rooms I am afraid. Hotel is 20 metres from Lancaster GAte tube.(lots of other cheap hotels here but lots of crap as well). Nearby area, especially Queensway, has much better selection of restaurants than Baker St which frankly sucks for restaurants (except Ali Baba - really great value Egyptian place). Better class hotels near Green Park would also in my view be a better option (2 stops from Baker St tube)- but price? - perhaps check out the Holiday Inn there.

Fran, Baker St is pretty grim, even though it's near the hospitals and medical centres.<BR><BR>If you're set on the area, there's the Dorset Square Hotel (Firmdale group), or the St Georges on Langham Place, or the Selfridge in Orchard St. They are all in the direction of Baker St and I'm sure you can find reasonable rates online.

Thank you very much. We were not especially decided on staying on Baker Street. We just thought, wrongly, that this was a great place to stay. We will now be looking somewhere else and thinking of perhaps Kensington or South Kensington area.

I am not sure if you are interested in an apt. but I stayed in one of Nick Price Apts. on Balcombe Street last summer which is very near Baker Street. It was near two tube stops and a very quiet street. We felt very safe walking at night. He has a website under Price Apts and was very pleasant to deal with. It was nothing fancy but suited us since it had a small kitchen.

Fran, sounds better!<BR>If I were you, I would click on &quot;Hotels&quot; in the main menu here, then &quot;London&quot;, then &quot;Customise&quot;, then click in your price-range and area to get a list. <BR><BR>From there you can go to &quot;Fodors rants and raves&quot; to see what experiences other people have had.<BR>

I forgot the website from my earlier post. priceapts.co.uk. You can check out the website and see what you think.

The Radisson on Portman Square is very nice, good breakfast, near Baker Street.

Good Lord - there is nothing horrible about Baker St. It's a commercial street, probably not unlike any in your home town. Get a grip folks! Sure you may not want to sleep in a hotel along it due to traffic noises, but it's not unlike many of the main streets in London.<BR><BR>We also have rented an apt on Balcombe St. from Nick Price, just a few blocks from Baker and it was SAFE, decent, clean, etc. Baker St. has stores, tube, bus, banks, restuarants, fast food, etc. In other words a commercial street. <BR>There are many nice quiet streets in the neighborhood and many small hotels. <BR>The Dorset Sq. Hotel (across from a small park and right near Balcombe St) is supposed to be lovely and it's a short walk to Baker St Tube. The Landmark is across from Marylebone Station and is considered quite upscale,again quite near Baker St.

The Dorset Square IS lovely and I see somebody already recommended it.

Hi Fran,<BR> It would help to offer suggestions if you told us the venue of your conference.

Lori,<BR>I lived in London 15 years and 2 years walking up and down the street and sorry but from a tourist point of view, Baker St is still grim (although admittedly Regents Park is just off the top of the street). Yes it is a commercial street - an ugly one. And yes there are other ugly commercial streets in London which I would also not choose to stay on, just like lots of commercial streets in other cities which have no charm, ordinary shops and restaurants. There are a hell of a lot nicer places for tourists to stay at such as South Ken, Green Park etc.

If you're thinking of Baket St because of good tube connections, keep in mind that Baker St northbound trains are not stopping until mid-2003. This would include the Jubilee and Bakerloo lines (east, west and southbound trains still stop).<BR><BR>You might consider staying a little further east, in Marylebone north of Oxford St or even Fitzrovia, a little further east, close to Soho and the Northern Line. Both neighbourhoods are very central, very good for visiting theatres, shopping etc, but less expensive than some of the other areas.<BR><BR>A good budget option is the Holiday Inn on Welbeck St (provided you're a non-smoker - their rooms have been mostly renovated) - about 110 pounds a night, maybe a little more or less. It's very quiet, steps from Oxford St and Wigmore Hall, in a pretty upscale residential neighbourhood (but not as ritzy/expensive as Chelsea, etc.) Also it's very close to Harley St - don't know whether your medical convention has events nearby. There are nicer hotels if your budget is larger, but this is the best value moderate/budget hotel I've found in London. It's a 5 minute walk to Bond St station (Central and Jubilee lines).

<BR><BR>Sherlock Holmes must have undergone an incredible makeover to get 130 pounds a nite . . I used it often in the 80's for 35 pounds a nite. In those days it was a much better deal than the Portman or Churchill, about 6 blocks away.<BR><BR>It's a nice location, on Baker which is not a particularly spectacular street, but close to Oxford and many nice pubs and restaurants. It has an entrance on Baker, but the more pleasant one is one street over on Broadstone (I think).<BR><BR>Whereever you stay I hope you enjoy London! <BR><BR>Rich