cookierex

Hi,
My boyfriend and I will be traveling to London in the spring for 11 days, arriving at Heathrow in evening (9 on a Wednesday) but leaving from Gatwick (4:30 on a Saturday).

We have two full days in London before traveling to Bath and Derbyshire, before returning to London for 2 days (not sure how much time we will realistically have on the day we return from the Peak District, and the day we fly home, so I'm only counting the two full days). The Bath/Peak District part of the trip is fixed and can't be changed, even though it's inconvenient.

For both sections of the trip in London, I'd like to pick hotels that would maximize the time we have to see the sights we want to see - National Portrait Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London- but also make sense for the two different airports. We're comfortable with walking and subways, but don't want a very complicated trip to/from airports if that's even possible.

Any ideas? Thank you in advance

janisj

Don't worry much about either airport. From LHR you can take the tube to just about any neighborhood in central London and if it is along the Piccadilly line there are no changes. Or a pre-booked car service like justairports.com would be door-to-door anywhere.

To Gatwick there are direct trans from Victoria, London Bridge, Kings Cross etc.

The absolutely MOST convenient single location for travel for both airports would be Kings Cross/St Pancras/northern bit of Bloomsbury. But just about anyplace will do. If you want two different hotels -- for LHR pick one anywhere along the Piccadilly line (Gloucester Rd, South Kens, Covent Garden, Kings Cross, etc.) For LGW -- Victoria/Pimlico, Southwark/London Bridge, or Kings Cross/Bloomsbury

​​​​​​​What is your budget.

cookierex

Thank you for the quick reply! $250-300 usd per night would be the top limit of our budget. We are traveling in early March. I would like to stay in South Kensington for the access to museums but maybe that would be too on the high end. We are happy to walk a lot, but not with our suitcases.

I kind of like the idea of trying two different neighborhoods and basing the itinerary on them.

janisj

Don't base necessarily by where you want to sightsee. No single location is close to more than a small handful of sites.

Your budget is £180-£220 and is OK in most areas. It won't get posh but will get nice.

If you are mostly interested in the V&A/Natural History/Science museums then South Kens/Gloucester Rd/Knightsbridge are the closest tube stations. There are hotels in most price ranges in every neighborhood (though Knightsbridge is almost exclusively high end).

Near Victoria is good for LGW. Or for a completely different vibe, near London Bridge on the Southbank would be great. You'd be near Southwark Cathedral, Borough Market, Tate Modern and not far from the Tower of London.

Tulips

You might just get a room for that at the Bloomsbury Hotel; it's lovely, just renovated. It has a great lobby, and another bar in the basement.
Didn't stay there, only went for the bar, but it had a great vibe, I thought.

menachem

MyHotel in Bloomsbury is also great. However for me, over the last years, the greatest revelation has been the Whitechapel/Shoreditch area. For instance, the Arbor hotel at the top of Brick Lane. Near Aldgate East Station, and the Overground. But there are also apartments in the area that are good value. You can check booking.com to see what's available in your price range. Although it might seem off to have to commute to museums further West, arriving back in a human scale neighbourhood where people actually live and interact is great. Spitalfields Market is nearby and loads of interesting restaurants, interesting bars. We last stayed in the Ace Hotel, on Shoreditch High Street, a fantastically hip address. We got a terrific deal, because their pricing is very dynamic: book a refundable room, usually, a week before your travel date, they'll adjust prices according to room demand, so often they'll go down. If so, then simply cancel your first booking with them and re-book. It's a gamble, but in March it might well pay off.

I also second Janisj's Southbank suggestion by the way.

PS, London public transport is so good, that you'll easily get to your sights from anywhere within Zone 1. Liverpool St Station is within easy walking distance, which has loads of good connections. Also take buses.