Marylebone or Bloomsbury?
 

We are two women in London for four days and after spending way too much time looking a hotel booking sites I have narrowed it down (I think) to the Melia White House in Marylebone and a hotel near Russell square in Bloomsbury. I have found excellent prices for both on alpharooms. We want to be in an area where we can easily walk to Picadilly Circus, the Palace theatre and have lots of pubs nearby (for food of course!) Thanks for any input.

Neither of the hotels are what I would call "easy" walk to Picadilly Circus. It is walkable, but more like 30min for both. Russel Square may be just marginally closer, but not much difference.

If I'm not mistaken, Melia White House is NOT in Marylebone but closer to Great Portland St. What this means is, it is much convenient in terms of access to the tube, a few minutes from Regent's Park (don't miss the rose garden). On the other hand, there aren't that many pubs/restaurants--the area is known for hospitals and consultants offices. It's about 10min walk to the northern end of Marylebone High St.

I'd prefer the Russell Square location. This is on the Piccadilly Line, so very convenient.

Thanks for the quick responses - then perhaps you could tell me what you think of these hotels. Both Jurys Clifton Ford on Welbeck St and Hilton Green Park have reviews of great location but rooms not so great (location is more important to us - rooms can't be that bad!) and the other hotel with a great deal is Crowne Plaza St James on Buckingham Gate.Another hotel that is of interest but I don't know about the area is NH Harrington Hall close to Gloucester Rd. We don't want a lot of night life but would like to be able to walk around close to the hotel and have a choice of casual dining - like I said pubs etc. I really appreciate you input.

Harrington Hall is v posh - and absolutely enormous - takes up a whole block. A very short walk from Gloucester Road tube, so well situated for public transport. I would think that quite a decent place to stay if you could get it affordably.

Is there a reason you want to be able to walk to Piccadilly Circus - more than once ? It's not very nice.

Caroline - I guess I don't really need to do that but through lack of knowledge of the areas I said Picadilly circus. We want to be able to walk around close to the hotel where there are shops, pubs, restaurants etc. We are going to be taking a full day tour but just want a hotel close to that type of thing. I have found some excellent prices on some good hotels but we have to pay for them up front and we won't be there until the end of August so I don't want to make a mistake on the area. The Flemings Mayfair has a very good deal and Fodor reports that it is a good area for what we are looking for. So I am open to suggestions as to where we should stay area wise and I can go from there and see what there is. I do have a hotel booked tentatively by the British Museum but some of the reports say it isn't that good. So - I need help from you London experts. And I appreciate your help so much!

The Jurys is in the heart of Marylebone, close to the Wallace Collection and lots of restaurants in the nearby St Christopher's Place. Close to Oxford St for shopping (if you're into that).

The Hilton Green Park is in a more posh area.

Both are at least 1 miles from Palace Theatre.

The Crowne Plaza is near St James's and Victoria. I've stayed at the nearby Jolly Westminster - fine area but not too much hapenning at night in the immediate area.

Further away is the Harrington Hall. Gloucester Rd tube station is quite convenient with Piccadilly line and the Circle/District line.

For a central location - I'd look at the Royal Horseguards, or the Rubens at the Palace, or places like that. You would be in the center, close to Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, the river, Big Ben, the Eye, Covent Garden, the Palace theatre, etc etc.